The OC Business Journal hosted its 6th annual Innovator of the Year Awards on Sept. 24.
The virtual ceremony recognized and celebrated individuals for creating game-changing products and services that demonstrate brilliance and leadership in the innovation community.
Recent Innovator honorees include Lori Torres, a 2017 winner and founder of contactless package delivery management system Parcel Pending, as well as Anduril Industries’ Palmer Lucker, who founded his tech-focused defense firm in 2017 and won the award in 2019.
Torres, who saw her firm bought for about $100 million in 2019, just announced a 1,700-store deal with hardware giant Lowe’s. Luckey, whose firm already counts a valuation approaching $2 billion, recently announced a new military contract potentially worth more than $900 million.
From 54 nominees, the five new Innovator honorees are:
• Kurt Busch of Syntiant Corp., an artificial intelligence and machine learning software maker in Irvine.
• Martha Montoya of Agtools Inc., a data analytics platform for the agriculture industry in Irvine.
• Michael Dennin of the University of California-Irvine, a public research university.
• Reza Rofougaran of Movandi Corp., an Irvine-based wireless systems creator and 5G developer.
• Bob Wolpert of Golden State Foods Corp., a food manufacturer and distributor based in Irvine.
The Business Journal will profile each of the award winners in the Oct. 5 print edition.
