14 local finalists chosen for excellence in Innovation, Company and Entrepreneurship
COLUMBIA, Md. (May 5, 2011) – The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced today that 14 finalists have been selected in the organization’s first ICE Awards. The new awards program, which stands for Innovation, Company and Entrepreneur, will recognize outstanding businesses and individuals from TEDCO’s diverse portfolio of more than 300 seed and early-stage companies. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 11, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. (registration opens at 8:30 a.m.) during a special awards ceremony at the National Electronics Museum in Linthicum Heights, Md. Members of the public are invited to attend.
“The ICE Awards are a terrific way to highlight the best of the best innovations, companies and entrepreneurs within Maryland’s technology community,” said Rob Rosenbaum, president and executive director of TEDCO. “TEDCO is extremely proud of all its portfolio companies, and we want to highlight specific companies and entrepreneurs that exemplify tremendous growth and success.”
Awards will be made in three categories: Innovation, Company and Entrepreneur.
Finalists in the Innovation category were chosen for creating a new technology that addressed a specific need and gained follow-on funding. They include:
· Ariadne, Inc. – Introduced a new generation of bioinformatics products for research biology data mining.
· BioMarker Strategies – A tissue-based cancer diagnostics company.
· Direct Dimensions, Inc. – World-leading creators of geometric measurement technology.
· Koolspan, Inc. – Transforms standard smartphones and computing devices into secure communications devices.
· Oculis Labs, Inc. – Protects sensitive and classified information against interception by eavesdropping.
· Sensics – Produces lightweight, panoramic and high definition head-mounted displays to provide users with immersive visual experiences.
Finalists in the Company category were chosen based on growth numbers in the areas of employees, revenue and investments; history as a TEDCO portfolio company; community involvement; and company recognition. They include:
· Ariadne, Inc. – Introduced a new generation of bioinformatics products for research biology data mining.
· CSA Medical, Inc. – Developed a cryptotherapy system that removes diseased tissue by rapidly freezing and destroying unwanted tissue, freeing patients of disease in relative comfort.
· Integrated BioTherapeutics, Inc. (IBT) – Research-based company dedicated to development of vaccines and the discovery of small molecules targeting emerging infectious agents.
· Salar, Inc. – Provides comprehensive clinical documentation and medical billing tools to capture charges for the healthcare market.
· Sensics – Produces lightweight, panoramic and high-definition head-mounted displays to provide users with an immersive visual experience.
Finalists in the Entrepreneur category were chosen based on their distinct leadership skills, start-up success, personal recognition, vision creation and ability to build a management team. They include:
· Jonathan Cohen, founder and CEO, 20/20 Gene Systems, Inc. – Developed a technology which enables personalized medicine and early cancer detection by analyzing multiple biomarkers in tumors.
· Dr. Chuck Daitch, CEO, Akonni Biosystems, Inc. – Molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures and markets integrated molecular diagnostic systems.
· Casey Eitner, president and CEO, Expression Pathology, Inc. – Advancing personalized medicine with assays that measure cancer signaling networks.
· Andre Gudger, CEO, Solvern Innovation, Inc. – Enterprise-wide solutions in software prototyping, modeling, simulation and data visualization. In 2009, Solvern was acquired by TeleCommunications System, Inc., and provides communications products and solutions for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the intelligence community.
· Robert Rashford, owner, Genesis Engineering Solutions – Engineering and operations services and advanced laser technology.
The ICE Awards ceremony on May 11, 2011 will include tech demos, networking opportunities, the awards presentation and remarks by keynote speaker Peter Corbett. Corbett, founder and CEO of iStrategy Labs, is hailed as a regional trailblazer in entrepreneurship. He is widely known for his creative marketing approaches, coupled with a deep technical background and a focus on civic innovation through community building.
The public is invited to attend the TEDCO ICE Awards. Visit http://www.marylandtedco.org to learn more. Media is also encouraged to attend. To arrange for a press pass, contact Ashley Boarman at 410-504-8324 or aboarman@mghus.com.