RIEDC, Tech Collective and the PBN partner to host 2007 Rhode Island Innovation Awards and Tech Laureates Night
July 26, 2007 | Print this page | Share This | Email this page
Partnership seeking applicants for annual awards to honor Rhode Island's public and private sector innovators
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC), Providence Business News (PBN) and the Tech Collective are now accepting applications for the annual Rhode Island Innovation Awards program. Awards will be presented at the 2007 Innovation Awards and Tech Laureates Night, a gala celebration of the state's innovators and technology leaders, will be held on September 20, 2007 at Hasbro's world headquarters in Pawtucket, RI.
Launched in 2006, the Rhode Island Innovation Awards honor individuals and organizations that are making innovation central to their activities or have gone beyond the call of duty to help others innovate.
Award categories include Student Innovator, Rising Star Innovator, Innovation Champion and Innovator of the Year. The Collaborative Innovation Award, Innovation of the Year and Innovation Champion will be awarded to businesses or organizations.
Last year, more than 40 applications were received for the award from across the state. Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island took home the Innovation of the Year award in 2006 after it set up the first video conferencing interpreting system in the nation, allowing Spanish-speaking patients to privately communicate with their physicians. Multi, Design for People co-founder, Kat Darula, was honored with the Rising Star Innovator award for her work in making places more accessible to people with disabilities. Other past winners can be viewed here.
"Celebrating success and bringing recognition to the state's innovators is an important part of helping people understand why innovation is central to Rhode Island's economic growth," says RIEDC executive director Saul Kaplan. "The Innovation Awards and Tech Laureates Night not only showcase the state's incredible innovation talent, they reinforce what I have believed all along: Rhode Island has what it takes to be a national innovation leader. We are proud to be a part of this exciting collaboration with PBN and Tech Collective."
In addition to receiving special recognition at this year's celebration, winners also will be featured in a special issue of the Providence Business News.
This year marks the first year that RIEDC and PBN are partnering with the Tech Collective to combine the innovation awards with Tech Collective's Tech Laureates Night. It is Tech Collective's premier event of the year — the night when outstanding individuals, teams, companies and organizations from our technology community are awarded and recognized.
"The Tech Laureates Night provides a great backdrop to celebrating the winners of the 2007 Rhode Island Innovation Awards," says Tim Hebert, CEO of Atrion Networking Corporation and Chairman of the Tech Collective. "We all agree that collaboration is Rhode Island's secret weapon in making innovation more commonplace. This event is an excellent opportunity to showcase Rhode Island's innovation excellence."
About the Tech Collective
Tech Collective is the industry association for information technology and biotechnology in Rhode Island. It is a membership-based organization that is strategically focused to bring together the alliance of business, government and education. The mission of the Tech Collective is to drive technology growth and innovation in Rhode Island by creating a strong sense of community, creating a center of knowledge transfer, creating an environment for collaboration, being an industry advocate and developing the future workforce. For more information about the Tech Collective, please visit www.tech-collective.org.
