PARKER – Over 350 members of Colorado’s thriving innovation community gathered at the PACE Center in Parker, Colorado last night for the Innovation Pavilion’s first annual Innovation Awards. Governor John Hickenlooper opened the event by praising Colorado’s culture of collaboration, which he cited as a major reason why so many tech companies were moving to the state.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper

“The Kauffman Foundation did a ranking a year and a half ago of the most popular communities for technology startups,” he said. “Four of the top ten cities in America were in Colorado.”

The first winner of the night was Revolar, a Boulder-based digital health company that builds wearable devices meant to ensure personal safety. Revolar CEO Jacqueline Ros accepted the Internet of Things Innovation Award on behalf of her company.

Revolar CEO Jackie Ros

“This is an incredible community that has allowed me to be myself while building an incredible business that will hopefully make the lives of so many people so much better,” admitted Ros, who had moved to Colorado from Florida before founding Revolar.

Ros was given the award by Suzy Gutierrez, the head of TechrIoT, a Colorado-based community of IoT enthusiasts.

Competition for the Digital Health Innovation Award was fierce, with nominees including nationally recognized digital health companies like CirrusMD and Kindara. Parker Adventist Hospital was responsible for judging the nominees.

MDValuate CEO Todd Baker

The award went to MDValuate, a digital health company that has developed a platform that enables healthcare providers to assess physician performance. CEO Todd Baker accepted the Digital Health Innovation Award on behalf of his company.

“They are very innovative,” Media Shakiba, Innovation Pavilion’s director of digital health initiatives, said as she explained why MDValuate had been chosen to receive the award. “There are trying to solve some of the major problems that our industry is facing.”

The first annual Innovation Awards took place on the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Innovation Pavilion, a tech incubator that has played a pivotal role in the Colorado digital health community since its establishment.

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