Speed and Security (Innovation overview)

Speed and Security (Innovation overview)

We want it fast. We want it now. But we also want to be safe. Gulf Coast innovators are capitalizing on the market demands for secure forms of instant gratification. The nominees for the 2003 Innovation Awards exemplify the meeting of those market demands.

Many of these innovators, like Highwall Technologies and xG Technology, are making Internet usage and network functions faster and more secure.

Some, such as CopyTalk and HOP Networks, are improving the speed and security of our communications.

Others, like CallMiner, Shepherd Systems and Pace Software, are changing the way we perform business functions to make our companies run more efficiently and more profitably, with more information about our customers' preferences.

They even improve the speed and security of the environment in which we play, eat and find out more about ourselves - just look at Infinium Labs, DNAPrint genomics and Tempra Technologies.

There is an entire group of life sciences-based innovators among the nominees who are making it faster, easier and safer for us to take care of our personal health. Biolife and PPM Technologies will stop bleeding faster; BioDerm will give you a better way to address male incontinence; Sinofresh will clear out nasal bacteria in a flash.

In all, nearly 30 companies were nominees for the Innovation Awards. All were researched by the judges, comprised of the Review's editorial staff and the board of directors of the Suncoast Technology Alliance.

The list of nominees was narrowed first to a list of eight finalists who were then more thoroughly researched. We gathered the information you'll find in this issue - how the innovation works, who created it and why, who's backing the innovation, the costs and benefits of the innovation, the way the innovation is received in its industry, the company's position as far as development and sales of the innovation, and revenue information.

The vote on the winners was a close one. Ultimately, the company winning the 2003 Innovation Award has an outstanding innovation, and the business is further along the marketing and sales paths than its competitors. Moreover, with this year's winning company, the notion of innovation is not limited to the company's product. Rather, it is a concept that seeps into every element of the company's mission and operations.

Because the vote on the winners was so close, the runners-up were not identified as first or second. They are equally impressive and innovative, but with dramatically different products.

This year's nominees, finalists and winners demonstrate another exciting fact about the Gulf Coast - the momentum is building. The recent increase in the number of life sciences innovators, for example, indicates momentum for growth of that industry here, and that momentum can then attract even more life sciences entrepreneurs.