2019 SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards Finalists & Hall of Fame Inductee Kimberly Bryant

SXSW is excited to announce the 2019 Interactive Innovation Awards Finalists and the Hall of Fame Inductee, Kimberly Bryant, Founder and Executive Director of Black Girls CODE.

Beginning in June of 2018, innovators and creators from around the world entered their new projects to vie for top honors and the opportunity to showcase their work in front of SXSW attendees and Innovation Awards judges. Now, with SXSW 2019 only a few weeks away, five finalists in each of the 13 categories have been selected to come to Austin this March and demonstrate their work at the Interactive Innovation Awards Showcase on Saturday, March 9 and to attend the Awards Ceremony on Monday, March 11.

The 22nd annual Interactive Innovation Awards presented by KPMG brings together the most innovative and forward thinking advancements from the digital space. Open to all SXSW Badges explore finalists from AI & Machine Learning, Health, Med, & BioTech, Music & Audio Innovation, Robotics and Hardware, Speculative Design, VR, AR & MR, and more.

Join us this March and watch as 65 finalists across 13 categories exhibit their projects; vote to determine the winner of the People’s Choice Award, and celebrate the 2019 winners and special honors awarded.

2019 Interactive Innovation Awards Finalists

AI & Machine Learning

Honoring digital systems which have the ability to adapt to changing data, stimuli, and circumstances; replicating learning, problem solving, and cognition.

AE110 Artificial Perception System by AEye, Pleasanton, California, USA
Animaker: Animal Creation A.I. by The Tech Museum of Innovation | OMAi | Resonai, San Jose, California, USA
iN: Cognitive Patient Care Assistant by Inspiren, New York, New York, USA
Starkey Livio AI Healthable Hearing Aids by Starkey Hearing Technologies, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA
Textio Hire by Textio, Seattle, Washington, USA

Health, Med, & BioTech

Honoring the best new technology to improve the quality, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care in health and medicine.

Butterfly iQ by Butterfly Network, Guilford, Connecticut, USA
Fjord & Auris: Revolutionizing Endoscopy by Fjord | Accenture Interactive, San Francisco, California, USA
HealthVoyager by Boston Children's Hospital and Klick Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA | Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Swarm by Unanimous AI, San Francisco, California, USA
VisiPlate by Avisi Technologies, LLC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Innovation in Connecting People

Honoring the most forward-thinking ways to connect and communicate with others.

Living First Languages Digital Platform by The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, Edgecliff, New South Wales, Australia
LynQ, First Smart People Compass by LynQ, New York, New York, USA
Secure Connectivity in the Quantum Age by Quantum Xchange, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
The Elements of AI Online Course by Reaktor & University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
The Wayback - 1953 Queens Coronation by The Wayback / Thomas Thomas Films, London, United Kingdom

Music & Audio Innovation

Honoring the most innovative devices or services that change and improve the way we listen to, compose and enjoy music.

nuraphone - A Self-Learning Headphone by nura, Melbourne, Australia
NSynth Super by Google Creative Lab, London, United Kingdom
RX 7 by iZotope by iZotope, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
StudioX by Perspective, Santa Monica, California, USA
Westworld: The Maze by HBO & 360i, Austin, Texas, USA

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.

Biometric Payments & Age Validation by CLEAR, New York, New York, USA
Everyday is Payday for Hourly Workers by Branch, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Hash Finance by Josephmark and Hash Finance, Laguna Beach, California, USA
The Open-Source Identity.com Ecosystem by Identity.com, San Francisco, California, USA
Toast Go™:The Future of POS In Your Hand by Toast, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Robotics and Hardware

Honoring the hottest new advances in the field of robotics and hardware.

Delivering Long-range Wireless Power by Wi-Charge, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Markforged Metal X 3D Printing System by Markforged Inc., Watertown, Massachusetts, USA
My Special Aflac Duck™ by Aflac, Sproutel, Carol Cone On Purpose & The Nation of Artists, Los Angeles, California, USA
The World's Most Advanced Social Robot by Furhat Robotics AB, Stockholm, Sweden
Unistellar eVscope: Finally You’ll See by Unistellar, Marseille, France

Smart Cities, Transportation & Delivery

Honoring innovations in eco-friendly or sustainable energy, transportation, delivery and IoT technology, making life in the connected world a smarter, cleaner, greener, and more efficient Internet of Everything.

Drive.ai’s Public Self-Driving Rides by Drive.ai, Mountain View, California, USA
Dubai Paperless Strategy by Smart Dubai, Duabi, United Arab Emirates
Empowering Cities with Real-Time Data by Alibaba Cloud, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
KLM CARE-E by BBDO New York, New York, New York, USA
Phyn Plus by Phyn, Torrance, California, USA

Social & Culture Impact

Honoring the best new projects and technologies that focus on social and cultural impact and encourage communities and individuals to participate in and contribute to the betterment of society.

Aira - Visual Interpreter for the Blind by Aira, San Diego, California, USA
Belongings by SBS Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
‘Give a Minute of Your Time’ for UNICEF by The Monkeys, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Real-Time Needs Registry for Crisis Response by NeedsList, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Sandy Hook Promise - Live Moment of Silence by BBDO New York and Dini von Mueffling, New York, New York, USA

Speculative Design

Honoring the best new work that uses design to re-think products, systems and worlds and address the challenges, opportunities and possibilities of the future.

Argus: A Water Monitoring Plant by Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Posthuman Habitats by foreground design agency, Los Angeles, California, USA
Project Eagle Eye by Rolocule, Pune, Maharashtra, India
veriScan by Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Washington, DC, USA
what3words Voice by what3words, Bayswater, London, United Kingdom

Student Innovation

Honoring exceptional student projects and startups that focus on interactive technology for the future.

AFTERMATH: Puerto Ricans Rebuild by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
Bolo by Miami Ad School, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
Graphene Brain-Computer Interface by Brane Interface, Austin, Texas, USA
Samsung's Homebuddy by Miami Ad School, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
Thea by Moment/Verizon, New York, New York, USA

Style & Wearable Tech

Honoring the new hardware that revolutionizes the convenience, comfort, functionality, efficiency, and fashion of having a device literally “on you.”

My Skin Track UV by L’Oréal’s La Roche-Posay, New York, New York, USA
Mercury Intelligent Heated Jacket by Ministry of Supply, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Tap - The Keyboard of the Future by Tap Systems, Inc., Pasadena, California, USA
The Eargo Max Hearing Aid by Eargo, Mountain View, California, USA
The Lotus by SEAM by SEAM Technic, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Visual Media Experience

Honoring content creation and delivery that moves beyond passive viewership by providing a more immersive and engaging entertainment experience.

HBO’s SXSWestworld by Giant Spoon, New York, New York USA
Ocean Mind Experience by Mackevision | Accenture Interactive, Hamburg, Germany
Red Bull Rampage AR Experience by Red Bull Media House, Santa Monica, California, USA
Tónandi by Sigur Rós & Magic Leap, Plantation, Florida, USA
Treatment Box by m ss ng p eces, 72andSunny, truth, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Ad Council, New York, New York, USA

VR, AR & MR

Honoring breakthroughs in augmented, virtual and mixed reality technology including the application of new hardware or software which truly make the virtual a reality.

Fundamental Surgery by FundamentalVR, New York, New York, USA
HaptX Gloves by HaptX, San Luis Obispo, California, USA
Immersive Training Helps Keep Kids Safe by Accenture, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Lens.io by Subvrsive, Austin, Texas, USA
True AR SDK by WayRay, Zurich, Switzerland

2019 Finalists

Hall of Fame Inductee

We are honored to present the 2019 SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame award to long-time SXSW speaker and contributor Kimberly Bryant.

Kimberly Bryant is the Founder and Executive Director of Black Girls CODE, a non-profit organization dedicated to introducing girls of color (ages 7-17) to the field of technology and computer programming with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts. Bryant has enjoyed a very successful 20+ year professional career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries as an Engineering Manager in a series of technical leadership roles for various Fortune 100 companies such as Genentech, Merck, and Pfizer. Since 2011, Bryant has helped Black Girl CODE grow from a local organization serving only the Bay Area to an international non-profit organization with chapters in 7 US cities and Johannesburg, South Africa serving over 2000 African/African-American, Latina, and Native American girls.

Learn more about our 2019 Inductee and be sure to check out her 2019 Featured Session Behind the Click: Securing the Future for Black Women and Girls in Tech.

Register for SXSW 2019 to meet the finalists and then celebrate the winners at the 2019 Interactive Innovation Awards Ceremony this March! Stay tuned to SXSW News and follow us in all the usual social spots for updates – Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.