CONNECT Announces Finalists for Most Innovative New Product Awards

SAN DIEGO (September 23, 2015) – Today, CONNECT, a premier innovation company accelerator in San Diego that creates and scales great companies in the technology and life sciences sectors, announced the 24 finalists for the 28th annual Most Innovative New Product Awards. The prestigious awards ceremony is a CONNECT signature event, held annually in December, that honors San Diego’s stars of innovation along with their newly launched groundbreaking new products.

“As an organization born out of the desire to help research evolve into life-changing products in the market and to grow San Diego’s presence on the national and international stage as a hub of successful life science and technology companies, we are honored to present these awards to those companies that are raising the bar and creating a flourishing innovation economy here in San Diego,” said Greg McKee, CEO of CONNECT. “The Most Innovative New Product Awards event is a great way to celebrate and recognize success for our regional companies and we’re looking forward to seeing who will be selected as the Most Innovative in each of the categories on December 1.”

Forty four semi-finalists from across eight categories: Aerospace, Security & Cyber Technologies, Cleantech, Communications & IT, Life Science Diagnostics & Research Tools, Mobile Apps, Pharmaceutical Drugs & Medical Devices, Software & Digital Media, and Sport & Active Lifestyle Technologies showcased their products in front of expert judging panels in each category earlier this month, from which 24 were selected as finalists.

Listed below, in their respective categories and alphabetized by company name, are the 2015 Most Innovative New Product Award finalists:

Aerospace, Security & Cyber Technologies:
· Cubic Global Defense’s Javelin – a man-portable guided weapon system used by the US Marine Corps and many other US and allied forces
· Ocean Aero’s Submaran – a new class of Unmanned Underwater, Surface Vehicle (UUSV) combines surface and subsurface performance in a unique transformable, self-propelling vessel, capable of long missions in extreme conditions
· Tortuga Logic’s Prospect – a hardware security verification software suite that can find security vulnerabilities in the earliest development stages of a modern computer chip

Cleantech:
· Flux Power’s The Flux LiFT Pack – a sustainable and ecologically friendly lithium-ion battery pack specialized for the material handling industry
· Q Factory 33’s B3 Bypass Device – this device will dramatically reduce the cost of and improve the efficiency of residential solar energy installations
· Yulex’s Patagonia Men’s R2® Yulex®/Nexkin® Front-Zip Full Wetsuit – a wetsuit that leverages the unique properties of the guayule plant, a hearty desert shrub native to the southwestern United States

Communications & IT:
· FieldLogix’s Goose – ensures that fleet drivers are more efficient and their waiting clients are happier
· Lytx’s Lytx DriveCam – an innovative solution that addresses one of the leading cause of avoidable collisions: distracted and drowsy driving
· Mushroom Networks’s VOIP Armor – a small network appliance that is installed inside the network of the business to manage and orchestrate multiple internet connections in the office to route VOIP (Voice over IP) and VC (Video Conferencing) IP packets around any network problems

Life Science Diagnostics & Research Tools:
· CureMetrix’s CureMetrix – a technology that uses algorithms that not only help hospitals with analytics on their patients, but when applied to mammograms as an example, are finding breast cancer up to four years earlier
· DermTech’s: The Pigmented Lesion Assay (PLA) – the first gene expression test to identiify melanoma using a completely non-invasive adhesive patch biopsy
· GattaCo’s CENTREPON™ – the world’s first Centrifuge Replacement tool for use at the Point of Need

Mobile Apps:
· Boost Academy’s Boost Academy Math Tutoring Platform – offers students one-on-one math tutoring via the iPad
· Chalk Digital’s Instant Mobile Ad Platform – offers the only Do-It-Yourself advertising solution (portal and app) that builds locally targeted campaigns (with mobile optimized landing pages), affordably priced, within minutes and with ease
· Cubic Transportation System’s Ventra Mobile App – the first fully integrated transit application developed for transit riders in “Chicagoland”

Pharmaceutical Drugs & Medical Devices:
· PureWick’s PureWick – offers a solution for the capture of urine from adult females
· RXSAFE’S RxASP 1000 – the flagship of a new product design which greatly improves state of the art of the machinery and software for producing Patient Specific Multidose Adherance packaging
· Tandem Diabetes Care’s t:flex™ Insulin Pump – the first insulin pump designed for people with diabetes with greater insulin needs

Software & Digital Media:
· AristaMD’s Referral Intelligence Platform – submits the very first Referral Intelligence Platform that provides a set of actionable clinical guidelines, eConsult services to a full panel of board certified specialists and an analytics system providing business intelligence and operational tools to improve the referral issue
· Comhear’s MyBeam – a single, portable, wireless 12-18” sound bar device that produces spatialized, localized, and binaural virtual surround sound
· SOCI’s SOCI – an all-in-one enterprise social marketing and management solution

Sport & Active Lifestyle Technologies:
· 100%’s The FORECAST – a complete film system comprised of working parts that function seamlessly together resulting in the smoothest operating system available today
· Hookit’s The Hookit Score – a comprehensive and first-ever verified scoring engine capable of measuring the talent and marketability of any athlete
· Hush’s Hush Smart Earplugs – the world’s first smart earplugs that help people sleep better in noisy environments

To be eligible for the 2015 Most Innovative New Product Awards, the product must have been developed in the San Diego or Baja region, first introduced between March 2014 – August 2015, never nominated for this award before, and generated revenue from sales (except free mobile apps).

The winners will be announced the evening of December 1 at the 2015 Most Innovative New Product Awards presentation and dinner, to be held at Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine, 3777 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA 92122.

For more information on CONNECT’s Most Innovative New Product Awards, please visit connect.org.

ABOUT CONNECT
CONNECT is a premier innovation company accelerator in San Diego that creates and scales great companies in the technology and life sciences sectors. By creating an environment in which entrepreneurs and C-suite executives have access to the people, capital, and technology resources they need for success, CONNECT has assisted in the formation and development of more than 3,000 companies since 1985. Widely regarded as one of the world’s most successful organizations linking entrepreneurs and C-suite executives with the resources they need for the commercialization of innovative products and services; our program has been modeled in more than 50 regions around the world.

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