Birmingham, Ala., July 1 –The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama announces today the 20 finalists for the 2015 Alabama Innovation Awards. The awards recognize companies that demonstrate significant achievement specifically in the areas of job creation, commitment to innovation, and innovation that addresses a local or global need.  “The Alabama Innovation Awards celebrate the remarkable diversity of innovation across the state – with applications ranging from a medical device to materials management systems, from fertilizer distribution tools to touchless fingerprint biometric software,” said Angela Wier, EDPA vice president. “The awards are helping EDPA discover companies that contribute to diversification of the economy and the creation of high wage careers for Alabamians. The awards are not just a celebration for accomplishment but a benchmark of success for those outstanding individuals and corporations who are nominated for these prestigious awards.” Judges will next choose the five category winners, who all will be honored on Sept. 2 at the Fifth Annual Alabama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference in Birmingham.

Finalists for 2015 are:

Corporate Innovator of the Year, large company (50+ employees)
 Integrated Medical Systems International, Inc., Birmingham
 Atlas RFID Solutions, Birmingham
 Digium, Inc., Huntsville
 Emerson Network Power, Huntsville

Corporate Innovator of the Year, small company (1-50 employees)
 Emergency CallWorks, Inc., Birmingham
 Diamond Fortress Technologies, Birmingham
 Hospicelink, Birmingham
 CDS-John Blue Co., Huntsville
 Kailos Genetics, Inc., Huntsville
 Time Domain, Huntsville

Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Manufacturing
 To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co., Fitzpatrick
 CDI Electronics, Huntsville
 iCubate, Inc., Huntsville

Outstanding Public-Private Partnership for Innovation
 Project HERO and related small businesses created, Greensboro
 iCubate, Inc. & HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville
 City of Montgomery & Infinitus Energy, Montgomery

Lifetime Achievement in Innovation
 Rowland Kanner, Arab, vice president of technology, Atrion Medical Products
 Gary York, Birmingham, product marketing advisor Emergency Callworks
 Ashok Singhal, Huntsville, principal founder and chairman, CFD Research Corp. (CFDRC)
 Jim Busby, Mobile, president and COO, Centralite

Last year, judges selected winners in eight categories, including the Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Lonnie McMillian, co-founder of the renown HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and telecommunications giant ADTRAN in Huntsville.