SXSW Announces 2020 Innovation Awards Nominees And Hall Of Fame Honoree Nonny de la Peña

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals (March 13-22, 2020) today revealed the nominees for its 23rd annual SXSW Innovation Awards, presented by Sprinklr. Held Monday, March 16 at 6:00 pm CT at the Austin Convention Center (Ballroom D), the Innovation Awards Ceremony recognizes the most exciting tech developments in the connected world across 13 different categories. The winners of the Best In Show and People’s Choice Award will also be celebrated, alongside the induction of Nonny de la Peña, CEO and founder of Emblematic Group, to the SXSW Innovation Awards Hall of Fame.

Starting in June 2019, the most creative and inventive minds from around the world entered their new projects to vie for top honors in this unique, long-running SXSW competition. Five finalists from each of 13 categories were selected to showcase their projects for SXSW attendees and a panel of expert judges at the SXSW Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase on Saturday, March 14.

“The forward-thinking breakthrough projects in this year’s Innovation Awards lineup will spark a new level of wonder and inspiration within the SXSW creative community and further illustrate how technology can shape our future,” said Hugh Forrest, SXSW Chief Programming Officer. “We’re thrilled to welcome these creators to SXSW and give them a platform to showcase their inventions with hands-on experiences for all SXSW attendees.”

SXSW Hall of Fame Honoree Nonny de la Peña
Nonny de la Peña, CEO and founder of the award-winning innovation company Emblematic Group, will be honored as the newest inductee to the SXSW Innovation Awards Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame recognizes pioneers within the interactive community whose career achievements have charted the course for the future of the digital industry. Often acknowledged as “The Godmother of Virtual Reality,” de la Peña is a pioneer of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality who is widely credited with inventing the genre of immersive journalism. Under her leadership, Emblematic has built a critically-acclaimed body of work that includes tracking the chaos of the Syrian civil war to working with AT&T on projects that leverage the future of 5G technologies and machine learning. Her newest breakthrough is Emblematic’s WebVR platform REACH, which creates scalable distribution in the medium, democratizes content authorship and empowers new voices to share their stories.

Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase
In advance of the Awards Ceremony, finalists will have the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase on Saturday, March 14, 12 pm-6 pm CT, at the Austin Convention Center (Exhibit Hall 1). The Finalist Showcase offers SXSW Interactive, Music, Film, and Platinum badgeholders a first look at the most exciting tech developments, including achievements in AI and machine learning, health technology, robotics and hardware, wearable tech, and VR, AR and MR, plus a chance to place their votes for the People’s Choice Award. Registered media and official awards judges will have exclusive access to the Showcase and finalist demos that morning, 11 am-12 pm CT, and to vote to determine the winner in each category, as well as the winner of the Best of Show Award. All award winners will be announced at the SXSW Innovation Awards ceremony on March 16, 2020.

2020 Innovation Awards Finalists

AI & Machine Learning
Autonomous Robots Collecting Impossible Data by Exyn Technologies | Philadelphia, PA, USA
Cortex Certifai by CognitiveScale | Austin, TX, USA
Rebuilt From Memories by Jung Von Matt/Nektar | Hamburg, Germany
VUniverse: Streaming Services Simplified by VUniverse | Brooklyn, NY, USA
Yonder Narrative by Yonder | Austin, TX, USA

Climate, Culture, & Social Impact
Eos Bioreactor by Hypergiant Industries | Austin, TX, USA
Food Recycling with Black Soldier Fly by Grubin | Tokyo, Japan
Future Farm: Sustainable AgTech by Bifarm Tech | Weston, FL, USA
Pioneering a new category: Air-Based Protein by Air Protein™ | Hayward, CA, USA
Sunthetics: Manufacturing For A Cleaner Future by Sunthetics | Brooklyn, NY, USA

Health, Med, & BioTech
A Vital Need to Transform Healthcare by Vital | Atlanta, GA, USA
Beddr Precision Sleep Health by Beddr Sleep | Mountain View, CA, USA
EQ Brain Performance by Highmark Interactive | Toronto, ON, CANADA
FastTrack AI – CAR-T Serial Killing Tracking by MetaVi Labs | Austin, TX, USA
Personalized Medication Management by knowRX, Inc. | Austin, TX, USA

Innovation in Connecting People
JFK Moonshot by Digitas | Boston, MA, USA
Lynk everyone. Everywhere. All the time. By Lynk Global, Inc. | Falls Church, VA, USA
Memory Lane by Accenture Interactive | Stockholm, Sweden
PlayTable: digital boardgame console by Blok Party | South San Francisco, CA, USA
Project #ShowUs by Razorfish | Miami, FL, USA

Music & Audio Innovation
Audio Design Desk by Audio Design Desk, LLC | West Hollywood, CA, USA
Big in Japan by Zulu Alpha Kilo | Toronto, ON, CANADA
Radio Tinnitus by Rothco, part of Accenture Interactive | Dublin, Ireland
Sound Sculpture by MASARY Studios | Boston, MA, USA
The Dubler Studio Kit by Vochlea Music | London, UK

New Economy
banQi by AirFox | Boston, MA
Financial Freedom for Freelancers by Joust | Austin, TX, USA
KFC Pocket Franchise by Ho Communications, Part of Accenture Interactive | Shanghai, China
Openfinance by Openfinance | Chicago, IL, USA
Trade Logistics Information Pipeline by Fjord & Trademark East Africa | Copenhagen, Denmark & Nairobi, Kenya

Robotics & Hardware
Meeting Owl Pro by Owl Labs | Somerville, MA, USA
Misty II by Misty Robotics, Inc. | Boulder, CO, USA
Octobo: An Educational, Interactive Smart Plush by Thinker-Tinker | Pasadena, CA, USA
Olis Master Controller by Olis Robotics | Seattle, WA, USA
Roybi Robot by ROYBI Inc. | Mountain View, CA, USA

Smart Cities, Transportation & Logistics
Atom Power Digital Circuit Breaker by Atom Power | Charlotte, NC, USA
First Autonomous Shuttle in Central FL by Beep | Orlando, FL, USA
SmartphoneHub and COBI.Bike app by Bosch eBike Systems | Foothill Ranch, CA, USA
The HY Project by The Electric Factory Group | Montevideo, Uruguay
Zero-Emission Aviation Technology by ZeroAvia | Hollister, CA, USA

Speculative Design
AEX – Augmented Editorial Experience by Publicis Sapient | Miami, FL, USA
Hot Wheels id by Mattel, Inc. | El Segundo, CA, USA
Protegé by Jung Von Matt/AG | Hamburg, Germany
The Sending Machine by Publicis Sapient | Miami, FL, USA
UNUM by Frog Design | Brooklyn, NY, USA

Student Innovation
Ascend by University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA, USA
Kaleidoscope by Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Safe ID by Miami Ad School Europe | Hamburg, Germany
The MakerBrace: 3D Printed Orthotics by MakerSpace at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering | Brooklyn, NY, USA
True Type Freedom (.TTF) by Monotype by Miami Ad School Europe | Hamburg, Germany

Visual Media Experience
SuperReal by Moment Factory & Cipriani | New York, NY, USA
Undersea by Magic Leap | Plantation, FL, USA
Walk the Moon with Apollo’s Moon Shot AR by Smithsonian Channel | Washington, D.C., USA
Hall of Heroes by BBDO New York | New York, NY, USA
Women in Motion AR Art Exhibit by Studio Moshon | Los Angeles, CA, USA

Wearable Tech
Apollo by Apollo Neuroscience Inc | Pittsburgh, PA, USA
ElectroDermis by Soft Machines Lab & Morphing Matter Lab, Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Gatorade Gx Sweat Patch & App by Gatorade, Smart Design, Epicore Biosystems | New York, NY, USA
PEEX – Augmented Audio Reality for Live Music by PEEX | London, UK
SpotOn: The World is Your Backyard by OnPoint Systems, LLC | Bedford, NH, USA

XR
BeeHive: Virtual Production Management by Glassbox Technologies | Los Angeles, CA, USA
Encoded Forms by Dell Technologies | Round Rock, TX, USA
Lets Plott- Extended Reality Platform by Plott | Dover, NJ, USA
The Under Presents by Tender Claws | Los Angeles, CA, USA
WebAR Cloud Editor + Hosting by 8th Wall | Palo Alto, CA, USA

SPECIAL HONORS

Hall of Fame
Honoring those exceptional trailblazers whose work has helped shape the connected world and who continue to guide the direction of the digital industry.

Best of Show
The finalist from the competition who overall best exemplifies the values of innovation, inspiration, and creativity.

People’s Choice Award
The public’s favorite finalist from the Innovation Awards.

David Carr Prize
Award for a top emerging writer which honors David Carr and his breadth of work as a journalist, author and longtime speaker at SXSW.

About SXSW
SXSW dedicates itself to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. An essential destination for global professionals, the event features sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities. SXSW proves that the most unexpected discoveries happen when diverse topics and people come together. SXSW 2020 will take place March 13-22, 2020. For more information, please visit sxsw.com. To register for the event, please visit sxsw.com/attend.

SXSW 2020 is sponsored by White Claw, American Express and The Austin Chronicle.

Press Contacts

Brett Cannon
brett@sxsw.com
512-467-7979

Brooke Bauguess
brooke@violetkaipr.com
310-863-0278

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SOURCE South By Southwest