TechEDGE 2012 Regional Technology Award Winners Announced

June 6, 2012 - PRLog -- TechEDGE, the Region 2000 Technology Council's new annual conference and 11th annual regional technology awards, took place on May 15th, 2012 in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia. This year's theme focused on how technology and technology-based businesses and organizations are "Shaping the future of Virginia's Region 2000". With 14 speakers throughout the day, ending with a time of member exhibits and extended networking, TechEDGE 2012 was a time for the regional technology community to come together for inspiration and renewed focus. But most importantly, it was also a time when we recognize local innovators and business leaders that are truly leading on the 'techedge'. The leaders that were honored with this year's TechEDGE regional technology awards have shown excellence and innovation in their specific fields.

This year's awards went to:

Technology Company of the Year: Harris Corporation.

This year’s winner has proven itself as a leader in its field, a technology pillar in the community, and an available resource to other technology companies in Region 2000. They have been a long-standing sponsor of the Region 2000 Technology Council and a founding industry partner at the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research. This year’s winner of the Technology Company of the Year Award is Harris Communications’ Public Safety and Professional Communications Division.

Harris is a leading supplier of assured communications systems and equipment for public safety, federal, utility, commercial and transportation markets — with products ranging from the most advanced IP voice and data networks, to next-generation, secure public safety-grade solutions for voice, video and data applications, to industry leading multiband, multimode radios. Harris has more than 80 years of experience in public safety and professional communications and supports over 500 systems around the world.

Entrepreneur of the Year: NanoTouch.

Everywhere you go these days you’ll notice hand sanitizer dispensers or disinfectant wipes. It’s not uncommon to see these in a wide variety of public places, including your supermarket, church, or school. Most of the techniques used to prevent the spread of germs involve cleaning and disinfecting surfaces.

This year’s winner of the entrepreneur of the year award approached the problem from a different angle, creating low cost, self-cleaning surfaces. Our winner’s products constantly trap and kill bacteria, viruses and fungi without relying on the diligence of a cleaning crew or the personal hygiene of individuals.

Over the last 2 years, Dennis Hackemeyer and Mark Sisson, partners in KiteString Marketing, have been working to incorporate the latest antimicrobial nanotechnology, molecularly bonded to a variety of materials. The result is NanoTouch…a line of products that include portable items such as vanity and airline tray-table mats and removable adhesive products for door push pads, push bars, door handles and handrail wraps. Recognizing the importance of public perception, the communication and branding opportunities that NanoTouch provides can be its greatest value...telling people where to touch or place personal items, and letting them know the provider is committed to their health and wellbeing.

Educator of the Year: David Childress, supervisor of technology for Amherst County Public Schools.

This year’s winner came to Amherst County Public Schools in 2004 as the Supervisor of Technology. Over the last eight years, our winner has worked closely with all shareholders to develop and implement the resources for information and instructional technology that the students and teachers of Amherst County use every day. Recently, our winner has developed a program called T.E.A.S. (Technology Education Application Systems) that brings together the web and mobile iDevices such as iPods and iPads.

T.E.A.S. apps currently are being developed specifically for Apple iPods and iPads that are being integrated throughout all schools in Amherst County. To date, our winner has created with his development team more than a dozen applications now available in the iTunes app store.

Our winner’s visionary approach to placing students in the creative learning seat can be showcased in his Technology After School Club (T.A.S.C.) which started last year and now continues as a enrichment class at Monelison Middle School. Students learn the basic programming skills through direct instruction and gain valuable experience seeing their hard work come to life in the iTunes store.

This year’s winner continues to champion technology, math, and science learning through his innovative efforts to provide excellent hands-on mobile learning activities for students in our area and around the world. He deserves to be recognized for his 8 years of dedication to public education and his 18 years of modernizing technology in local companies and organizations.

Innovator of the Year: CMAT Container.

In the early fall of October 2006, a rather passionate conversation occurred at a small kitchen table right here in Lynchburg, Virginia which inspired a concept that was sketched onto paper. That concept was an apparatus which stored unstable ingredients and sheltered them in a "stable" environment with the purpose of getting basic and therapeutic nutrition into the malnourished people of the world. A year later, that design concept became a prototype and by 2008, the developers were submitting the first of what would become multiple patents. Today, a new "CAP Technology" for liquid containers is respectfully labeled as the "rolls royce" of delivery systems and has two design patents and a utility patent. With the CAP technology patented, the developers helped form CMAT Container to continue with research and development, manufacturing, and commercialization of the technology, marketable across multiple industries.