CODA Holdings, Gamma Medica, NahoH2O, Oblong Industries and Replenish – Winners of Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Awards 2012

Los Angeles entrepreneur and business executive, Patrick Soon-Shiong, presented awards this past week to recognize the most innovative companies for 2012.

The 5 winners are comprise technologies for eco-friendly driving, clean water, health screening, drug dispensing and bringing together all the electronic displays for a new interaction.

The winners are CODA Holdings, Gamma Medica, NahoH2O, Oblong Industries and Replenish.

CODA Holdings (Los Angeles, CA) – CODA’s philosophy is to bring the electric car to the people by creating an attractive, mid-sized, affordable vehicle.

To achieve this, they develop their own drive systems, electric transfer modules and electric propulsion units.

Key to their technology is a proprietary thermal management system for the massive battery array needed for an electric vehicle.

Coupled with the battery management technology, their sedans are able to drive over 130 miles on a single-charge. This helps eliminate the consumers “brick” fear where an electric vehicle runs out of charge before reaching its destination or charging station.

Gamma Medica (Northridge, CA) – This privately held company develops and manufactures imaging systems for healthcare.

Their most recent announcement, for molecular breast imaging (MBI), describes a solid state imager utilizing cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) technology.

“LumaGEM” earned them a winners place at this years’ awards for its leading edge solution for cancer screening.

NanoH2O (El Segundo, CA) – NanoH2O develops, manufactures and markets reverse osmosis (RO) membranes that lower the cost of desalination.

Based on breakthrough nanostructured materials and industry-proven polymer technology, NanoH2O’s thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) QuantumFlux membranes improve desalination energy efficiency and productivity.

This patented technology can increase water production by up to 70% over the current methods, while reducing energy use by 20%. NanoH2O CEO Jeff Green was recognized for his company’s ability to bring purified water to areas such as the Cayman Islands and to Chile.

Oblong Industries (Los Angeles, CA) – Oblong has the vision of transforming the way we work create and collaborate by enabling a single device to be shared across many screens and places.

Their technology will also allow individuals to combine all their various screens and devices into unified environment.

The various are limitless as to how individuals and groups, in a single location or spread across the globe, can use multiple platforms and devices to interact.

Replenish (Pasadena, CA) – As its name signifies, Replenish develops implantable drug pumps which can be refilled periodically to allow patients to have a continues supply of medication as needed.

The pumps are programmable to dispense precise dosages of drugs hourly, daily, weekly or monthly as needed. The 7 year lifespan of the implanted pump means that patients no longer have to endure syringe injections over a course of treatment.

And for the medical providers, they are ensured that patients are getting the prescribed medications in the correct amount at the appropriate interval.

The finalists for the 2012 Innovation Awards include:

Advanced Orthopaedic Solutions (Torrance, CA) – AOS develops and manufactures trauma orthopedic implants.

Aline (Rancho Dominguez, CA) – Aline uses microfluid technology to create “lab-on-a-chip” medical devices for point of care diagnostics.

C-Preme Limited (Torrance, CA) – C-Preme, under the Raskullz brand, makes helmets and protective gear for bicyclists, skateboarders and other outdoor sports for youths.

HH2 Energy & Hydroelectric Power (Canoga Park, CA) – Develops and manufactures hydrogen water fuel cells for automotive conversions

Miyachi Unitek Develops and manufactures systems for resistance welding, laser welding, laser marking, laser cutting, hermetic sealing and hot bar reflow soldering.

Rational Therapeutics (Long Beach, CA) – Focuses on cancer research and human tumor biology.

Tribogenics (Marina Del Rey, CA) – Tribogenics develops miniaturized x-ray sources for portable, compact X-ray solutions. Applications include industrial testing, medical diagnosis, security screening and other industries.