Finalists named in Utah Innovation Awards program

Twenty-one technology innovations have been selected as finalists in the fifth annual Utah Innovation Awards, presented by Stoel Rives LLP and the Utah Technology Council. This statewide program, designed to recognize innovations and the Utah companies that created them, is sponsored by Connect magazine and Hewlett-Packard. Finalists and winners will be honored at a special awards luncheon on May 10.

Seven winners — one from each category — will be announced at the May 10 event. A committee of nearly 60 experts from private industry, government and academic communities selected the winners and finalists in each of the program’s seven categories: biotechnology/pharmaceuticals, chemicals/materials science, computer hardware/electrical devices, consumer software, enterprise business-to-business software, mechanical devices and medical devices.

Finalists, listed alphabetically by entity name within each category, are as follows:

Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals

·     MultiTarget Pharmaceuticals LLC, AquaPlasmid & AquaGenomic

·     Q Therapeutics Inc., Q-Cells

·     University of Utah and NeuroAdjuvants, neuropeptide-based analogs that cross blood-brain-barriers

Chemicals/Materials Science

·     AeroQuest LLC, thermoplastic composites

·     Ceramatec Inc., gliding arc reformer

·     H³ TEC LLC, H³ element detector

Computer Hardware/Electrical Devices

·     Digital Home Communications, audioShare

·     Flying Sensors and Brigham Young University, UAVs for sensing, data and images

·     SimpliPhones Inc., SimpliPhones business phone system

Consumer Software

·     Auction Video Inc., user-generated video content (patent pending)

·     ClearPlay Inc., ClearPlay DVD with parental filtering

·     iWorlds Simulations, full immersion experience

Enterprise B-2-B Software

·     Omniture Inc., Discover 2.0

·     TheraDoc Inc., Clinical Decision Support Technologies

·     Symantec, Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS)

Mechanical Devices

·     Andigen, innovation of the IBR anaerobic digester

·     Barney Auman, SureFit

·     Kadence Technology Inc., Kapitol reef snorkel

Medical Devices

·     AlphaSpine, minimally traumatic spinal surgery

·     Coherex Medical Inc., The Coherex FlatStent

·     IOMED Inc., Hybresis Iontophoresis System

Votes were tallied by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The program is supported by the Association of Corporate Growth, Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Utah Manufacturers Association and the Wayne Brown Institute. More details about the awards program are available at www.stoel.com/innovation.