Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce names Spirit of Innovation Award finalists

Staff photo by Tim Barber / Chris Cummings, founder and CEO of Pass It Down, receives the Startup Award at the Spirit of Innovation Awards luncheon Friday at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Staff photo by Tim Barber / Chris Cummings, founder and CEO of Pass It Down, receives the Startup Award at the Spirit of Innovation Awards luncheon Friday at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Since 2001, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce has recognized local companies launching innovative products, practices or processes with its annual Spirit of Innovation Award.

The award competition is being expanded and revamped a bit this year to include a half dozen finalists, one of which will be picked for the winner during a new awards program planned this year during Startup Week in Chattanooga.

This year's honor will be presented during a reception at The Signal from 5:30-8 p.m. on Oct. 23.

The finalists for the award range from a whiskey maker and hemp producer to online retailers and logistics and human resources analytics businesses. Each of the finalists has turned a business idea into a successful, profitable enterprise and most are expanding operations across the country or the globe.

Spirit of Innovation finalists

* Adventure Sports Innovation has pioneered new technologies for outdoor experiences* American Bicyle Group an online retailer of mountain and road bikes.* Chattanooga Whiskey the first whiskey distiller in Chattanooga since prohibition.* Freightwaves provides logistics news and real-time market analystics and data for freight futures market trading.* Landrace Bioscience has multiple CBD products into the patent protection space and is revamping the CBD supply chain through innovative processing solutions.* Workhound provides a platform for real-time anonymous employee feedback for employers.Source: Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce

A volunteer-led committee made up of community business and tech leaders selected the finalists based on their applications and will choose a winner after reviewing each of the finalists' businesses and products.

The six finalists are the high-tech outdoor experiences company Adventure Sports Innovation, the direct-to-consumer bike company American Bicycle Group, local distillery Chattanooga Whiskey, the freight news source FreightWaves, the consultative manufacturer of hemp extracts Landrace Bioscience, and workforce retention platform WorkHound.

Tickets from the awards program are available from the Chamber or by calling (423) 763-4357 or by email at events@chattanoogachamber.com.

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