|
|
 |
The Kruesi Award for Innovation
|
DESCRIPTION |
|
The Kruesi Award is America’s first community innovation award. The award was created in 2001 to recognize area businesses that best exemplify an innovative spirit. The designation honors a Chattanooga family whose Swiss ancestor, John Kruesi, immigrated to America and worked with the inventor Thomas A. Edison. Kruesi made the first phonograph in 1877 and was the principal mechanic on countless other patented innovations, including the incandescent light bulb. His son Paul Kruesi settled in Chattanooga, founded the American Lava Company in 1902, and served as president of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce. The legacy and lineage of the Kruesi family permeate the community today, symbolizing enlightened enterprise and philanthropy.
The Kruesi Award for Innovation is presented each year to the local company that best exemplifies the inventive spirit in business. Applications for the Kruesi Award will be reviewed by two panels of experts: one comprising local business people, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and a second comprising national business leaders and entrepreneurs. The national panel will select the winner of the Kruesi Award, which will be announced during the Chamber's Spirit of Innovation Awards luncheon in Spring 2008. |
|
CRITERIA |
|
Defining Innovation
The selection committee approaches the definition in the broadest sense. The committee looks for new technologies and new ways of doing things. These innovations may originate on the manufacturing line, in the research lab, the marketing department, the training room, or the boardroom. Some innovations reflect a major breakthrough; others result from an accumulation of small developments. But all successful innovations positively influence a company's performance, productivity, quality or competitiveness.
Selection Criteria
To be eligible for the Kruesi Award, the innovation must meet certain criteria:
• The applicant must have conceived and/or implemented the innovation within the last five years;
• The applicant must be able to demonstrate that the innovation was conceived, developed and/or implemented in the Chattanooga area;
• The applicant must be able to demonstrate that the innovative practice has been implemented and has produced a measurable impact on the applicant's performance, productivity, quality or competitiveness.
Selection Process
Applications for the Kruesi Award will be reviewed by two panels of experts: one comprising local business people, entrepreneurs and community leaders, and a second comprising international business leaders and entrepreneurs. The international panel will select the winner of the Kruesi Award, which will be announced during the Chamber's Spirit of Innovation Award luncheon in Spring 2008. |
|
APPLICATION PROCESS |
|
Who can Apply?
• Chattanooga-area companies, large and small, in any sector: manufacturing, service, retail, etc.
• Individuals
• For-profit and non-profit businesses, institutions, and organizations
• Government agencies
• Chamber members and non-members
Application Process
Interested applicants submit an "Intent to Enter" – a paragraph briefly describing the innovation and its conformance to the eligibility requirements. Deadline for Intent to Enter: December 14, 2007.
How to Apply
To apply for the Kruesi Award click on the Simplified Application Process to answer a few basic questions and submit a paragraph describing your company's innovation and its impact. Contact Lindsay Hiatt at (423) 763-4337 or lhiatt@chattanoogachamber.com for more information. |
|
2007 HONOREES |
|
Accurate Automation Corporation
Accurate Automation Corporation will be recognized for designing and implementing Sentinel, an unmanned ocean racer equipped with artificial intelligence that protects water-based assets such as ships and oil-drilling platforms. Sentinel is the first and only artificially intelligent boat that can perform in a variety of high-demand, real life situations -- such as during storms and at night -- without human risk or intervention.
Blue Mountain Avionics, Inc.
Blue Mountain Avionics, Inc. developed the EFIS/One system for the private aviation market to display all aircraft instruments, engine data and map information, thus reducing the plot's workload and improving overall safety and efficiency. EFIS/One is fast becoming the standard choice of sport pilots from RV drivers to L-30 jet jockeys. The system, with a starting price of under $4,000, includes all the features expected in commercial systems costing well over $50,000. The innovation makes flying affordable for more people, and its systems make it safe and practical for low-time pilots to find their way in any weather.
Brake Tech Tools
Brake Tech Tools will be honored for inventing a line of brake measuring gauges. These tools provide a better, more efficient way of measuring brake wear, saving trucking fleets time and money, while improving safety. The Technician Gauge, which allows an in-depth evaluation of the brake linings without having to remove the backing plates or drums, reduces the time it takes to make a sound assessment of brake wear from nearly an hour to just a few seconds.
Clarity, a Division of Plantronics, Inc.
Clarity, a Division of Plantronics, Inc., became an honoree for Digital Clarity Power (DCP), the first and only audio processing engine for telephone systems developed to replace standard simplistic linear amplification with a digital signal processor, thus improving telephonic communications for people with a hearing loss. Without the high costs of a hearing aid, the DCP multi-band compression system makes soft sounds audible and loud sounds bearable.
Cleveland Tubing
Cleveland Tubing will be recognized for inventing Flex-Drain®, a patent-pending flexible, expandable plastic pipe, usable in most drainage applications. It offers an alternative to bulky, traditional plastic drainage pipe. The product collapses to 6 feet and expands to 25 feet which makes it easy to transport andto store. The product's flexibility allows tight turns and eliminates the need for elbows, and the pipe’s integrated, built-in connectors allow users to connect one pipe with the next for longer runs.
eSpin Technologies
In 1999 eSpin Technologies began its journey to become the first company in the world to develop a process and fiber spinning machinery for the mass production of nanofibers (polymeric fibers 1,000 times finer than a single human hair). This quantum leap in the technology of synthetic fibers offers new-to-the-world products and delivers superior performance in a wide range of existing products including apparel, energy storage and medical applications.
Glenveigh Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Glenveigh Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has discovered a new use for an existing drug (digoxin immune FAB ovine) to treat preeclampsia, a pregnancy disease that complicates five to eight percent of all pregnancies and is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal death worldwide. The innovation includes the creation of a specialty medical company, Glenveigh, providing innovative healthcare for pregnant women and their babies.
Ten Cate Grass North America
Ten Cate Grass North America has developed the next level of synthetic grass fiber, Thiolon XP Pro. The product not only closely resembles natural grass but dramatically increases the durability and therefore the constant playability during the life of the field over conventional synthetic grass surfaces. At the same time, grass fiber maintains key attributes such as softness, ball roll and bounce, footing and ability to slide on the surface. The Ten Cate fiber's attributes are removing barriers to switching to synthetic turf and have bolstered the belief that its characteristics may improve the quality of play. |
|
2007 JUDGES |
|
Preliminary Round
Tim Andrews
Hamilton County Railroad Authority
Jonathan Bragdon
Tricycle, Inc.
Joyce Brinkmeyer
Chattanooga State Technical Community College
Richard Burke
Chattanooga State Technical Community College
Lulu Copeland
Chattanooga State Technical Community College
Stephen Culp
Smart Furniture, Inc.
T. J. Gentle
Smart Furniture, Inc.
Matt Jannerbo
Miller & Martin PLLC
Matt McClelland
Kenco Group, Inc.
John Riddell
Center for Entrepreneurial Growth
Jerry Sterling
Sterling Business Solutions, LLC
Kathleen Wheatley
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga |
Final Round
Bill Canis
Manufacturing Institute at the National Association for Manufacturers
Eric Cromwell
Tennessee Department of ECD
Denise Germain
Ford Global Technologies
Kazumi Iino
Japan External Trade Organization
Ed Krausse
Ford Research & Advanced Engineering
Sam Leiken
Council on Competitiveness
Pascal Marmier
SHARE Boston, Consulate of Switzerland
Tom O’Neal
University of Central Florida Technology Incubator
Richard Seline
New Economy Strategies
Tom Springmeier
Texas Instruments
Sylvain Castonguay
Centre d’expérimentation des véhicules électriques du Québec (CEVEQ)
Graham Hiller
Centre for Process Innovation |
|
PAST RECIPIENTS |
| 2007 |
eSpin Technologies |
In 1999 eSpin Technologies began its journey to become the first company in the world to develop a process and fiber spinning machinery for the mass production of nanofibers (polymeric fibers 1,000 times finer than a single human hair). This quantum leap in the technology of synthetic fibers offers new-to-the-world products and delivers superior performance in a wide range of existing products including apparel, energy storage and medical applications. |
| 2006 |
Shared Health |
Shared Health has improved access to digitized patient information by creating a database of patient medical records, which can be accessed by authorized medical practitioners over the web. The system has resulted in more accurate diagnoses, better healthcare outcomes and cost savings. |
| 2005 |
Specialized Enterprises |
Specialized Enterprises created an innovative Fluid Exchange System for vehicles. The system consists of a replacement fitting that is substituted for the vehicle’s original oil drain plug and allows for the automatic changing of vehicle fluids using Specialized Enterprises’ oil change machines. One version of the oil change machine is a permanently mounted shop unit used in vehicle service areas and the other is a mobile unit which can be mounted in a vehicle such as a van, truck or military service vehicle and can be taken directly to the vehicle requiring fluid changes. |
| 2004 |
AquaShield, Inc. |
AquaShield, Inc. manufactures a unique line of patented Stormwater Treatment Solutions from recycled HDPE -- a hydrodynamic separator, an inline stormwater filtration system and a catch basin insert --to effectively treat highly contaminated stormwater runoff and protect environmentally sensitive receiving waters. AquaShield’s stormwater filtration products offer three levels of treatment for impaired water resources, resulting in more effective protection of our waterways. |
| 2003 |
American Mammographics |
American Mammographics was co-recipient of the 2003 Kruesi for developing the S.O.F. T. Paddle, a screening tool that is curved and slopes downward to conform to the natural contours of the breast. The tool improves imaging accuracy, increases breast cancer detection rates, lowers exposure to radiation and increases patient comfort at no additional cost to the patient. |
| 2003 |
Alexian Brothers: Live at Home Program |
The Live at Home program provides integrated levels of care -- from very modest assistance to nursing home level services -- that are designed to be delivered at the care recipient¹s home, without the requirement to enter a nursing home. The program is designed to provide aging adults their best opportunity to live and age in their own homes, even through advancing years and declining physical abilities. |
| 2002 |
U.S. Xpress |
U.S. Xpress received the Kruesi Award for bringing the trucking industry into the electronic age. U.S. Xpress has used the aggressive adoption of technology as a key component of its competitive strategy, including the adoption of satellite-based e-mail connections with all trucks, electronic data interchange with customers and vendors, e-commerce tracking of trucks and goods shipped and anti-collision radar technology. |
| 2001 |
Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings |
Collins & Aikman was nominated for the company’s Infinity Initiative, the first and only full-scale closed loop reclamation and recycling system for floorcoverings. Through new technology and patented manufacturing processes, the company is able to recycle used carpet into new products and assure customers that no portion of their used carpet will ever go to a landfill. |
|
2007 SPONSORS |
|
EPB
Steelcase
Tandus
AirNet Group
Chambliss Bahner & Stophel
Chattanooga Technology Council
Chattem, Inc.
Electric Motor Sales |
Henderson Hutcherson & McCullough, PLLC
Miller Martin PLLC
Northwest Georgia Bank
TVA
Unum
WAWL Chattanooga State Technical Community College
WSMC
WTCI | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
