CONNECT Announces Finalists for Most Innovative New Product Awards

Oct 19, 2016

CONNECT Announces Finalists for Most Innovative New Product Awards

Thirty San Diego companies selected as finalists for 29th annual award

SAN DIEGO (October 19, 2016) – Today, CONNECT, a premier innovation company accelerator in San Diego that creates and scales great companies in the technology and life sciences sectors, announced the 30 finalists for the 29th annual Most Innovative New Product Awards. The prestigious awards ceremony is a CONNECT signature event, held annually in December, that honors San Diego’s stars of innovation along with their newly launched groundbreaking products.

“As an organization born out of the desire to catalyze research from ideation to life-changing products and services and to accelerate the growth of San Diego’s presence on the national and international stage as a hub of successful life science and technology companies, we are honored to present the ‘29th Annual Most Innovative Product Awards’ to companies that are raising the bar and creating a flourishing innovation economy in San Diego,” said Greg McKee, CEO of CONNECT. “The Most Innovative New Product Awards event is our way of celebrating and recognizing the best new market entrants each year, and we are always incredibly impressed by the volume, and also the caliber and high impact of the innovative products and services being launched by San Diego based companies.”

There were a record 111 entrants into this year’s Most Innovative New Product Awards across 10 categories: Bluetech, Cleantech Sustainability & Energy, Defense Transportation & Cybersecurity, Information Communication Technologies, Life Science Diagnostics & Research Tools, Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical Drugs & Biologic Therapies, Robotics & Unmanned Vehicles, Software Digital Media & Mobile Apps and Sport & Active Lifestyle Technologies. Each semi-finalist demonstrated their products in front of an expert judging panel earlier this month, from which 30 were selected as finalists.

Listed below, in their respective categories and alphabetized by company name, are the 2016 Most Innovative New Product Award finalists:

Bluetech:

Cardinal Point Captains – provides services and technology for government and industry with extensive experience and capabilities supporting complex scientific and maritime operations
Planck Aerosystems – brings high performance, autonomous unmanned aerial systems to new markets
Water Pigeon – an alternative solution to existing automated metering infrastructure (AMI) for water

Cleantech, Sustainability, and Energy:

Camston Wrather LLC – produces sustainable resources and commodities from electronic waste using proprietary patents and green technology
Measurabl – precision software built to help collect, report and act upon non-financial data
SDG&E – regulated public utility that provides energy service to 3.6 million people through 4,100 square miles in San Diego and Orange counties

Defense, Transportation, and Cybersecurity:

B&B Technologies LP – develops advanced magnetic suspension/propulsion shock mitigation technology R&D for the military, medical and professional/commercial markets
Cubic Corporation – designs, integrates and operates systems, products and services that increase situational awareness for customers in the transportation and defense industries
Space Micro – an engineering driven small business that focuses on technology advancement and product implementation for highly reliability satellite electronics

Information Communications Technologies:

Aira – develops remote assistive technology that connects the blind with a network of certified agents via wearable smart glasses and an augmented reality dashboard that allows agents to see what the blind person sees in real time, allowing them to assist with a variety of daily tasks and activities
Creative Electron – manufactures and distributes high performance, off the shelf and custom x-ray inspection systems used for quality assurance, material conformity and counterfeit detection in a wide range of applications
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. – designs and markets wireless telecommunications products and services

Life Science Diagnostics and Research Tools:

DermTech – a commercial stage, genomic based, health technology company with a non-invasive gene expression platform for dermatology
Echo Laboratories Inc. – developed the Revolve, a new hybrid microscope that easily transforms between upright and inverted configurations, merging the capabilities of two instruments into one
NanoCellect Biomedical – aims to make flow cytometry and cell sorting technology more affordable and accessible for life science researchers to perform cellular analysis, develop molecular diagnostics, and improve personalized medicine

Medical Devices:

11Health – a connected medical device company, where all patented devices use Bluetooth® wireless technology to send secure real-time data to most mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and watches
Innovative Trauma Care – created the ITClamp Hemorrhage Control System which is designed to address massive hemorrhage – a leading cause of death in traumatic injury – by controlling critical bleeding in seconds
Onciomed, Inc. – a privately held medical device company that has developed a proprietary long term, minimally invasive and reversible device, the Gastric Vest System™ (GVS) to treat obesity and glycemic control

Pharmaceutical Drugs and Biologic Therapies:

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – recently received FDA approval for NUPLAZID, the first and only medicine approved for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis
Ardea Biosciences – a biotechnology company focused on the development of small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases
GlyConMedics LLC – advancing the treatment for type 2 diabetes by providing a naturally derived substance that would provide an affordable and effective long-term ADD-ON treatment to existing SU therapies with improved glucose control without a requirement for dose changes

Robotics and Unmanned Vehicles:

Clever Pet – uses smart hardware to offer animals engagement anytime, automatically, whether their humans are home or not.
NXT Robotics – provides service robots to support increased security monitoring and alerting requirements
Robolink – aims to make STEM education accessible, engaging and fun for children and hobbyists by producing robotics educations kits and providing educational lessons that teach core principles of engineering and programming

Software, Digital Media, and Mobile Apps:

Guru – creates digital experiences for museums, aquariums and zoos
Nanome, Inc. – developed the world’s first immersive and scientifically-accurate molecular modeling tool in VR
South Doctors, Inc. – the leading platform that connects patients from around the world with the best doctors and facilities in Mexico

Sport and Active Lifestyle Technologies:

Bixpy LLC – developed a versatile and robust underwater propulsion system that runs on lithium batteries and is able to attach to anything from a diver’s forearm to the back of a kayak
ElliptiGO Inc. – combined the best of running, cycling and the elliptical trainer for a fun and effective way to exercise outdoors
FlyDive – introduced the FlyDive X-BOARD, the most advanced hydro flight system designed and engineered to support both beginners and professional riders

To be eligible for the 2016 Most Innovative New Product Awards, the product must have been first introduced after January 1, 2014, never been selected as a MIP finalist, and generated revenue from sales (except free mobile apps and companies submitting for the Life Science Products – Clinical Stage category).

The winners will be announced the evening of December 1 at the 2016 Most Innovative New Product Awards presentation and dinner, to be held at Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine, 3777 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA 92122.

For more information on CONNECT’s Most Innovative New Product Awards, please click here.