ECom-Ohio Announces Pioneer Award Winners

COLUMBUS, Ohio, September 6, 2002 – Winners of ECom-Ohio's E-Commerce Pioneer Awards were announced at a gala high tech event September 5 in Columbus. E-Commerce Pioneer Awards were presented in several of Ohio's most important industry sectors: healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, retail and distribution, education, government, software and information technology, telecommunications, and marketing/media. Special awards for Business Transformation, Trail Blazer, and Roadbuilder were also presented.

"The real action in e-business is in applications in the traditional industrial sectors that drive Ohio's economy," says Rohit Shukla, president of Los Angeles-based Larta, the think tank for technology businesses. He served as a member of the National Selection Committee for the awards. "The world-class innovations we saw, particularly from Ohio's manufacturing sector, demonstrated that many Ohio companies and start-ups are competing and thriving in the new economy."

Over 90 companies applied for the awards. Eligible companies included any Ohio-based company, any company with more than 200 employees in Ohio, or Ohio customers of companies outside Ohio. "We applaud ECom-Ohio for highlighting the world-class innovators and entrepreneurs who enable American businesses to remain globally competitive in the information age," said Bruce Mehlman, assistant secretary for technology policy at the US Department of Commerce. "Recognizing excellence through awards such as these will encourage the next generation of e-commerce leaders, in Ohio and around our nation."

Mehlman also served as a member of the National Selection Committee.

Winners in the various industry sectors and special award categories are as follows:

Healthcare - Noteworthy Medical Systems

Finance, Insurance, Real Estate - Progressive

Telecommunication Services - Horizon Chillicothe Telephone

Government/Non-profit - Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation

Education - Chemical Abstracts

Manufacturing and Materials Processing-Large Companies - GE Aircraft Engines

Manufacturing and Materials Processing-Small Companies - Global Cloud for Blue Chip Pavement

Manufacturing Applications - eWinWin
Retail & Distribution
Reynolds & Reynolds

IT & Software Development-Large Companies - LEXIS-NEXIS

IT & Software Development-Small Companies - Internet Transaction Solutions (ITS)

Media, Marketing and Communications - Image Source for GM ICON

Business Transformation - Progressive

Trailblazer - Atomic Dog Publishing

Roadbuilder - Airpath Wireless

Two-page descriptions of the accomplishments of each of the award winners, finalists, and several other Ohio companies are posted here. Contact information for each award winner is included in success stories.

ECom-Ohio is an initiative of The Technology Policy Group (TPG). Sixteen private-sector companies in Ohio sponsor the ECom-Ohio initiative, which completed a three-year program of measuring Ohio businesses' and citizens' ability to deploy the new tools of electronic commerce.

TPG is a recognized authority on real-world solutions to critical emerging technology policy issues.