Calling all innovators
AWARDS | Nominee submissions due in less than 2 weeks
CME Group, the name of the newly merged Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, is a sponsor of the Innovation Award, and will host the reception for the nominees.
"As the world's most innovative and dynamic futures market, the CME's trading floor is the perfect location to honor the men and women in the 2007 award program," said Dan Miller, business editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and co-founder of the award.
In addition, the names of all nominees will be published in September in the Chicago Sun-Times, and the 10 winners will be profiled in a special section in October. Honorees will receive their awards on the mainstage of the Goodman Theatre Oct. 22.
Less than two weeks remain for nominations for the sixth annual award to be submitted.
If your business or organization has introduced a new product or service during the last two years, and has rung up revenues -- but not necessarily profits -- it's likely a candidate for one of 10 Chicago Innovation Awards.
For more information on the nomination process and the award program, go to www.chicagoinnovationawards.com.
"In the past five years, we've learned that innovation comes in all shapes and sizes," said Tom Kuczmarski, co-founder and name partner of new-product consultancy Kuczmarski & Associates. "Past winners have included the region's very largest firms and some of its very smallest. High-tech companies have received Innovation Awards, low-tech companies, and companies with no technology at all have been honored. We've recognized non-profit organizations, for-profit and public-sector innovations."
The award honors innovations that:
* Created a new category of business activity.
* Triggered a "me-too" responses from competitors.
* Solved unmet customer and consumer needs.
The Chicago Innovation Award program is sponsored by the CME Group, InterOcean Financial Group, Microsoft Corp., North Community Bank, and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
To enter, go to chicagoinnovationawards.com