Registration open for IQ Awards honoring innovative products

BOULDER — Registration is open for the IQ Awards, honoring the “Innovation Quotient” among Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado companies.

Launched in 2000, the IQ Awards recognize innovative companies and organizations based in Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties and the U.S. Highway 36 corridor, as well as local divisions of national and international companies that have been instrumental in developing the most innovative products and services.

Finalists in seven categories will be featured at the IQ Awards ceremony, to be held at the Boulder JCC, 6007 Oleg Ave., from 4:30 to 6 p.m., Dec. 9.

Finalists in the various categories include:

Aerospace, Manufacturing & Robotics

Opterus R&D Inc., Loveland — Opterus’ Trussed Collapsible Tubular Masts enable large, high-volume space solar arrays and structures.

PickNik Inc., Boulder — MoveIt Studio is a robotic manipulator interface software that enables human operators to do more complex tasks. The company’s approach supports a broad range of unstructured and high-latency environments such as urban areas, inside buildings, microgravity, and subsea.

Vita Inclinata Technologies Inc., Broomfield — Stability systems to help helicopter operators more safely carry cargo loads in adverse conditions.

Business Products & Services

Airius LLC, Longmont — The PureAir Series of fans uses Need Point Bipolar Ionization technology from Global Plasma Solutions to continuously send ionized air circulating in a room.

Clear Comfort Water Inc., Louisville — Clear Comfort’s patented Advanced Oxidation treatment systems minimize exposure to toxic pool and spa chemicals and harmful disinfection byproducts.

Lariat Marketing Hub, Loveland — Software-as-a-Service platform geared for marketers looking to save time and increase productivity, featuring Project Tracking, Time Tracking, Digital Asset Management and Lead Management. 

Cannabis & Agriculture

Lifetonic, Boulder — LifeTonic turns extracted plant compounds into salts, which dissolve immediately. LifeTonic’s ionized cannabis products enter the bloodstream immediately upon consumption and skip the stomach-and-liver journey. 

Urban-gro Inc., Lafayette — urban-gro has expanded into the vertical farming Controlled Environment Agriculture sub-segment, which is ultimately and predominantly used for the cultivation of a variety of crops including leafy greens, herbs, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries. 

Wana Brands, Boulder — Wana Quick Fast-Acting Gummies provide Delta-9 THC effects similar to inhaled cannabis with an onset time of just five to 15 minutes and an average offset time of only three hours.

Energy & Utilities

Gridmetrics Inc., Louisville — Gridmetrics’ Power Event Notification System (PENS) uses a unique dataset to provide near real-time, hyperlocal insights into the availability and quality of power from the electrical grid by scanning its network of approximately 300,000 power sensors every five minutes.

Maplewell Inc., Boulder — Maplewell focuses on decentralized energy, transforming military, government, and industrial infrastructure with AI and Digital Twins to maximize operational resiliency, reliability, and efficiency in a decarbonized energy future.

YES Energy LLC, Boulder — Yes Energy has launched Position Management, a turnkey, consolidated solution empowering the Middle Office to oversee trading performance and manage risk for all Nodal power market trading activities.

Health Care

Origin Healthcare Inc., Fort Collins — Origin Healthcare is a new model of hospital level care. Rather than going to the hospital for an acute illness, patients can now be cared for at home.

Quorum Prosthetics Inc., Windsor — Quorum Prosthetics has developed the Quatro, a prosthetic socket design that allows easier application and release of the prosthetic, while increasing comfort and performance for the user. The socket is the device that connects one’s limb to the remainder of the prosthetic.

ROLL Recovery LLC, Boulder — Created by athletes, for athletes, the new R8 Plus is a deep-tissue massage tool.

Life Sciences

Aspero Medical Inc., Boulder — Aspero Medical’s first product, the Ancora balloon overtube, includes recently patented Pillar balloon texturing technology. The Ancora silicone balloons reduce slippage and increase purchase during gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures.

Laporte Immunotherapeutics Inc., Fort Collins — Laporte Immunotherapeutics is developing a new immunotherapeutic eye drop (Ocummune) technology to treat chronic ocular herpesvirus infections (herpes simplex and zoster) as well as ocular surface neoplasia (OSSN) involving the cornea.

Lightdeck Diagnostics, Boulder — Leveraging a precise but little-known laser technology called planar waveguide, LightDeck’s platform offers on-the-spot, lab-quality diagnostics for COVID-19 antigens and antibodies, which can be deployed almost anywhere, from emergency departments, to nursing homes, schools and airports.

Natural & Organic

Frescos Naturales, Boulder — Frescos Naturales are flavorful, low sugar, real fruit refreshments inspired by vibrant Latin American cultures, modern taste and traditional aguas frescas. 

Future Fit Foods LLC, Longmont — Suppas are a line of instantly fresh plant-based soups designed in mini-meals for everyday convenience. 

Terraseed Inc., Boulder — Terraseed is building sustainably sourced, vegan supplements packaged in the first-ever, fully biodegradable pill bottle aimed to support the health of people and the health of the planet.

Several companies also will compete in a pitch slam event, presenting to a panel of judges, with the audience voting on the overall “Innovation of the Year.”

Tickets for the event cost $29.49 for BizWest subscribers and $39.49 for non-subscribers through Dec. 2. After that date, general-admission pricing will be in effect, $39.49 for subscribers and $49.49 for non-subscribers. Tickets may be purchased here.

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