mHUB, IMEC and UI LABS Name Manufacturer of the Year and Corporate Champion of the Fourth Revolution Awards and Announce Additional Finalists
CHICAGO (September 27, 2017) – mHUB, IMEC and UI LABS have named GE Manufacturer of the Year and JLL Corporate Champion of the inaugural Fourth Revolution Awards and announced finalists in all other award categories. The industry awards ceremony will take place on October 18, 2017 at the Wintrust Grand Banking Hall in Chicago to recognize talent and achievements in regional manufacturing.
The Fourth Revolution Awards celebrate regional manufacturing for its leadership and innovation as the industry stands on the brink of a new technological revolution. The ceremony culminates in the presentation of seven awards to deserving leaders, companies and industrial initiatives that have made significant contributions to the Chicago region’s manufacturing ecosystem. Together, we will ensure that Chicagoland manufacturing is driven by innovation, infused with world-class talent, and continues its reign as a global leader into the future.
The Manufacturer of the Year award recognizes an individual or manufacturing company that has demonstrated its excellence in business practices, innovative processes, and productivity enhancements and has made a significant financial investment to manufacturing capacity in the region.
GE continues to innovate world-changing products and services while investing in local communities. GE Healthcare and GE Transportation are making significant investments in the city having located their headquarters and hundreds of new employees in Chicago. GE was a key founding partner of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute, DMDII, at UI LABS and mHUB.
“We are honored to receive this recognition,” said Vic Abate, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of GE. “Manufacturing innovation is at the heart of delivering world-leading, cost-effective products and services. With advancements in new materials, robotics, additive manufacturing and edge computing we see tremendous opportunity for massive value creation across our entire supply chains through advancements in manufacturing.”
The Corporate Champion award recognizes a corporation or business that has made an impact on manufacturing through community focused efforts and significant financial investment throughout the region.
JLL has long demonstrated a commitment to supporting local manufacturing. By helping corporate clients, including the world’s largest manufacturers, reduce costs, JLL empowers them to reinvest in their people and technologies for the future.
“Chicago is a center of manufacturing excellence, connecting leaders in business, innovation and research,” said Meredith O’Connor, International Director, JLL. “This city is home to some of the most forward-thinking companies, talent and manufacturers, and it was an honor to play a role in this proud investment in the future of manufacturing.”
The Fourth Revolution Awards received over one hundred nominations for various manufacturing companies, products and programs. The prestigious judging committee is deliberating on the remaining five awards that will be presented at the Fourth Revolution Awards celebration on October 18. Companies will pitch for Startup of the Year at mHUB on Wednesday evening, September 27, and public voting on the Product Design of the Year award will close the same day.
Awards will be presented in the following categories: Community Empowerment, Product Design of the Year, Innovation of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Small and Mid-Sized Manufacturer of the Year. Congratulations to the companies, products and initiatives below.
Community Empowerment Award Finalists
- Adult Transition Program with local school districts by Innovative Components
- Advanced Manufacturing Training (AMT) program by Bethel New Life Inc.
- Industry Consortium for Advanced Technical Training (ICATT) led by the German American Chamber of Commerce
- Opportunity Works by the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
- SouthWorks Engineering and Robotics by Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporations
Product Design of the Year Award Finalists
- AE Design Tool by AE Machines
- CoolSkin Technology by NuCurrent
- Deskview by Deskview
- SimpleCap Safety Needle by Verena Solutions
- Tovala Steam Oven by Tovala
Startup of the Year Award Finalists
- DATTUS
- Praxicut
- Vivotronix
- Predictronics Corporation
- Amper Technologies
- Tovala
- Intelligent Flying Machines, Inc.
- Proxfinity
Innovation of the Year Award Finalists
- Composite-based Additive Manufacturing by Impossible Objects
- Skylight by Upskill
- The ClearFlame Engine by ClearFlame Engines
- DATTUS Solution Platform (DATTUS Portal) by DATTUS
- GE Fuse Business Model by GE Fuse
Small-Medium Manufacturer of the Year Finalists
- WaterSaver Faucet Co.
- KOVAL Distillery
- GAM Enterprises
- Manor Tool and Manufacturing
- Wise Plastics Technologies
Confirmed event sponsors include Wintrust, JLL, GE Ventures, ArcelorMittal, Bank of America, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, ComEd, Grosvenor, Pritzker Group, WaterSaver Faucet Co., and UL.
For more information on the ceremony, sponsorship opportunities and award nominations, visit www.4RevAwards.com and follow @4RevAwards on Twitter.
About mHUB
mHUB is Chicago’s innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing. mHUB is a co-working community of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, a network of manufacturing mentors, industry experts and investors, and a source of intellectual and economic capital. mHUB is home to ten shops and labs, including electronics, plastic fabrication, metals and rapid prototyping as well as a microfactory for small production runs.
About IMEC
IMEC is a team of improvement specialists and technicians dedicated to providing organizations in Illinois with the tools and techniques to create sustainable competitive futures. The experienced, hands-on team at IMEC works closely with its clients to plan, implement, and excel critical business improvements in the areas of Leadership, Strategy, Customer Engagement, Operations, and Workforce.
About UI LABS
UI LABS is an innovation accelerator that leverages its network of hundreds of partners from universities + industry to address problems too big for any one organization to solve. Our mission is to transform industries, starting with manufacturing and infrastructure, using digital technology. UI LABS' manufacturing innovation platform, the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), aims to provide U.S. factories with the tools, software and expertise they need to build things more efficiently, less expensively and more quickly, so they can win more business and bring jobs back to the United States.
