TopCAT Innovation Awards Celebrate Region’s Vibrant Tech Community

The Central Ohio tech community showed up in force to celebrate the 2007 TopCAT Innovation Awards presented by TechColumbus Thursday evening. Over 900 were on hand for the celebration of the achievements and strength of the region’s global knowledge economy. “We’ll be here for years to come as we help realize a dream of making this the Silicon Valley of the Midwest,” said Ravi Kunduru of Ventech who was the winner in the Minority Owned Enterprise category. There were 13 awards given in various categories along with two student awards. The evening, considered the Academy Awards of the tech community, featured a lively networking reception followed by dinner and the ceremony hosted by WBNS 10 TV’s Andrea Cambern. “There’s certainly a lot of great news here,” said Cambern. The vibrancy of the region’s tech community was evidenced not only through the strength of the winners, but also in the number, diversity and stories of the various nominees. “I wouldn’t want to start a tech business anywhere else but Central Ohio,” said William Dawson of NexTech Materials who was honored as Executive of the Year for companies with less than 50 employees. Congratulations to all the winners.