The 21st annual SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards are set for next week's debut at SXSWi in Austin– poised to recognize some of the most intriguing tech developments in the connected world. With the growth of SXSW Interactive, hundreds of projects were entered for a chance at the top honors in each of 13 categories– that cover innovations from AR and VR to Smart Cities to Health & Bio to Data and Privacy to entertainment technology. And a new AI & Machine Learning category was added this year to recognize the emerging developments in the field of “thinking” digital systems. The Finalist Showcase on Sunday, March 11 at SXSW in Austin, will be followed by the Interactive Innovation Awards ceremony on Tuesday, March 13 at SXSW in Austin, TX.
The 65 finalists across 13 categories exhibit their work for SXSW attendees, who vote to determine the winner of the People’s Choice Award. A separate panel of Innovation Awards judges vote to determine the winners of each of the 13 categories.
Below are the 13 award categories that will be recognized at the SXSW Interactive 2018 Innovation Awards, and finalists in each category.AI & Machine Learning
Honoring digital systems which have the ability to adapt to changing data, stimuli, and circumstances; replicating learning, problem solving, and cognition.
eBALLution by Akatsuki Inc., Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Swarm AI by Unanimous AI, San Francisco, CA
The Cognitive Story by Darwin Ecosystem, Dallas, TX
Toyota Mirai – AI by Tool, Santa Monica, CA & Saatchi & Saatchi, Las Angeles, CA
Woebot by Woebot Labs, Inc., San Francisco, CAHealth, Med, & BioTech
Honoring the new technology that best improves the quality, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care in health and medicine.
MasSpec Pen by the Eberlin Lab at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
EksoVest by Ekso Bionics, Richmond, CA
Spark: An Autonomous Fitness & Rehabilitation Platform by James Simmons, Gonzalo Gelso, Hwanghah Jeong, Dipali Bajaj, Zhaolin Cai, and Andrew Sibert, Savannah, GA
Movement Tracks Project by Center for Music Therapy, Inc., Austin, TX
Turning Machine Intelligence Against Lung Cancer by Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, VA
Innovation in Connecting People
Honoring the best new way to connect and communicate with others.
Airbnb x VICE Experiences by Airbnb, San Francisco, CA
ElliQ by Intuition Robotics, Ramat Gan, Israel and San Francisco, CA
Maestro: Empowering VR Storytelling Through Social Collaboration by Penrose Studios, San Francisco, CA
Hands-Free Music Project by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Read To Me by The Electric Factory, Montevideo, Uruguay
Music & Audio Innovation
Honoring 2017’s best device or service that changes and improves the way we listen to and enjoy music.
Bacardi – Music Liberates Music by BBDO New York, New York, NY
Downtown Records – Live Looper by BBDO New York, New York, NY
Harman Connected PA by Harman, a Samsung Entity, Plano, TX
Hands-Free Music Project by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Dolby Atmos for Music by Dolby Laboratories, San Francisco, CA
New Economy
Honoring those redefining the exchange of goods and services, from the sharing economy, to virtual currency, to micro-finance, to mobile-device-payment systems, and beyond.
Interactive Fitting Room by Stefanka, Montreal. QC
MRI AutoDetect: The ProMRI Advantage by BIOTRONIK INC, Portland, OR
The World’s First AI Financial Advisor by Pefin, New York, NY
Autonomous Operations Platform for Selfdriving Fleets by Ridecell, San Francisco, CA
Setapp, the first Mac app subscription service by MacPaw, Kyiv, Ukraine
Privacy & Security
Honoring 2017’s most progressive accomplishment in the way we go about securing our data and ensuring our privacy.
bot detection by botswatch GmbH, Berlin, Germany
BullGuard for Dojo by BullGuard, Redwood City, CA and Herzliya, Israel
Ghostery Privacy Ad Blocker by Ghostery, New York, NY
Data Subject Access Rights Portal by OneTrust, Atlanta, GA
YubiKey 4C Nano by Yubico, Palo Alto, CA
Honoring excellent digital design, creating the best-integrated interaction in terms of content, aesthetics, and functionality.
K’gari: The Real Story of a True Fake by SBS, Sydney, New South Wales
KONTINUUM, an underground journey through time by Moment Factory and Ottawa 2017 Bureau, Montréal, QC
Quest to LEGOLAND by VML, New York, NY
The Coca-Cola Times Square Billboard
by space150, Atlanta, GA
TinyMOS: Astrophotography made small, smart and social by Y&R Singapore, Singapore
Scifi No Longer
Honoring the coolest scientific achievement or discovery that before 2017 was only possible in science fiction.
Google Earth VR by Google, Mountain View, CA
HoloPlayer One by Looking Glass, Brooklyn, NY
Jacquard™ by Google, Mountain View, CA
Simulate the invisible: a real-time muography simulator developed for ScanPyramids mission by Benoit Marini, Paris/Bordeaux, France
The Dermal Abyss: When Tattoos meet Biotechnology by MIT Media Lab, Harvard Medical School and UC Davis, Davis, CA
Smart Cities
Honoring innovations in eco-friendly or sustainable energy, transportation, and IoT technology, making life in the connected world a smarter, cleaner, greener, and more efficient Internet of Everything.
Floating an Idea: The + POOL Story by m ss ng p eces, Tribeca Studios, Heineken Cities Project, Brooklyn, NY
The Future of Fast: Alta’s Lithium-Ion Battery Pack by Alta Motors, Brisbane, CA
Gita by Piaggio Fast Forward, Boston, MA
Jacques-Cartier Bridge Interactive Illumination Concept by Moment Factory, with: Réalisations Montréal Inc., Ambiances Design Productions, ATOMIC3, Éclairage Public / Ombrages, Lucion Média and UDO Design.Project directed by Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Inc., Montreal, QC
KERB AC Discovery by KERBspace, Bozeman, MT
Student Innovation
Honoring the student with an exceptional interactive technology project or startup; both of which are the future.
Facebook Messenger Blood Type Bots by Ryan Leckie and Jakub Straka, Miami Ad School Europe, Hamburg, Germany
Philips HaptoCube by Aleksandr Bobrov, Gabriela Marijke van der Linden and Carrie Tang, Miami Ad School Europe, Hamburg, Germany
Samsung Magic Bed by Alex Lungu, Belén Aragon, Hannes Rath and Philip Ziegler, Miami Ad School Europe, Hamburg, Germany
Seeing Theory: A Visual Introduction to Probability and Statistics by Daniel Kunin, Jingru Guo, Tyler Dae Devlin, and Daniel Xiang, Providence, RI
TinyMOS: Astrophotography made small, smart and social – World’s smallest, smartest, and most social astronomy camera by Y&R Singapore, Singapore
Visual Media Experience
Honoring content creation and delivery that moves beyond passive viewership by providing a more immersive and engaging entertainment experience.
Deep City by HUSH, Brooklyn, NY
GE – Unseen Stars by BBDO New York, New York, NY
LEGO House Fish Designer by LEGO House / Trigger Global, Los Angeles, CA
NASA: Data Lens by Bluecadet, Philadelphia, PA
Player.me by SplitmediaLabs Limited, Manila Philippines
VR & AR
Honoring breakthroughs in augmented and virtual reality technology including the application of new hardware or software which truly make the virtual a reality.
Directional AR and more. A minimalist way by Wagoo LLC, Irving, TX, & Wagoo, Italia, Srls
Maestro: Empowering VR Storytelling Through Social Collaboration by Penrose Studios, San Francisco, CA
Quest to LEGOLAND by VML, New York, NY
RadHA (Radiology with Holographic Augmentation) by Bencin Studios, Smyrna, TN | UCSF & HoloSurg3D Lab, San Francisco, CA
Zero Days VR by Scatter, Brooklyn, NY
Wearable Tech
Honoring the new hardware that revolutionizes the convenience, comfort, functionality, efficiency, and fashion of having a device literally “on you.”
