SXSW Innovation Awards 2023

The Strap Tech team accepting the "Best in Show" SXSW Innovation Award.

As befits a conference that somehow manages to fuse music, film, and technology into one jam-packed week, game-changing technology was honored across a wide swath of areas at the 2022 SXSW Innovation Awards ceremony in Austin, Texas this week. Eighteen different awards were given in categories ranging from AI & Machine Learning and Health, Med & BioTech to Music & Audio Innovation and Wearable Tech. There were also less overt categories such as “Speculative Design” and “Innovation in Connecting People” to cover some of the in-between areas that technology tends to straddle.

“Tonight, you’re going to see an incredibly diverse group of finalists and projects making an impact on societies and communities,” said entrepreneur and CEO of Empowering a Billion Women  Ingrid Vanderveldt, who served as the evening’s emcee. Indeed, most of the award finalists – even those focused on more traditional categories – had some components of not only innovation, but also urgent issues in sustainability, inclusiveness, and health. It’s worth remembering that SXSW has always been a hothouse for innovative new apps and technologies. The 10-day gathering is where Twitter first exploded, though didn’t actually launch, in 2007. But with all the crises  – pandemics, supply chain issues, global warming, war –  going on in the world simultaneously at the moment, the types of innovations have evolved for the 2020s.

“Tonight, you’re going to see an incredibly diverse group of finalists and projects making an impact on societies and communities,” said entrepreneur and CEO of Empowering a Billion Women  Ingrid Vanderveldt, who served as the evening’s emcee. Indeed, most of the award finalists – even those focused on more traditional categories – had some components of not only innovation, but also urgent issues in sustainability, inclusiveness, and health. It’s worth remembering that SXSW has always been a hothouse for innovative new apps and technologies. The 10-day gathering is where Twitter first exploded, though didn’t actually launch, in 2007. But with all the crises  – pandemics, supply chain issues, global warming, war –  going on in the world simultaneously at the moment, the types of innovations have evolved for the 2020s.

Here are some highlights of the award winners in the more overtly consumer electronics (CE) categories.

The all-in-one Proto M tabletop hologram communications device goes on sale this year.

In the Health, Med, & BioTech category, which, according to Vanderveldt’s presentation, “honors the best new technology to improve the quality, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, and health and medicine,” the award went to Fluo Labs, which has pioneered a light therapy-based allergy relief technology that’s drug-free. “It is unbelievable to win this award in Austin, the hay fever capital of the United States,” joked Fluo Labs CEO Lawrence Johnson as he accepted the award on stage. (Indeed, spring has sprung, and along with it, allergies, in Austin already.)

The “Innovation in Connecting People” award, which looks at “the most forward-thinking ways to connect and communicate with others” went to Proto M,  which is an all-in-one, tabletop hologram device aimed at both home and business uses to provide 3D telepresence (or “holoportation”), entertainment, education, and even retail and marketing. Featuring built-in cameras that let callers see what’s at the other end of a “call,” the Proto M will be available to enterprise customers in the coming months, then consumers.

UBQ Materials 3D printer filament is made with unsorted household waste.

In the Music and Audio Innovation category, companies with “the most innovative devices or services that change and improve the way we’ve listened to, composed, and enjoyed music” went head-to-head, with the award going to A_DA’s “Undercurrent,” a set of 11 audiovisual installations in a multi-level building in Brooklyn by musical artists such as Bon Iver, Jorja Smith, Khruangbin, The 1975, and others.

In the “Speculative Design” category, which focuses on technology used in the development and creation of products, UBQ Materials won the award for creating the world’s first 3D printer filament with thermoplastic that’s derived from unsorted household waste. It can be used in 3D printing of prototypes, products, parts, and other additive manufacturing needs.

Some of the coolest products come out of academia, as evidenced by the “Student Innovation” category winner, Tapis Magique, an electronic carpet fitted with 3D pressure sensors that create different sounds depending on how a dancer is moving. While it’s still far from showing up at the local Best Buy as a Twister-meets-Simon party game, the MIT Media Lab-created interactive textile carpet can also be looked at as a next-gen performance instrument for choreographers and dancers in a performing arts context.

Appropriately for a technology that helps people, the “People’s Choice” award went to Comcast Business’s Lift Zones, which is a network of thousands of free WiFi hotspots in public spaces like community centers, parks, schools,  libraries, and other public spaces, as well as some small businesses  

Some of the most innovative products lately are coming in the health and wellness space, including assistive technologies. Strap Tech’s Ara is a wearable device that uses a gyroscope, accelerometer, light sensors, and ultrasonic sensors to detect objects and obstacles around a user’s environment and alerts them via haptic feedback. Designed for blind and visually-impaired users, it won an SXSW Innovation Award not only in the “Wearable” category, but also won the “Best in Show” award. 

Here’s the full list, courtesy of SXSW, of the 2022 SXSW Innovation Award winners:

2022 SXSW Innovation Award  Winners

AI & Machine Learning:

Quicktime Next-Gen Insights for Personalized Brain Care – Omniscient Neurotechnology (o8t) (Sydney, Australia)

Health, Med & BioTech:

Pioneering the Future of Allergy Relief – Fluo Labs, Inc. (Chicago, IL)

Innovation in Connecting People:

Proto M – Proto Inc. (formerly known as PORTL) (Los Angeles, CA)

Music & Audio Innovation:

Undercurrent – A_DA (Brooklyn, NY)

New Economy:

Hydrogen Energy Release Optimizer (HERO) – Star Scientific, Ltd. (Sydney, Australia)

Robotics & Hardware:

Vulcan, Bulletproof Precision Weeding for Vegetable Farms – FarmWise (San Francisco, CA)

Smart Cities, Transportation & Delivery:

Intelligent Infrastructure Solution – Velodyne Lidar (San Jose, CA)

Social & Culture Impact:

Degree Inclusive – Wunderman Thompson Argentina (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Speculative Design:

The First-Ever Waste Based Filament – UBQ Materials (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Student Innovation:

Tapis Magique: A Choreomusical Interactive Carpet – MIT Media Labs (Cambridge, MA)

Visual Media Experience:

Un(re)solved – Frontline PBS and Ado Ato Pictures (Brighton, MA)

VR, AR & MR:

Osso VR Surgical Training Platform – Osso VR (San Francisco, CA)

Wearable Tech:

STRAP TECH – STRAP TECHNOLOGIES (Austin, TX)

Best in Show:

STRAP TECH – STRAP TECHNOLOGIES (Austin, TX)

People’s Choice:

Lift Zones from Comcast – Comcast (Philadelphia, PA)

Innovation Awards Special Recognition:

GiveDirect-Novissi COVID-19 Aid – GiveDirectly, Government of Togo’s Ministry of Digital Economy & Digital Transformation, the Center for Effective Global Action, and Innovations for Poverty Action (Togo, Africa)

David Carr Prize:

Maria Ressa

Hall of Fame:

Nonny de la Peña