Who will be named the 2021 Innovator of the Year?

We know you can hardly stand the suspense: who will be our Greater Washington Innovator of the Year? 

On October 8th, we'll all gather for the Greater Washington Innovation Celebration, the Region's zaniest event showcasing your great minds and business creativity. This not-to-be-missed event will have it all: live judging, audience picks, team costumes, and cow bells. That's right, we said it, cow bells. At the end of the evening, we'll crown this year's Innovator of the Year and our People's Choice winner!

The Greater Washington Innovation Celebration is brought to you by:

Who will be named the 2020 Innovator of the Year?

We know you can hardly stand the suspense: who will be our Greater Washington Innovator of the Year? 

On October 8th, we'll all gather for the Greater Washington Innovation Celebration, the Region's zaniest event showcasing your great minds and business creativity. This not-to-be-missed event will have it all: live judging, audience picks, team costumes, and cow bells. That's right, we said it, cow bells. At the end of the evening, we'll crown this year's Innovator of the Year and our People's Choice winner!

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

The Greater Washington Innovation Celebration is brought to you by:

Sponsors

We couldn't put this Celebration on without the following sponsor businesses

 

Supporting Organizations

We couldn't put this Celebration on without the following sponsor businesses


Platinum Sponsors

We couldn't put this Celebration on without the following sponsor businesses

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Gold Sponsors

We couldn't put this Celebration on without the following sponsor businesses

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Silver Sponsors

We couldn't put this Celebration on without the following sponsor businesses

Dominion Energy

JLL

 

Meet the 2020 Winners & Finalists

Our judges watched many, many exciting videos before choosing these finalists. We'll watch all of the finalist videos at the awards show where you can help us choose the People's Choice winner!

 

The 2020 Innovations Awards Winners are:

Innovator of the Year

Micronic Technologies, Inc.

People’s Choice Winner

MPower Me

Innovation Award for BioTech 

Micronic Technologies, Inc.

Innovation Award for Hospitality

HUNGRY

Innovation Award for HealthTech

VideoKall, Inc.

Innovation Award for Social Impact

MPower Me

Innovation Award for Higher Education

Northern Virginia Community College 

All 2020 Finalists

Micronic Technologies, Inc.

Community Data Platforms

ThreatQuotient

Marymount University

Northern Virginia Community College

Sunny Day Fund

MPower Me

VideoKall, Inc

HUNGRY

LiveSafe

Sestra Systems


Entry Rules

The application period is now closed but you can still enjoy reading the details below.

You may be asking yourself, how will I know if my business is an Innovator? We are glad you asked because in our eyes, “innovations" can be almost anything.  It could be a cutting-edge product that solved a business need.  Or maybe it is your cool new reward and recognition program to improve employee morale. Or it could be anything in between! We welcome the ingeniously simple as well as the staggeringly complex. The answer is we’re looking for any and all innovations that have made a positive business impact. 

Application Video

You have 1 minute to tell us what your innovation is and why it should be celebrated. Don’t forget to include your CEO’s spot (required), and answer the following (if applicable):

  • How does your innovation / innovative practice impact your company or the greater business marketplace?
  • Does your innovation have disruptive potential?
  • Are you disrupting an existing process or industry?
  • Are you creatively competing with yourself?
  • Do you have a culture of innovation or a corporate strategy of innovation?
  • Do you have an R&D budget, a Chief Innovation Officer, or other demonstrable way of showing your innovation strategy?
  • Is your CEO at the forefront of your industry or sector? How?
  • Do you have a culture of continual improvement?
  • How do you "sharpen the saw" / seek continuous improvement?
  • How else are you innovative?
  • The CEO of your company must be included / appear in your submission video in some capacity.  
  • NOVA Chamber membership is not required to apply or win.

Commitment to Attend 

It goes without saying that you will want to be at this event, but to make sure your company won’t miss a moment of the fun, at least one representative of your company must attend the Innovation Showcase and the Greater Washington Innovation Celebration.

Application includes admission for one person to attend both events. (Additional tickets are available for purchase.)

Meet the Judges

An impressive evening deserves an equally impressive judging panel.

To help us name the Greater Washington Innovator of the year, we've enlisted the help of our business dream team. Each brings his or her own expertise and more importantly an innovator's mindset to our judging panel. 

Applying businesses will meet our judges at our Innovation Showcase and then watch them work (along with everyone else) when they judge the finalists during our Innovation Celebration.

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Aaron Berkey

Managing Partner of Riverbend Capital

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Jason Chen

CEO, MACH37

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Steven Chen

Partner, BluVenture Investors

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Matt Chubb

Executive Director of Sales, Kaiser Permanente

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Colin Eagen

Founder and CEO, EGroup, Inc.

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David Giannini

Founder and Executive Chairman, CirrusWorks

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Lawrence Greenberg

Chief Legal Officer, The Motley Fool

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Anita Gupta

Founder, KiwiTech

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David Heyman

Founder, Smart City Works

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Laura Hill

Vice President, EquiFi

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Terry Hsiao

Founder, MIT Alumni Angels

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Crystal Icenhour

CEO, Aperiomics

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Erika Chan Killian

Division Director, Health & Safety Solutions, Leidos

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Harry Klaff

Executive Managing Director, JLL

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Neil Kleinberg

Founder and CEO, DiliVer

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Esther Lee

CEO, Refraction

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Steve McKnight

Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Virginia Tech

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Susan Moser

Partner, Cherry Bekaert

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Jen O'Daniel

Investment Director, CIT GAP Funds

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Brian Park

Managing Partner, SparkLabs Cyner + Blockchain Fund; Director, StartupGrind DC

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Jim Pastoriza

Managing Director, TDF Ventures

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Ryan Ross

Chief Innovation Officer, Halcyon

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Danya Sherman

Founder and CEO, KnoNap

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Rosemarie Truman

CEO, The Center for Advancing Innovation

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Mark Walsh

Managing Partner, Ruxton Ventures


Innovative Events Schedule

For a Celebration this special we'll need two events!

Once all applications have been received, the real fun begins with not one, but TWO madcap celebrations (more details to come): 

Innovation Showcase, September 16th

The Chamber will host an invitation-only Innovation Showcase on September 16th designed to provide the judges an opportunity to meet, network with, and learn about the companies who apply for an award. This is your chance to mingle with other innovators!

Innovation Celebration, October 8th

Join us on October 8th for the party of all parties, the Greater Washington Innovation Celebration. We’ll gather to watch the finalist videos together and applaud their work before we announce, at long last, the 2020 Greater Washington Innovator.

Open to the public, this event has an emphasis on fun. We encourage entrants to wear costumes. Bonus points for outfitting your entire team thematically! 

Don’t forget to buy your tickets early as we’re expecting this Celebration to sell out.


Submit Your Application

The application period is now closed

How can you submit a Washington Innovator application?

Step 1: Create an account. Click on the link below to be taking to our application portal.

(Note: This is different from your Chamber membership account.)  Membership in the Chamber is not required to apply for (or win) an award. 

Step 2: Submit your application. Use the guidelines mentioned on this page and below to create your application video:

All you have to do is submit a 1-minute video showcasing your innovation. Don’t worry, video production quality will not be a judging criterion—use your phone if that’s easiest. Finalist videos will be played for everyone’s enjoyment at our Greater Washington Innovator Celebration.