THE EAST BAY INNOVATION AWARDS

The 11th annual East Bay Innovation Awards comes to the Oakland Scottish Rite Center on the evening of Thursday, March 28, 2024. Special thanks to our generous sponsors and partners. Tickets for the award ceremony are sold out!

THE EAST BAY INNOVATION AWARDS FINALISTS

THE 2024 EAST BAY INNOVATION AWARDS

The 11th annual East Bay Innovation Awards returns to downtown Oakland on the evening of Thursday, March 28, 2024. Join at the historic Oakland  Scottish Rite Center us for a fun-filled evening presented by Sutter Health, where the 2024 awardees will be revealed. We are excited to welcome Emmy Award-winning journalist, NBC Bay Area news anchor and reporter, Gia Vang as our event host. Speacial thanks to our generous sponsors and partners. Tickets for the 2024 award ceremony are sold out!

The East Bay is a world-class leader when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship. Often referred to as the “Academy Awards of the East Bay,” the East Bay Innovation Awards is the premier program of its kind that celebrates and honors the extraordinary companies and organizations that contribute to the East Bay’s legacy of innovation. The annual awards ceremony showcases outstanding organizations that embrace innovation in their manufacturing, products, services, design, and information.

For more information, read our FAQs or email iawards@eastbayeda.org.

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Nominations

The nomination period for the 2024 East Bay Innovation Awards is now closed. Thank you and good luck to all the nominees. Please stay tuned for future announcements on judging and more!

Are you an innovative East Bay company? Do you consider your achievements on par with East Bay innovators such as Tesla, Bolt Threads, and Impossible Foods? Every year we receive hundreds of nominations from cutting edge East Bay companies competing for the top honor in ten competitive categories:

Categories

Advanced Manufacturing
Companies utilizing innovative technologies to improve products or processes in the regional manufacturing of physical products. Companies must have a production facility in Alameda County or Contra Costa County to be eligible for this category.

Arts & Culture
Individuals and organizations promoting the region’s vibrant arts and culture. Includes but is not limited to, visual, performing, written/spoken word, and media arts.  

Built Environment
Companies utilizing exceptional and innovative approaches, technologies, and strategies to shape the built environment. Includes but not limited to architecture, planning, civil engineering, development and construction companies. 

Community Impact
Individuals or organizations advancing creative and equitable solutions to tackle social, environmental, and/or economic challenges and disparities.  

Education
Organizations leading innovative programs and initiatives to build the future education and workforce to meet the evolving opportunities and challenges of the 21st century.  

Engineering & Design
Companies using engineering and design to achieve innovation in the research and development of tangible products. 

Food
Companies advancing innovation in the design, production and distribution of food and/or beverage products. 

Life Sciences
Companies engaged in accelerating innovation in health and life sciences. Includes biotechnology, biomedical, bioscience, genomics, and pharmaceutical companies. 

Clean Tech
Companies engaged in innovative services and products to combat climate change by harnessing renewable materials and energy sources, reducing or eliminating emissions and waste, and/or provide solutions to resource challenges. Includes solar, wind, water efficiency, biofuel, energy storage and other related companies. 

Technology
Companies creating, designing, and/or leveraging the use of technology to transform their industry through innovative services and products. Includes artificial intelligence (AI), information and communication technology, nanotechnology, and software services companies. 

To qualify as a nominee, you must:

  • Be a company or organization headquartered or operating in Alameda or Contra Costa counties.
  • Have achieved an innovation in manufacturing, products, services, design, systems, or methods.

For more information, read our FAQs or email iawards@eastbayeda.org.

Past Finalists

Past East Bay Innovation Award finalists include Tesla, Impossible Foods, Bolt Threads, Prime Roots and 10x Genomics just to name a few. Below is a sampling of our cutting-edge finalists over the years:

List of Finalists & Awardees

Companies/Organizations with an asterisk denote past awardee.

Advanced Manufacturing

  • Adept Technology
  • Arris Composites*
  • Bayer Healthcare*
  • Bishop-Wisecarver
  • Boehringer Ingelheim*
  • C3 Nano
  • Checkerspot
  • DuPont EKC*
  • Emerald Packaging*
  • FATHOM*
  • Inland Metal Technologies
  • Lam Research*
  • MDC Vacuum Products
  • MycoWorks
  • Mizuho OSI*
  • Tesla Motors*
  • Therm-x*

Arts & Culture

  • ARTogether*
  • Berkeley Repertory Theatre*
  • Hip Hop for Change*
  • Living Jazz
  • Nomadic Press
  • Zoo Labs

Built Environment

  • Buildings IOT*
  • Build It Green*
  • Designing Justice & Designing Spaces
  • Geopogo
  • Studio KDA
  • UrbanBloc*

Catalyst

  • Berkeley Skydeck*
  • CCTA/GoMentum Station*
  • Cyclotron Road
  • Delta Diablo*
  • Kapor Center for Social Impact*
  • LBNL/CalCharge
  • Lit San Leandro, LLC
  • PetersenDean Roofing & Solar
  • Powerhouse
  • Topline*
  • Wareham Development/QB3 East Bay Innovation Center*
  • Youth Radio*
  • Zero Net Energy Center

Technology

  • aspera*
  • Ambi Robotics*
  • Applied Silver
  • Beyond Lucid Technologies
  • Callidus Cloud*
  • Captricity*
  • Chirp Microsystems*
  • Civil Maps
  • Clef
  • Livescribe*
  • Love Never Fails
  • Medinas Health*
  • Mosaic
  • OSIsoft*
  • Perforce Software
  • PhaseSpace
  • Potrero Medical*
  • Rigetti Computing*
  • Trov
  • Zymergen

    Clean Tech/Sustainability

    • Ecologic Brands*
    • EnerVenue
    • Back to the Roots
    • Finelite, Inc.
    • Full Cycle Bioplastics
    • GRID Alternatives
    • Kiverdi, Inc.
    • MCE Community Choice Energy*
    • Microvi Biotechnologies*
    • Monarch Tractor
    • Motiv Power Systems*
    • Natel Energy
    • Nelumbo*
    • PolyPlus Battery Company
    • Porifera*
    • Powerhouse
    • Smart Wires Inc.*
    • SORAA*
    • Sungevity
    • Vigilent*

    Community Impact

    • Black Cultural Zone*
    • Building Opportunities for Self- Sufficiency (BOSS)
    • EBALDC
    • Lao Family Community Development
    • Oakland Genomics Center*
    • RYSE Center

    Education

    • Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals*
    • Biotech Partners*
    • Community Resources for Science
    • Girls Garage*
    • Green Biome Institute at Cal State East Bay
    • Hack the Hood
    • Idea Builder Labs*
    • Lawrence Livermore/Sandia National Laboratories
    • NorCal Bay Area Biotechnology Center
    • Oakland Digital Arts and Literacy Center*
    • Ohlone College Smart Manufacturing Tech Program
    • PilotCity*
    • Scientific Adventures for Girls*
    • Tech Exchange
    • TechBridge*
    • TechHire Oakland
    • The Bread Project*
    • Veterans to Technology (LLNL/Los Positas College)*

    Engineering and Design

    • Aeye
    • Alphabet Energy*
    • Applied Spectra
    • AEye, Inc.
    • Bolt Threads*
    • Cyark
    • DOER*
    • DOER Marine
    • Energy Recovery
    • Enovix
    • Gel-Pak Lid/Clip Super System LCS2*
    • Key Source International
    • Meyer Sound*
    • Pandora*
    • POP Manufacturing
    • Saildrone
    • Sigray, Inc.*
    • Sila Nanotechnologies*
    • Squishy Robotics*
    • Velodyne LiDAR*

    Food

    • Back To The Roots*
    • Blossom Foods
    • Blue Bottle Coffee*
    • Community Grains
    • CORE Foods*
    • Finless Foods*
    • GELTOR, Inc.
    • Hodo Foods
    • Impossible Foods*
    • Kikoko
    • OCHO Candy
    • Perfect Day
    • Prime Roots*
    • Revolution Foods
    • Ripple Foods*
    • St. George Spirits*
    • Tsar Nicoulai Caviar*
    • UPSIDE Foods*

    Legacy Awardees (non-competitive)

    • Bayer
    • Cal State East Bay
    • East Bay Regional Park District
    • Kaiser Permanente
    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • Novartis
    • Port of Oakland
    • The Clorox Company
    • UC Berkeley

    Life Sciences

    • 10x Genomics*
    • Abbott Diabetes Care*
    • Aduro Biotech*
    • Ardelyx
    • ATUM
    • Bionova Scientific
    • Caribou Biosciences*
    • Cerus Corporation
    • Ekso Bionics
    • Eikon Therapeutics*
    • Elemeno Health*
    • Enchroma*
    • Gritstone Oncology, Inc.
    • Penumbra*
    • Pivot Bio
    • POC Medical Systems
    • RefleXion Medical*
    • Singulex
    • UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland*

    Sponsorships & Benefits

    2024 Sponsors & Partners

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    FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

    1. What are criteria to qualify as a nominee?
    In order to be eligible for award consideration, nominees must:
    o Be a company or organization headquartered or operating in Alameda or Contra Costa counties.
    o Have achieved an innovation in manufacturing, products, services, design, systems, or methods.
    o Be available to take part in filming and interviews leading up to the event.
    o High-level leadership must be present at the in-person awards ceremony on March 28, 2024 to accept their award.

    2. How was my company/organization nominated?
    East Bay EDA relies on its member network and its partnership with the San Francisco Business Times to publicize the opportunity. You might have been nominated because someone who knows about your innovative company/organization and wants you to be recognized for it!

    3. Does it cost money to nominate?
    The purpose of this award is to highlight and promote innovative companies/organizations in the East Bay. There are no fees associated with nominating a company.

    4. What happens after I nominate?
    Independent judging panels will evaluate each nomination in a particular nomination category. Finalists will be revealed ahead of the 2024 East Bay Innovation Awards. Awardees will be revealed at the 2024 East Bay Innovation Awards ceremony on March 28, 2024.

    5. Who are the judges?
    The panels we have assembled are known experts in their field, have built companies and brands, and recognize the importance of celebrating the significant contributors to the East Bay’s unique culture of innovation. Many are past finalists and awardees themselves!

    6. Will my company information remain confidential?
    All nominations are 100% confidential. Neither the nomination nor any of its content will be shared with anyone other than East Bay EDA staff and judges. All judge must review and sign a Confidentiality Agreement.

    7. What will the awardees and finalists receive?
    Awardees will receive a one-of-a-kind, locally-made East Bay Innovation Awards trophy. Both awardees and finalists will be featured in the San Francisco Business Times. Your organization will be recognized in two media press releases. Awardees and finalists will also receive official East Bay Innovation Awards logo to promote online, one-year paid East Bay EDA membership, and serious bragging rights!

    8. Is there a cash prize?
    East Bay EDA is a non-profit organization which supports efforts to sustain a thriving regional environment. East Bay EDA’s event sponsors provide gifts to the awardees with a cash value of over $500.

    9. Am I required to attend the Innovation Awards?
    Yes, the company’s executive leadership must be present to accept the award at the in-person awards ceremony on March 28, 2024.

    Nomination Questions

    1. How do I nominate a company/organization?
    Nominations are submitted on our website via the “Nominations” tab or by visiting eastbayiawards.awardsplatform.com. Once you register with the AwardForce platform, be sure you check your SPAM folder during the account verification process so you can access your account and begin nominating.

    2. Do I have to register to submit an application?
    Yes. This allows you to submit multiple entries and manage your entries by making edits before submitting. The deadline for submittals is September 29, 2023 at 5:00 pm.

    3. Can I submit multiple nominations for different companies/organizations?
    If you are not representing a company or organization being nominated, you can submit multiple nominations for different companies/organizations. If you are submitting an online application on behalf of your company/organization, please submit just one application.

    4. Can I make changes after submitting my application?
    Yes. After logging in, go to My Entries and then click on the entry you want to change in order to begin editing. Click save to ensure your changes have been submitted, and go to My Entries to see your newly saved entry. The deadline for submittals is September 29, 2023 at 5:00 pm. No changes can be made after this period.

    5. I represent a company/organization. Are self-nominations allowed?
    Yes, we highly encourage it! Be sure to select, “I am a company representative” if you are submitting on behalf of your company/organization so you can answer questions about your company and innovation!

    6. Why do I have to answer questions about my work?
    Your responses assist the independent panel of experts to gain a clear understanding of your organization, its activities, and its impact on the region and the industry.

    7. Do I have to tell you about my revenue/earnings?
    We understand that some information is proprietary. If you feel more comfortable providing a range, that will be helpful. Alternatively, you could say “above” or “below” an amount you feel comfortable disclosing. None of this information will be made public without your approval.

    2024 SPONSORS

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    PARTNER

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