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The winners of The Creative Coast Initiative’s annual Innovation Awards competition were announced last night after a dynamic street party event on Broughton St.  It was the culmination of months of planning by the  TCCi’s leadership team, Brynne Grant and Fitz Haile.
In early October, finalists were named in four categories of technology innovation: Small Business, Big Business, Sustainability and Community, Education or Government. 

Small Business Winner
Music Intelligence Solutions, Inc., with a dynamic online Web technology strategy that analyzes the composition of music under the brand name uPlaya, won in the Small Business category. uPlaya.com, is an interactive online service “that meets the growing needs of musicians and songwriters (both established and unknown in the marketplace), producers, music supervisors, mobile distributors and anyone who has an affinity for music," according to David Meredith, president. The new online site was launched in early 2009 and uses proprietary and patent-protected technology to power “Hit Song Science” and the “Music Universe” which allow for immediate, scientific market analysis and popularity ranking prediction of music worldwide.

In addition, the site offers a suite of services for consumers, including online and mobile interactive games, a music discovery application and a personalized streaming solution.

Also named as finalists in the category were PureSpectrum Inc., the Savannah-based company that has developed dimmable ballasts for compact fluorescent lights and linear fluorescent ballasts, as well as a new wireless light dimming control system; and Say It Right, which has developed a phonemic approach to reading  remediation for the letter “R,” one of the most frequently-found and most difficult to treat childhood articulation errors.

Big Business Winner
In the Big Business category, the innovation winner was Chatham Steel for the company’s "Steel Fit" Wellness Program. Accepting the award was president Bert Tannenbaum.
In 1999, when most businesses were preoccupied with the impact of Y2K, Chatham Steel was instead trying to get a handle on the company's rising health care expenses. It realized the correlation between managing employees' health and the impact that it made on the company's health care costs. Chatham Steel collaborated with INTERVENT to track chronic risk factors, i.e., obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose levels and provided lifestyle management programs to its truck drivers to modify those particular risk factors. Once the results were realized, this successful pilot program developed into a company-wide effort.

Also named finalists were Coastal Logistics, Inc. and DIRTT Environmental Solutions.
Coastal Logistics, Inc. has developed internal software development and IT strategies, products which fill gaps in the logistics market for providers that offer the sophistication of the big third party logistics providers (3PL) while maintaining the agility and customer centric focus of the smaller companies.

DIRTT was nominated for its flexible, customizable walls for commercial office space which are not only created using sustainable methods (best use of materials, all waste recycling, all water-based adhesives and finishes, carpool and hybrid car allowances), but also allow clients to be environmentally sustainable.

Community, Education or Government Winner
The winner for innovation in the community last night was the Savannah Music Festival for its off-season communications initiative of new media programs and the organizational use of technology to cultivate patron relationships and streamline production processes, allowing it to generate a 20 percent revenue growth in a down economy.

The festival leadership was credited with integrating the use of PURLs (personal URLs), SMF live radio (broadcasting online on GBP statewide and across eight other states), eBlasts, ticketing/patron development (interfacing its ticketing and the development of databases to create specific audience target areas) and its substantial production database (data/content that ties together the artists/vendors involved in the festival, from agencies and managers to sound and light companies, to volunteers and interns), an innovative approach that could soon be taken to market for other festivals and presenting organizations.

Also named as a finalist in the category was Community Health Mission (the lead agency) in consortium with St. Mary's Community Center, Community Cardiovascular Council and MedBank for their "Nobody is Left Behind Program," an integrated community outreach and primary healthcare delivery program for the uninsured and under-served. These four organizations, collectively known as the Access To Healthcare Team (ACTH), offer a range of health services and ensure patients get appropriate treatment and follow-up, specifically for chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

The program also works to modify unhealthy lifestyle choices, accomplished through screening and identification, physical exams, lifestyle assessments, disease management, prevention and health promotion and access to free prescription drugs.

Also a finalist in the category was the “Healthy Savannah Initiative” of the City of Savannah, led by Mayor Otis Johnson. The Healthy Savannah Initiative was formed in early 2007 for the purpose of establishing a community-wide collaboration to lead and support healthy lifestyles in Savannah.

Sustainability Winner
This year’s winner in the sustainability arena of innovation was Structured Green LLC., founded in 2007, which has developed a process that involves reclaimed, recycled and/or certified materials, delivering eco-friendly furnishings and build-outs, minimal business operation footprint and cradle-to-cradle products driven by the global economy. Its products use low VOC, non-toxic, formaldehyde-free glues and finishes for improved indoor air quality and the company goes the extra step to ensure that all materials are FSC certified, 100 peercent reclaimed, recycled and/or salvaged from commercial and residential waste streams.

Needed materials are sourced from within a 500 mile radius to minimize footprint and contribute to local economies, and many of its products are produced with direct input from consumers and developed for their specific needs as opposed to mass produced mundane furnishings.

Over the next three months Structured Green plans to become carbon neutral, take its business operations completely off grid, generate zero waste (find new uses for its trash) and release a residential line of furniture available through 40-50 retailers nationwide, according to owner James Ayres, who accepted the award at the event.

Also honored as a finalist in the sustainability category was IKEA Savannah for its pallet-free racking solution.  The company has implemented the solution for its local distribution center that allows it to unload and transport goods directly from the truck and into the racking using only the paper slipsheets and other handling aids fastened to the unitized goods by its suppliers. Based in part on its local success, IKEA has made it a global mandate to eliminate all wooden pallets from the supply chain by fiscal year 2011. The local Savannah facility is regarded as the most significant innovator driving this process.

Also named a finalist was Refuel Savannah LLC. for its local WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) business operation. The company collects waste cooking oil from local kitchens. After hauling, cleaning and filtering the oil, it then provides feedstock to local biodiesel plants with whom it has developed a Savannah-based blend of biodiesel - ultimately selling and delivering ASTM-certified biodiesel to clients in and around Savannah, including the River Street streetcars.

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