Call for Entries Issued for 10th Annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards

Posted by Clara Im on Mon, Oct 24, 2022 @ 12:09 AM

The only business awards to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire region

APSA23-CallforEntries-Post-1

We have issued the call for entries for the 2023 (10th annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the only business awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. 

The early-bird entry deadline, with discounted entry fees, is November 22, 2022. The entry deadline is January 17, 2023, but late entries will be accepted through February 15 with the payment of a late fee. Complete entry details are available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are open to all organizations in the 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region: large and small, for-profit and non-profit, public and private.

The awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. Entries will be accepted in English in the following awards category groups:

A new category group for 2023 will recognize Thought Leadership innovation in strategy, development, and execution since the beginning of July 2020.

In addition to a number of new categories, a public voting component has been added. Winners in the Company/Organization categories will now be determined by a unique blending of the scores of the professional judges and the votes of the general public.

Asia-Pacific Stevie Award winners will be announced on March 29. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during an awards banquet on May 27 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Scores of professionals from throughout the region will participate in the judging process to determine the Stevie winners.

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations have won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in the past five years including ABS-CBN Corporation, Cisco Systems, DHL Asia Pacific Shared Services, EventsAIR, Freelancer.com, Fuji Television Network, Inc., Google, Globe Telecom, Hana Financial Group, Hong Kong Tourism Board, HP Inc., IBM, KB Kookmin Card, KT, Megaworld Corporation, MSL China, Nasdaq, Ooredoo, PT Petrokimia Gresik, Seegene Medical Foundation, Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., Shanghai Disney Resort, Singtel, SM Supermalls, Tata Consultancy Services, Telkom Indonesia, VNPT Vinaphone Corporation, Viettel, and more.

The Stevie Award is among the world's most coveted prizes. The name Stevie is taken from the name Stephen, which is derived from the Greek for "crowned."

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.

- Stevie®, American Business Awards® and International Business Awards® are registered trademarks of Stevie Awards, Inc.

- Sponsors and partners of the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards include adobo magazine and PR Newswire Asia.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Request the entry kit

 

Topics: business awards, stevie awards, innovation awards, The Stevie Awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

How Digital Transformation Helps Combat the Food Waste Crisis

Posted by Daniel Ferguson on Wed, Oct 30, 2019 @ 10:50 AM

Is your organization interested in digital transformation? Using digital technologies to change traditional ways of doing business has been under way for years, but recently this wave of digital innovation has come to the fresh food supply chain and post-harvest technology.

sven-scheuermeier-4R1YpmGO52I-unsplash

The fresh food industry is currently in a state of dynamic fluctuation. Due to new competitive pressures, food safety issues, and changing customer demographics and buying preferences, Millennials are changing the way they purchase and consume food.

Online shopping is also changing grocery retailing, and the Amazon purchase of Whole Foods brought massive new competitive models into play. Naturally, this kind of increased competition among grocery retailers and food suppliers causes changes in business processes.

Zest Labs_logo-1Zest Labs, a post-harvest agtech company with proven solutions for shelf life and freshness management, is one company responding to these industry changes. For instance, the company utilizes advanced software to reduce food waste in the supply chain by 50 percent or more. As its solution reduces waste and improves margins, the company believes it is well positioned to have a significant, positive impact.

No Wasted Opportunities

Food is something eminently relatable. Who doesn’t know what it’s like to buy produce, such as a clamshell of strawberries, take it home, and be disappointed when it spoils the next day?

This happens when an item runs out of shelf life; it spoils prematurely. Zest Labs prevents this by providing insights about the actual freshness of products.

“Food waste no longer needs to be a cost of doing business,” says Kevin Payne, vice-president of marketing at Zest Labs. “We can reduce food waste by more than half with advanced technologies and new approaches to solving food waste. This helps us feed more people and improve environmental sustainability.”

As Zest Labs illustrates, new software and hardware solutions can truly improve business practices and the products offered to customers. Depending on whom you ask, digital transformation can provide some of the following benefits:

  • Improved supply chain visibility and traceability
  • Reduced food waste and costs and increased profitability
  • Enhanced food safety capabilities

At retail outlets, large percentages of fresh fruit is wasted. Most other industries would not tolerate this level of waste, yet this food waste problem persists, filling landfills, creating dissatisfied customers, and negatively impacting profit margins across the fresh food supply chain. With effective execution of digital transformation, however, these problems can be solved.

Another way to test if digital transformation data could benefit your cause is if that data would make it easier to record progress. Most companies have established patterns and cycles that, when everything goes right, work perfectly, but what happens when setbacks arise? Digital insights can reveal pain points so you can anticipate problems and situations can improve over time. Using the strategy put in place by Zest Labs, evaluate your goals to see if a similar approach would be applicable and beneficial to your business model.

Zest Labs recently won a Bronze Stevie Award in the Company/Organization Categories for Innovation of the Year - Business Product Industries in The 17th annual American Business Awards®.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Request the entry kit here.

Topics: The American Business Awards, American business awards, innovation awards

Sixth Annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards Issues Call for Entries

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Oct 31, 2018 @ 10:13 AM

The Stevie® Awards has issued a call for entries for the 2019 (sixth annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the only business awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. 

The early-bird entry deadline is November 28. The final entry deadline is January 30, 2019, but late entries will be accepted through March 8 with the payment of a late fee. Complete entry details are available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are open to all organizations in the 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region: Large and small, for-profit and non-profit, public and private. Seven nations are added to those eligible to submit nominations to the 2019 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

APSA 10

The awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. Entries will be accepted in eight languages – Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese - in the following awards category groups:

New awards categories introduced for 2019 include Most Innovative Startup of the Year and Most Innovative Tech Startup of the Year. There are no entry fees for the these categories.

Asia-Pacific Stevie Award winners will be announced on April 17. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala banquet on May 31 in Singapore.

Scores of professionals from throughout the region will participate in the judging process to determine the Stevie winners.

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations have won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in the past five years including ABS-CBN Corporation, Bangkok Health Research Center, Cisco Systems, Delta Air Lines, Dentsu, Freelancer.com, GE Indonesia, Globe Telecom, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Huawei, Maras Group, MetLife Asia Ltd., MSLGROUP China, Ooredoo, PT Petrokimia Gresik, Samsung, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Singapore Power, Sony, Telkom Indonesia, Xiaomi, and more.

The Stevie Award trophies, made by the company that makes the Emmy and other major international awards, are among the world's most coveted prizes. The name Stevie is taken from the name Stephen, which is derived from the Greek for "crowned."

Topics: innovation awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, top business awards, asia pacific awards

Showcasing Health, Wealth, and Stealth

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Aug 07, 2018 @ 04:18 PM

Stroll through the Personal Growth Expo on Australia’s Gold Coast, and you’ll likely see exhibits hosted by reiki practitioners, nutritional supplement companies, and even psychics. You could easily mistake it for an alternative medicine conference if not for the fact its attendees are mostly small business owners.

All the spirituality-based presenters at this expo, however, have one very down-to-earth goal in mind: to help entrepreneurs increase their bottom line. The expo is the brainchild of Susan Jane, who believes personal wellness and business success are inextricably related. A few years ago, she developed the event to help small business owners in all aspects of their lives.

“The original tagline was ‘Get your head right, get your body right, and get your business right,’” says Jane.

Personal expoThe expo focuses on three aspects of success: health, wealth (gained from business skills), and what Jane calls “stealth.” With the expo, Jane seeks to emphasize all the aspects of life that tend to go below the radar, such as one’s mind-set, emotions, relationships, and spirituality.

Next to the stalls for personal trainers and relationship specialists, participants can find presenters imparting more conventional business skills, such as finance, information technology, and intellectual property. Each year, attendees can listen to an array of professional speakers, participate in workshops, and network with other operators.

“A big part of what we do is allowing small businesses the option of showcasing the amazing things they do in their communities,” Jane says.

The unique event earned a devoted following on Australia’s Gold Coast, and Jane expects between four hundred and six hundred attendees at this year’s expo on the 4th of November. Attendees will find more than seventy exhibitors, ranging from business service providers to practitioners focusing on health and wellness.

The Personal Growth Expo is currently looking at holding expos on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba region, and northern New South Wales. The expo then hopes to move into Victoria, Australia, and further north toward Cairns, Australia.

The expo earned a string of accolades, including two Stevies at the fifth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards. In addition to winning a bronze award for Innovation in Consumer Events, Jane won the bronze for Most Innovative Communications Professional of the Year.

An Unexpected Career Turn

Despite all her recent success, being an expo developer wasn’t exactly what Jane had in mind when she returned to school in 2009 to get a degree in public health promotion. When the state government dissolved many public health positions shortly after her graduation, however, it became clear Jane needed a new plan.

Sensing she still had plenty of insight to offer, she wrote, published, and marketed her first book on personal development—all on a shoestring budget. She then wrote three more books focusing on how readers can grow in their personal and professional lives. In addition to the writing, she is also a mentor, public speaker, and coach for young athletes in her area.

The expo, she says, was an extension of her desire to help people reach their full potential, and getting the first one off the ground was very much a group effort.

“Someone suggested I do a live video callout on Facebook,” she recalls. “Within an instant, I had a photographer, a professional speaker, and an event organizer willing to assist. When the expo went from ‘I’ to ‘we,’ planning blossomed with new ideas from the team.”

Over the years, the event snowballed, bringing in small business owners who saw the need for a more holistic approach to their development strategies. Part of its success, Jane believes, is her team’s insistence on balancing the needs of the exhibitors and attendees.

“Everything we do has a win-win result,” says Jane. “If only one side wins from a program, display, or action, it’s stripped back down and reassessed until we know all parties win in some way, shape, or form.”

With two Stevie Awards now on her shelf, Jane hopes to continue attracting enthusiastic crowds and getting more service providers to back the expo.

“Winning the awards has certainly given us more credibility, especially when seeking sponsors for the events,” she says.

Topics: innovation awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, top business awards, business developement, asia pacific awards

A Kitchen on Wheels Proved to Be the Ultimate Recipe for Success

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Jul 19, 2018 @ 10:14 AM

There’s tailgating, and then there’s tailgating.

Meet MAXimus. He’s a 72-foot tractor-trailer outfitted with an elaborate kitchen, self-leveling stage, three giant screens, and multiple high-definition cameras. All this combines to create the ultimate go-anywhere culinary experience.

MAX (short for “mobile activation x-perience”) drew huge crowds at several culinary festivals, and it even became a favored playground for the likes of Food Network host Jeff Mauro. Chef Gordon Ramsay saw MAX as the perfect sidekick for his show 24 Hours to Hell and Back, which debuted this summer on Fox, the popular US network TV channel.

Innovative groupTo the experiential marketing firm that created MAX, he means even more than that; he’s the future. The U.S.-based Innovative Group (IG) developed the colossal cooking rig as part of its effort to push the envelope and to develop new revenue streams.

With offices in Miami, Florida, United States, the company specializes in providing immersive marketing experiences, and they have close to two decades of experience doing so. The team developed a virtual reality program for Universal Studios locations, and they helped American Express engage audiences in Las Vegas by hiring a local illusionist to use its credit card in a physics-defying display. Its solutions have appeared everywhere from Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, United States, to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game last year in Miami.

“We create experiences by specializing in immersive, experiential marketing programs. These fuel and even change perceptions about a brand—all while fostering lasting relationships at every opportunity,” says Jared Shattuck, the agency’s Chief Operating Officer for Sales & Marketing. “Couple that with a passion for bringing communities together in distinctively customized and uniquely engaging ways, and you’ve got a recipe for the fantastical.”

The company, now with 87 employees, prizes outside-the-box thinking as part of its DNA. Its management team, however, wanted to take this a step further and encouraged employees to create an entirely new offering capable of shaking up the industry.

The result was three unique mobile assets the company can rent out to marketers for events and even TV programs. In addition to MAX, the team dreamed up DRAFT (the “dynamic restaurant aboard fire truck”). This features two huge Southern Pride smokers, a flattop grill, and 12 beer taps.

Rounding out the fleet is GameDay Traditions (GDT), a hospitality platform that gives event and festival guests the VIP treatment with its homey atmosphere and luxurious amenities.

“Rather than rely on traditional means of advertising and marketing, companies are always looking for the next way to create memorable experiences,” Shattuck says. “For this reason, we are always looking for ways to help our clients stand out in a sea of competitors, and that is why we created our very own exclusive assets.”

The bold investment proved to be a huge success. IG evolved from a service-only agency to a company with $2 million in rentable assets—a category that continues to grow. It also helped the company, founded in 2000, earn a Gold Stevie Award for Business Development Achievement of the Year in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Shattuck says the IG staff members discovered the Stevies while Googling prestigious award opportunities where they could submit the game-changing program. Dunbar sees the company leveraging this new accolade as a powerful marketing tool.

“It means we can let our current and future clients know what separates us from the other boutique agencies out there,” Shattuck says. “We are the proud recipient of a Gold Stevie Award, and that's what makes us different.”

Topics: innovation awards, sales awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, business development

Who's Coming to Friday's Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Hong Kong?

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Sun, May 27, 2018 @ 08:36 AM

The fifth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards will be presented at Hong Kong's Mira Hotel on Friday, June 1.  A sell-out crowd of more than 280 executives from across the region will attend for the presentation of the Grand, Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards.  Winners were announced last month.

34893817482_39357db5f4_zThe Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are the only regional program to recognize innovation in every facet of the workplace, from management and product development to customer service, human resources, marketing and more.

The 2018 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 15 markets including Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.S.A. and Vietnam. More than 800 nominations about innovative achievements in the APAC region were considered by the judges this year.

Entries for the 2019 edition of the awards will open in October.  Get the Entry Kit

Here is the list of organizations that will be represented at Friday's awards banquet in Hong Kong.

AD STARS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
amc asia!
APAX Group
APPCO Korea
Azeus Convene
BIBOTING INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Binary Digital Advertising, Inc.
BoardPAC (Pvt) Ltd
BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited
BRCom
Busan Metropolitan Police Agency
Busan, Saha-gu District
Cisco Systems
Clariti Group
CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
DANI Communications (LOTTE FOODS)
Darktrace
Dell Technologies
EASTGOLD CO., LTD.
eDENT
Eduwill Co., Ltd.
EPIS
E-STATE ONLINE
FOREST INTERACTIVE SDN BHD
FrieslandCampina (Hong Kong) Limited
Gangwon-do Office
Globe Telecom, Inc.
Green Bulb PR
Gyeonggido Job Foundation
HANAROADCOM
Hanoi Small and Medium Enterprises Association
Hanyang University
Hong Kong Tourism Board
Hotel Soulhada
HP PPS Australia Pty Ltd
HPI CS APJ CC
HP PPS Indonesia
IBM
Interplan International Corp.
IRPC Public Company Limited
JCDecaux Transport
KBCA
KEB Hana Bank
Ketchum Shanghai
Korea Electric Power Corporation
Korea Energy Information Agency
Korea Land And Geospatial Informatix Corporation
Korea Press Center
Korea Resource Circulation Service Agency
Korea Seven Co., Ltd.,
Korea South-East Power Co., Ltd,
Korea: BORAMAE
KT KBN Center
Kumsung Publishing Co., Ltd
LAB360
LafargeHolcim
Leap Agency
M800 Limited
Manage Damage
Manila Electric Company (MERALCO)
Megaworld
Metro Pacific Water
Ministry of Health and Welfare
Morris Cookies (Asia) Limited
MyTaxi.PH / Grab Philippines
NCC Ad
NS Home Shopping
Ortigas & Company
PCCW Solutions Limited
Petronas
PITSTOP MOTORS INC
PR Newswire Asia
PSG Global Solutions
PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero)
Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali
PT Petrokimia Gresik
PT Petrosida Gresik
PT PP Properti Tbk
PTTEP Indonesia
PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited
Seegene Medical Foundation
Semyung University
Seocho-Gu
Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation
Shinyoung
SID Corporation
SIDM
SITEL Philippines
SM SUPERMALLS
SolarWinds
SOOHYUN Inc.
Strategic Public Relations Group
Studio Aup
Supercom
Telkom Indonesia
The K Yedaham
The Korea Coast Guard
ThermoBrush
Toothlife Co., Ltd.
Travellers International Hotel Group Inc
Treasure Collection
Tuan Chau Hanoi JSC
Uniplan
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Vamp
Vinci Construction
VNPT VinaPhone Corporation
VOK DAMS CHINA
W·Design Convergent Center Dankook University,
Weber Shandwick
Wharf China Estates Limited

Topics: innovation awards, Asia Awards, Asia-Pacific Business Awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Fifth Annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards Issues Call for Entries

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Mon, Oct 30, 2017 @ 01:56 PM

The Stevie® Awards has issued a call for entries for the 2018 (fifth annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the only business awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. 

The early-bird entry deadline is November 29. The final entry deadline is February 7, 2017, but late entries will be accepted through March 14 with the payment of a late fee. Complete entry details are available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

APSA 2017 instagram.jpgThe Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards are open to all organizations in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region: Large and small, for-profit and non-profit, public and private. The awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. Entries are accepted in seven languages.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

New awards categories introduced for 2018 include Award for Innovative Management in Government, Award for Innovative Management in Non-Profit Organization or NGOs and Award for Innovative Management in Public Enterprises.

Asia-Pacific Stevie Award winners will be announced on April 18. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala banquet on June 1 in Hong Kong.

Scores of professionals from throughout the region will participate in the judging process to determine the Stevie winners.

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations have won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in the past four years including ABS-CBN Corporation, Bangkok Health Research Center, Delta Air Lines, Freelancer.com, GE Indonesia, Globe Telecom, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Huawei, Maras Group, MetLife Asia Ltd., MSLGROUP China, Ooredoo, PT Petrokimia Gresik, Samsung, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Singapore Power, Sony, Telkom Indonesia, Xiaomi, and more.

Topics: customer service awards, business awards, innovation awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Making Flexible Workspaces More Efficient

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Aug 29, 2017 @ 05:35 PM

Today’s enterprises are more spread out than ever, often consisting of multiple office buildings spread across the United States—and even the globe.

The challenge: finding a way to make those facilities and the people who work there more efficient. That’s exactly what iOFFICE Corporation, a fast-growing software-as-a-service provider, is doing for some 1,400 corporate clients.

The iOFFICE platform allows facility managers and executives to, for example, visualize floor plans and analyze space usage across all their properties. They can use available data to plan for future usage of those spaces in the most cost-effective way possible.

ioffice.jpgWith a separate module, users can pull data from a building’s HVAC, lighting and refrigeration systems to monitor and curb energy use at the site.

But it’s not just the building that iOFFICE is trying to make more efficient. The firm also offers applications designed to streamline the work that employees perform. One of those offerings is a project management tool that enables improved collaboration throughout the enterprise.

ioffice2.jpegGrowing client list

The Houston-based firm has been able to expand its offerings through a series of partnerships with other specialized SaaS (Software as a Service) providers. This “Marketplace,” as iOFFICE refers to this network, includes technology companies that offer expertise in areas like space utilization, energy management and occupancy planning.

iOFFICE provides the user-friendly, mobile-ready backbone that helps users seamlessly search workspace and project data, as well as plan for future needs. The company calls their network “the first app ecosystem for the 21st-century workplace.”

Corporations in a variety of industries are latching onto the idea. The company’s clients now include the likes of Adobe, Sephora and Under Armour—all trying to build efficiencies into their work environment.

“iOFFICE works hard to ensure that its clients have the technology to support their employees,” the company’s outside spokeswoman, Bethany Morris, says.

Currently, about 2.4 million users around the globe rely on iOFFICE software to gain visibility into their operations.

The business had much humbler roots when Don Traweek and Elizabeth Dukes, both former executives with Pitney Bowes Management Services, founded the business in 2002. But over the past several years, the company has gone through a period of remarkable growth, emerging as one of the leaders in the integrated workplace management system, or IWMS, sector. 

What was once a staff of just two employees has exploded to 49 and counting. Traweek continues to serve as the company’s president and CEO while Dukes holds the title of executive vice president, helping to drive the firm’s sales and marketing strategies.

An evolving workplace

iOFFICE’s solutions are particularly suited for today’s changing corporate environment, where so-called “activity-based working” is becoming more the norm. More and more, employees have the freedom to perform tasks in the type of space that best suits their needs— that could be at their desk, in a meeting room or even in a designated quiet space.

Enterprises see this as a way to increase collaboration and innovation within the organization. By moving away from a static, closed-in environment, they believe it also increases employee satisfaction and helps with retention.

The organization recently released Hummingbird, a software solution that according to a company statement, offers employees “an elegant and user-friendly way to add critical activity-based work functions to find, request, use and reserve the spaces, information, people and events they need every day.”

In The 2017American Business Awards, the company was rewarded for its innovative approach to workspace needs by securing a Bronze Stevie Award for “Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year” in the under-100-employees segment.

For a company that’s followed the Stevie Awards for several years, Morris says the designation was a major shot in the arm for the entire staff. “Since winning the Stevie Award, iOFFICE and its employees have enjoyed a boost in morale,” she says.

Topics: American business awards, innovation awards, tech awards, company of the year

gemaker Takes Innovative Products and Services to Market in Australia

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Jul 06, 2017 @ 10:37 AM

Getting new ideas to market is one of the hardest tasks in the innovation process, especially for a completely new idea for a product or service. Failure to launch can stem from a lack of production capacity to an inability to create a demand for the product and everything in between. That’s where gemaker comes in.

gemaker helps Australia’s inventors take their ideas to the world, providing services in research-industry engagement and commercialization to bridge the gap between origination and growth. gemaker was named the winner of three Silver Stevie Awards in the 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for Innovative Management in Business Product & Service Industries, Excellence in Innovation in Business Product & Service Industries, and Innovation in Business-to-Business Services.

A Benefit for All

Natalie-Chapman.jpgAustralian research and innovation has potential for huge positive impact in the real world, if innovators can just connect to the right scientific and technical experts. Natalie Chapman, co-founder and Managing Director of gemaker, is a commercialization and marketing expert with more than 15 years of experience turning innovative ideas and technologies into thriving businesses. She comments on Australia’s role in business development.

“Australia is transitioning to greater professionalism in technology transfer. There's a change occurring in attitudes and approaches in research-industry engagement which we're trying to foster.”

She goes on to say that empowering researchers with skills and resources to proactively engage industries with collaborative innovation solves diverse social and environmental problems that boosts the economy and ultimately benefits all Australians.

How They Work

gemaker’s success speaks volumes about how they work and why it’s so effective. Although their research and technology commercialization consultancy company consists of a small core staff, their flexible auxiliary team of about 20 regular contractors understands perseverance, passion and a great team works best when success is measured by the work you do, and not just the time spent doing it.

“gemaker is proudly built around a sustainable, flexible and progressive employment model that is project-based. This means paying people for the work they do, rather than paying them for being in the office for a set period of time.”

This model creates opportunity to tap the skills and expertise of a range of intelligent, qualified and experienced people who do not want rigid jobs, but still seek to make valuable contributions through meaningful careers.

The World is Noticing

There’s often a divide in the understanding and culture between different research organizations, such as universities and commercial companies. Closing the research-industry gap is a win for both sides that also benefits society in general. One way of doing this is with international attention that helps promote what gemaker is doing worldwide. Natalie is particularly proud of the Stevie for Innovation in Business-to-Business Services award they received for their Industry Engagement Training for Researchers.

“The award recognizes the importance and quality of the work we do to help researchers develop effective strategies to form long-term, productive and profitable partnerships with commercial companies.”

Whether it’s helping businesses achieve their optimal commercialization outcome, a spin-off from a research organization, growing sales of products or services, licensing agreements, or the sale of your business, gemaker is helping companies grow and evolve into new markets to reach new heights of success

Topics: innovation awards, management awards, best new product, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, new products and services

Winners in 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards Announced

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Apr 20, 2017 @ 08:31 AM

Honorees for Innovation in Business to Be Recognized in Tokyo on June 2

Winners in the fourth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, the only awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region, were announced today.  The list of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners is available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

The Stevie Awards are considered to be the world's premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in the workplace over the past 15 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards. 

APSA 2016 1-2.jpgThe 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 15 nations including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and Vietnam. More than 700 nominations about innovative achievements in the 22-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year.

This year’s top overall winner, with eight Gold, five Silver and 18 Bronze Stevie Award wins is Telkom Indonesia.  This is the third year in a row in which Telkom Indonesia has led the competition.  Close on their heels this year is PT PETROKIMIA GRESIK (Indonesia), with seven Gold, seven Silver and 13 Bronze Stevie wins.

Winners of multiple Gold Stevie Awards include Amobee (U.S.A.), Cisco Systems (Australia and India), Freelancer.com (Australia), the Hong Kong Tourism Board (China), MSLGROUP (China), PRIZM (China), PT Angkasa Pura II (Indonesia), Shopping Center Management Corporation (Philippines) and TBM Co., Ltd. (Japan).

Stevie winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet at the Hilton Hotel in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, June 2.  Tickets for the event are now on sale.

More than 50 executives around the world participated in the judging to determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the list of Stevie Award winners are available at http://Asia.Stevieawards.com.

“We congratulate the winners of the innovation Stevies and look forward to celebrating their achievements with them in Tokyo on June 2,” said Michael Gallagher, founder and president of the Stevie Awards.

Sponsors and partners of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards include PR Newswire Asia, the official news distribution partner of the awards, and the Korea Business Communicators Association.

Topics: innovation awards, Asia Awards, Asia-Pacific Business Awards, Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards