Videos: The Value of Nominating for the Idaho Innovation Awards

Stoel Rives is proud to have organized and hosted the Idaho Innovation Awards since 2006. Winning an award, or even becoming a finalist, and the recognition that comes with it, serves to demonstrate credibility to businesses and customers that companies or individuals are seeking to reach.

Meg Carlson, president of Boise-based Prosperity Organic Foods, in discussing the significance of her company’s winning the Consumer Product of the Year Award in 2016, said, “Winning that award, really helped us leverage our legitimacy with two major retailers here in town."

And innovations that have received awards in past years have and continue to improve science, medical treatments, business processes and commerce – not only in Idaho but in communities and industries throughout the country and beyond. Past finalists have included various products and innovations that will change the future in their respective industries and have the potential to change each of our lives. The awards categories this year include:   

• Commercialized Innovation of the Year
• Consumer Product of the Year
• Early-Stage Innovation of the Year
• Innovative Company of the Year
• Innovator of the Year

At the Innovation Awards Launch Party in June, we recorded videos featuring our attorneys, selection committee members and past winners giving their perspectives on the benefits of nominating or participating in the awards—fostering Idaho’s innovation economy and providing value directly to honorees:

Meg Carlson, President of Prosperity Organic Foods, discusses what it meant to her company to be named the winner of the 2016 Idaho Innovation Awards Consumer Product of the Year Award. [length 43 sec.]	Selection Committee member Mark Stinson of Bioscience Bridge explains why the “awareness factor” is a great reason to submit an entry to the Idaho Innovation Awards. [length 31 secs.]	Meg Carlson, President of Prosperity Organic Foods, talks about challenges entrepreneurs face and how having a “never give up” attitude will help you succeed. [length 2 mins., 7 secs.]
Selection Committee member Ryan Gray, Managing Partner at SGW Designworks, gives advice to entrepreneurs on how to take their companies to the next level. [51 secs.]	Meg Carlson, President of Prosperity Organic Foods, explains how she moved from her original product idea to the one that gained success in the market place. [length 1 min., 10 secs.]	Selection Committee member Rick Ritter, Director of New Ventures Lab, describes how being involved with the awards program helps companies raise money. [length 57 sec.]
Brian Larsen, Idaho Innovation Awards Co-Chair and partner at Stoel Rives LLP, shares an update on Integrity Ballistics, 2015 Idaho Innovation Awards Commercialized Innovation of the Year Winner. [5 mins., 30 secs.]	Long-time Selection Committee member Rick Ritter, Director of New Ventures Lab in Meridian, Idaho, explains why it is important to build a team within your organization. [1 min., 4 secs.]	Idaho Innovation Awards Program Co-Chair Brian Larsen explains the value of submitting a nomination to get your product or innovation in front of the Selection Committee. [55 secs.]
Meg Carlson, President of Prosperity Organic Foods, talks about how to move your company beyond one product. [1 min., 10 secs.]	Selection Committee member Ryan Gray, Managing Partner at SGW Designworks, explains how the committee works through reviewing the nominations. [58 secs.]	Selection Committee member Mark Stinson of Bioscience Bridge explains the Four “I”s of the Idaho Innovation Awards and how it will help your nomination stand out. [2 mins., 20 secs.]

Stoel Rives has celebrated innovative companies and their accomplishments since hosting the first Innovation Awards in Salt Lake City in 2002. Each consecutive year, the law firm has celebrated new and exciting developments from businesses. In its commitment to foster innovation across the country, Stoel Rives has since expanded its Innovation Awards program to Boise, Idaho (2006) and Sacramento, California (2016). In 2017, the firm partnered with the Puget Sound Business Journal as a presenting sponsor of the publication’s inaugural awards program in Seattle, Washington.