SXSW Interactive Names 2016 Innovation Awards Winners

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival celebrated 2016’s top and latest advancements in the digital industry with its SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards ceremony on Tuesday evening.

Winners in 13 categories and five special honors, including People’s Choice, Best of Show, Meme of the Year, Speaker of the Event, and Breakout Trend of the Event, were announced during the 19th annual ceremony hosted by comic, writer, actress, and life-hacker Brooke Van Poppelen, with special guest Julian Velard.

The event showcased evolving and growing trends of the digital industry via its ever-expanding range of platforms, apps, software, and devices. Winners, finalists, and guests enjoyed additional entertainment from interactive game creators ‘Colossi’, internet humorists ‘Cracked’, and video game tribute band ‘Descendants of Erdrick’.

SXSW Interactive Innovation Award Winners

The panel of judges comprised industry peers and experts, who selected winners based on four criteria: form, function, creativity, and overall experience, except for the People’s Choice Award (voted for by the event attendees).

Here’s a list of the 13 winners in the different categories:

1. Health, Med & Biotech – DESKGEN by Desktop Genetics (London, ENG)
2. Innovation In Connecting People – Don’s Voice by Not Impossible (Los Angeles, CA)
3. Innovative 3-DIY – Wevolver by Wevolver (London, ENG)
4. Music & Audio Innovation – Here Active Listening System by Doppler Labs (San Francisco, CA)
5. New Economy – ShareTheMeal by UN World Food Programme (Rome, RM)
6. Privacy & Security – Peeple by Buiding 10 Technology, Inc. (Austin, TX)
7. Responsive Design – Breakthrough by Neo-Pangea (West Reading, PA)
8. Scifi No Longer – Lily Camera by Lily (San Francisco, CA)
9. Smart Cities – KASITA by Kasita LLC (Austin, TX)
10. Student Innovation – Plant-like Robot by Ji Won Jun (Mountain View, CA)
11. Visual Media Experience – The Fallen of World War II by Neil Halloran (Philadelphia, PA)
12. VR & AR – Mill Stitch by The Mill
13. Wearable Tech – Quell® Wearable Pain Relief Technology™ by NeuroMetrix, Inc.(Waltham, MA)

Baratunde Thurston, a bestselling author, activist, comedian, and entrepreneus was also inducted into the SXSW Interactive Hall of Fame as the fifth inductee, after which he expressed his gratitude for innovators like the finalists who positively engage in their work and strive to keep today’s challenges like poverty and racism out of tomorrow’s codes and algorithms.