By Jessica Mitchell
Courtesy of The Journal Record
OKLAHOMA CITY – Innovations designed to fight sickle cell disease, kill bed bugs and make life easier for wheelchair-bound individuals are just a few of the more than 30 products and services that will be recognized on April 11 at The Journal Record’s 16th annual Innovator of the Year event in Oklahoma City.
“The Innovator of the Year program allows us to celebrate the innovative spirit of Oklahomans as we recognize businesses, organizations and individuals who work every day to develop and bring to fruition products and services that fill a need,” said Mary Mélon, president and publisher of The Journal Record. “This creativity and entrepreneurial expertise is what continues to allow our state to thrive. The honorees that we have recognized over the years have gone on to make names for themselves across the country and around the world. Along the way, they have also made Oklahoma a better place to live and do business.”
This year’s group of Innovator of the Year honorees includes companies representing the health care, education and energy industries as well as companies that have developed fire suppression products and even applications to improve efficiencies in managing inmates.
In addition, Emerging Leaders and Entrepreneurs Rwanda will receive this year’s Creativity Award at the event. The student-led organization was launched in December 2011 by Rwandan students at Oklahoma Christian University. ELERwanda is a platform for innovation and entrepreneurship fostering youth-led innovation and entrepreneurship.
AliveCor’s Dr. David Albert will be keynote speaker for the event. Albert won the overall 2012 Journal Record Innovator of the Year award for his development of Smartphone ECG, a device designed to enable every smartphone, tablet and laptop user to perform a clinical-quality ECG at any time, in any place, and at a fraction of the current ECG cost.
The event, which starts with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 p.m. will be at The Skirvin Hilton, 1 Park Ave. An overall winner will be announced from the group at the banquet. Profiles on all of the innovators as well as the Creativity Award honoree will be appear in the Innovator of the Year magazine to be inserted in the paper on April 12.
Sponsors of the event include i2E, Crowe & Dunlevy, Ernst & Young LLP and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
The 2013 Innovator of the Year award winners include the following:
• American Achievers LLC, Oklahoma City.
• American Intellectual LLC, Oklahoma City.
• Associated Material Processing LLC, Stillwater.
• ATC New Technologies, Oklahoma City.
• Business Imaging Systems, Edmond.
• Buzzam Radio, Oklahoma City.
• Chemical Flooding Technologies LLC, Tulsa.
• College Influence, Tulsa.
• Dad’s Plumbing and Drain Service Inc., Oklahoma City.
• DocVia, Tulsa.
• The Entrepreneurs Organization of Oklahoma, Tulsa.
• EpimedX, Oklahoma City.
• Fieldhouse Media, Oklahoma City.
• Forum Energy Technologies, Elmore City.
• Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Oklahoma City.
• Fresh Surfaces, Oklahoma City.
• Global Software, Oklahoma City.
• Great Plains Microbiology LLC, Oklahoma City.
• Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage, University of Oklahoma, Norman.
• Kimray Inc., Oklahoma City.
• Moleculera Labs, Oklahoma City.
• Monscierge, Oklahoma City.
• Oakcreek Community, Stillwater.
• Oklahoma Mesonet, Norman.
• PinLeague, Oklahoma City.
• RaiseMore, Oklahoma City.
• ScanMed QR, Oklahoma City.
• Sensulin, Oklahoma City.
• SpectrumFX, Tulsa.
• TokenEx, Tulsa.
• Turbines Inc., Altus.
• VADovations Inc., Oklahoma City.
• Weather Decision Technologies Inc., Norman.
Innovator at a glance:
Date: April 11
Place: The Skirvin Hilton, 1 Park Ave., OKC
Cost: Individual tickets are $125 and tables for 10 are $1,250. Table sponsorships are available for $2,300.
To register: Contact Ashley Fitzpatrick at (405) 278-2820 or ashley.fitzpatrick@journalrecord.com
