CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- If you have an idea that might be a game-changer in the marketplace, a local innovator would like to hear from you.
Chicago Innovation is hosting its annual awards event this year. Innovation co-founder Tom Kaczmarski Innovation said nominees will have to have more than just a good idea or new invention.
Whether a product service or a new business model, Kaczmarski said the new invention needs to address a problem in the market. He said it needs to be unique and has to have had an impact — that will make it stand out among the nominees.
"To what extent is this new innovation truly unique to the market?" Kaczmarski said.
The innovation organization has strong experience in picking future ideas. Kaczmarski said over the 17 years of the awards, there have been 281 winners and 98 percent of them are still in business. Fort-four of them have been aqcuired by bigger companies totaling a net worth of $90 billion, he said.
Nominations can come from big and small companies, for profit and not for profits,high-tech and low tech.