East Bay’s Top Organizations Receive Special Recognition for Their Innovative Approach to Business and Addressing Some of Our Society’s Greatest Needs
Oakland, CA: The East Bay has long been recognized for its regional and national role in advancing new technologies and ideas and, this year, the East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA) is spotlighting some of the most significant contributors to the East Bay’s unique culture and legacy of innovation. Today, the organization announced the pool of 16 finalists who are in the running for the first-ever East Bay Innovation Awards.
“The East Bay is home to a wide variety of innovators in job sectors that include clean fuels, food production, digital animation, medical devices, and many more,” said Keith Carson, Chairman of the East Bay EDA Board of Directors. “We want to celebrate those accomplishments, raise awareness about the forward-thinking businesses that are based in the East Bay, and inspire other companies to think outside the box.”
The 16 companies and organizations – selected by independent industry professionals after a public nomination process coordinated and launched by the East Bay Economic Development Alliance – are being recognized not only for being instrumental in advancing the region’s culture of innovation, but also for contributing to regional prosperity.
“Over 85 nominations were received, and we were so impressed by the high quality of nominees across all the industry categories,” said Karen Engel, Executive Director of East Bay EDA.
East Bay EDA recognized companies in clean technology, advanced manufacturing, food, information/communication technology, life sciences, engineering and design. The finalists are:
- Adept Technology
- Bayer Healthcare
- Community Grains
- Deep Ocean Exploration & Research
- Ecologic Brands
- Ekso Bionics
- Kiverdi, Inc.
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories
- Lit San Leandro
- Livescribe Inc.
- Pandora
- Perforce Software
- Penumbra, Inc.
- Skydeck / UC Berkeley
- St. George Spirits
- Tesla Motors
In addition to these categories, nominations were solicited for innovation in business and education partnerships, thought-leader or catalyst of the year, and a legacy award to recognize an individual or organization that has had a lasting impact on the culture of innovation in the East Bay.
The selected finalists will be recognized at a gala event on January 31, 2013 at the Fox Theater in Oakland. At the event, East Bay EDA will also announce their first-ever Innovation Award winners, which will be selected from the pool of finalists.
Lead sponsors for the event are Bank of America and Chevron Corporation. Award sponsors also include Bayer HealthCare, Wareham Development, Wells Fargo, and Wendel Rosen Black and Dean. Additional, bronze-level sponsors include Cargill and Kaiser Permanente. Sponsorship opportunities are still available.
For more information, please visit: www.eastbayeda.org/iawards.
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About the East Bay EDA
The East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA), located in Oakland, California, is a public-private partnership founded in 1990 to serve the San Francisco East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties). The East Bay EDA’s mission is to establish the region as a world-recognized location to grow businesses, attract capital and create quality jobs. To learn more about our East Bay EDA, visit: http://www.eastbayeda.org/.
Scott B. Peterson
Deputy Director
East Bay Economic Development Alliance
1221 Oak Street, Suite 555
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 272-6843
scott@eastbayeda.org
www.eastbayeda.org
Lit San Leandro
Lit San Leandro is proud to announce that we won a Real Estate Deal of the Year Award in the category of Infrastructure or Public/Private Partnership. For these deals, the San Francisco Business Times looked far and wide around the Bay Area for deals being made, developments in the works, and partnerships doing amazing things. Lit San Leandro was a co-winner, sharing the category with the new $1.1 billion Presidio Parkway. Nice to be in such big company!