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TechPoint announces Mira Award nominees

(photo courtesy of TechPoint)

INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis-based TechPoint has unveiled the nominees for the 2021 Mira Awards, honoring the “Best in Tech in Indiana.” The nonprofit growth accelerator for the state’s tech sector says this year’s event will be held virtually in April and includes more than 120 nominees across 13 categories, including the recently-added “Pandemic Pivot of the Year” award. TechPoint Chief Executive Officer Mike Langellier says the stories from this year’s nominees demonstrate “inspirational and remarkable creativity, resilience and persistence amidst the challenges of a pandemic.”

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Langellier said the nominee class is the most diverse in the program’s history.

“Thirty-six percent of the nominees (are) women, people of color, immigrants or more than one of those intersectional groups and that’s at an owner, founder or CEO/president role,” said Langellier. “The other, in that diversity category is breadth; we have nominees that range from Fortune 500s with thousands of employees and billions of dollars in revenue to startup and scale-up stage companies that experienced three- and four-digit growth last year.”

The nominees were chosen by a group of 52 independent judges that included company founders, CEOs and presidents, and other leaders. 

Langellier says the “Pandemic Pivot of the Year” category fills a gap in the state’s tech story from 2020.

“We had a few companies that reached out and said that last year was remarkable, but not for the reasons that we would normally apply and we started to hear those stories about companies that did remarkable things to adapt, to step into a problem happening in society or in the marketplace due to the pandemic and we realized there wasn’t really an awards category to capture those stories and to celebrate those successes,” said Langellier.

Last year’s Mira Awards ceremony was held virtually to an audience of more than 5,000 a few months later than normal due to the pandemic. This year’s ceremony, set for April 22, will also be virtual.

The nominees for this year’s Mira Awards include:

Tech Product of the Year – (Highly innovative and ground-breaking tech products that burst onto the scene or achieved a major milestone in 2020)

  • 3Oe Scientific – IGGY
  • ConverSight.ai
  • Cummins – Acumen
  • DemandJump – Account-Based Attribution
  • DemandJump – Insights For Content (IFC)
  • Docket – Meeting Productivity Software
  • Encamp – Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Compliance Software
  • Malomo – SMB Shipment Tracking Platform
  • OneCause – Virtual Event Center
  • Realync – DIY Virtual Leasing and Engagement Platform
  • Rolls-Royce – AE 2100 Virtual Reality Maintenance Training Software
  • Zotec Partners – COVID Information Management System

Service Partner of the Year – (The year’s best service provider delivering remarkable, impactful service to clientswhether they be external or internal)

  • Blackink IT
  • DeliverEnd
  • High Alpha Innovation
  • Mobile reCell
  • PIER Group
  • Pondurance
  • RocketBuild
  • Studio Science

Innovation of the Year – (A brand new way of doing things that revolutionizes, advances, or creates new tech industries and fields)

  • 120Water – Wastewater Monitoring for COVID-19
  • 3Oe Scientific – IGGY
  • Benegraft – Rapid Dicer
  • Fight for Life Foundation – Building Dreams App
  • HySonic Technologies
  • InsightTRAC – Robotic Mummy Removal
  • NearWave Imager
  • OneCause – Virtual Event Center
  • Photon Automation – Pulse Spread Technology
  • SAAM – S-Series Air Quality Monitoring Device
  • Teichos Laboratories – Immune Response Amplifier
  • Verma Lab at Purdue University – DISCOVER Biosensors

Rising Entrepreneur Award – (A class of passionate and creative entrepreneurial leaders thriving in Indiana)

  • Yaw Aning, CEO, Malomo
  • Leslie Bailey, Owner, Indy Maven
  • Meng Deng, Founder and President, Adipo Therapeutics
  • Anna Haldewang, Founder and CEO, InsightTRAC™
  • Darye Henry, Founder and CEO, AfterSchool HQ
  • Luke Jacobs, Co-founder and CEO, Encamp
  • Rian Mc Donnell, CEO, FloWaste
  • Evan Rocheford, CEO, NutraMaize
  • Britain Taylor, CEO, ShuffleMe
  • Lindsay Tjepkema, Co-founder and CEO, Casted
  • Geng Wang, CEO, Civic Champs
  • Matt Weirich, Co-founder and CEO, Realync

Tech Education Award – (Celebrating educators and education innovators who inspire and have a positive impact on student achievement)

  • Linda D. Calvin, VP, School of IT, Ivy Tech Community College
  • Digital Leader Academy
  • CIO Matt Etchison, CDO Brad Watts and the Ivy Tech Community College ITS Team
  • Drew Goodin, Lead Instructor, Purdue Polytechnic High School
  • WGU Indiana
  • Zebulun M. Wood, Lecturer, IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI

Investor of the Year – (The venture firms or angel investors who bring money plus outstanding connections, advice and attention to Indiana companies)

  • BIP Capital
  • IU Ventures
  • Susquehanna Growth Equity

Community Impact Award – (Individuals and organizations that have gone above and beyond to support the advancement of Indiana’s tech community)

  • Anushree Bag, Executive Director of Risk and Compliance, Indiana Office of Technology
  • DeliverEnd
  • gener8tor
  • Armando Hernandez, Principal Scrum Master, Roche
  • Indy Women in Tech – EMPOWERIndy @HOME
  • Jared Linder, CIO, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
  • Mary Rinehart, President and CEO, 1st Maker Space
  • The Polis Center at IUPUI – SAVI Coronavirus Data Hub
  • Trajectory
  • Women & Hi Tech

Exceptional Employer Award – (Companies doing an exceptional job of hiring and developing talent, cultivating workspaces and workplace culture and deliberately increasing diversity)

  • ActiveCampaign
  • Delta Faucet Company
  • GadellNet Consulting Services
  • Greenlight Guru
  • KSM Consulting
  • Moser Consulting
  • myCOI
  • Republic Airways/LIFT Academy
  • Socio
  • Springbuk

Pandemic Pivot of the Year – 200 Employees or Fewer (Small to medium-sized tech employers who responded in remarkable ways to serve societal or customer needs, seize market opportunities or survive amidst pandemic-induced challenges)

  • 120Water – Wastewater Monitoring for COVID-19
  • 1st Maker Space – STEM Take-Out Kits & Professional Teacher Training
  • Baker Hill – NextGen SBA Fast Track
  • ConverSight’s myLIBRO – Contactless Library Services
  • hc1 – CV19 Lab Testing Dashboard and Workforce Advisor
  • Markey’s Rental & Staging – Markey’s Virtual Presence
  • OneCause – Virtual Event Center
  • Playlister – Customizable Streaming for Churches and Schools
  • Socio – Virtual, Hybrid, and In-Person Events
  • Vibenomics – Audio Out-Of-Home™ Brand Advertising

Pandemic Pivot of the Year – More than 200 Employees (Large Enterprises and Institutional tech employers who responded in remarkable ways to serve societal or customer needs, seize market opportunities or survive amidst pandemic-induced challenges)

  • Aria Diagnostics – COVID 19 Testing Lab and Test Kits
  • Eli Lilly and Company – COVID 19 Testing Lab & Drive-Thru Service
  • Franklin College – LMS & Digital Fluency
  • Genesys – COVID-19 Taskforce
  • Indiana University – University Information Technology Services
  • KAR Global – Simulcast+
  • Netfor with Indiana Department of Workforce Development
  • Regenstrief Institute and Indiana Health Information Exchange – Indiana Pandemic Information Collaborative (IPIC) and the Regenstrief COVID-19 Dashboard
  • Republic Airways
  • Zotec Partners – COVID Information Management System

Startup of the Year – (Startups with great potential that demonstrate the creative, strategic and innovative entrepreneurial spirit of Indiana’s technology industry)

  • 3Oe Scientific
  • Authenticx
  • Casted
  • ConverSight.ai 
  • Decimal
  • Docket
  • Filo
  • FloWaste
  • Kennected
  • Malomo

Scale-up of the Year – (High-growth, innovation-driven companies that provide technology products or services, are gaining traction and could be Indiana’s next big success stories)

  • Boardable
  • Encamp
  • Greenlight Guru
  • LifeOmic
  • Lucidia IT
  • Passageways
  • Realync
  • Sharpen Technologies
  • Socio
  • Solinftec
  • Vibenomics
  • Wunderkind

Large Enterprise of the Year – (Companies with exceptional innovation and market position that are helping Indiana to become a recognized technology leader, putting Indiana on the map in the technology world)

  • Allegion
  • Becks Hybrids
  • Delta Faucet Company
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • KAR Global
  • UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group)
  • Verizon

Additionally, two special industry recognition awards, the TechPoint Trailblazer Award and the TechPoint Foundation for Youth Bridge Builder Award, will be announced prior to the awards gala.

You can learn more about this year’s Mira Awards by clicking here.