Wood: BizWest seeks nominations for IQ Awards

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BizWest once again seeks nominations for the IQ Awards, honoring the “Innovation Quotient” among the region’s companies.

Nominations are open for the primary awards, honoring innovative products and services. Products must have come to market no earlier than Jan. 1, 2022, or be in a beta-testing mode. Significant upgrades to existing products also qualify, as do products still in prototype mode.

BizWest will accept nominations from throughout our coverage area — Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties, plus Brighton and Westminster.

All products must be submitted by companies based in or with a significant presence in the region. 

Innovations spring from private and public companies, university research, and federal laboratories every day. The region has ample history of products going from the idea stage to research, development, beta testing and manufacturing, with many companies going on to become national or global players.

Whether it be aerospace, ag tech, computer hardware, life sciences, natural products, the outdoor industry, quantum computing, robotics, software, telecommunications or some other field, the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado are recognized globally as centers of innovation.

For IQ, innovations must be able to support a “sustainable” business model. Although financials are requested as part of the nomination process, a certain level of revenues or profits is not a deciding criteria in the evaluation process; potential is more important.

An independent panel of judges will review the nominations, dividing them into appropriate categories, such as aerospace, bioscience, consumer products, natural and organic, sports and outdoors, software, business products, etc.

Finalists will be announced in all categories, with winners unveiled at a combined Mercury 100/IQ Awards gala celebration, scheduled for May 16 at the Boulder Theater.

Mercury 100 honors the region’s fastest-growing private companies, with 50 honorees from the Boulder Valley and 50 from Northern Colorado. Submit data for the Mercury 100 lists, or nominations for the IQ Awards, at https://events.bizwest.com/mercury-100-and-iq-awards/

Christopher Wood can be reached at 303-630-1942 or cwood@bizwest.com

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Christopher Wood

Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.