In less than 2 weeks on Monday, June 3rd, we are celebrating everything that is great and inspiring about innovation in this region and it’s promising to be an exceptional night! Our 10th Annual Innovation Awards Ceremony is going to be one you won't want to miss.

This year we have the great honor of inducting Dr. Tom Leighton, CEO of Akamai Technologies, Inc., into the MITX Innovation Hall of Fame – an accomplished technologist, a true innovator, and a person who continues to shape and contribute to the New England innovation community. Dr. Leighton is Akamai's technology visionary and leads the senior management team in setting the company's strategic direction. His achievements earned him recognition as one of the Top 10 Technology Innovators in U.S. News & World Report. Yesterday Debi Kleiman, President of MITX, had the chance to sit down with Tom and get some insight into his views on innovation.

Debi: “Do you have advice for innovators?”
Tom: “Thinking out of the box, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because you will make them. What matters is the idea not who said it (good ideas can come from anywhere...).”

Debi: “What inspires you?”
Tom: “Working hard on solving a difficult problem, especially if no one thinks it can be done. I love it when teams come together to work collaboratively and don’t feel constrained by traditional boundaries.”

Debi: “What do you think of innovation in Boston?”
Tom: “There is so much going on in Boston right now in tech. We have great talent, amazing universities, dedicated support organizations to provide resources, VCs and innovative entrepreneurs … you can do anything you want here!”

We couldn't be more excited to honor Tom at this year's ceremony and hope you join us on the 3rd for an exciting night. We have lots more in store as well. We will be announcing the winners of our 15 categories, as well as live on-site demos from our 45 finalists, all hosted by the wonderful Jodi Beggs.

Check out our Twitter recap of the celebration, fun, host highlights and presentation of awards from the 2012 MITX Interactive Awards!   Thank you to everyone who came out for the show and congratulations to the finalists and winners.

When you're part of a CSA, you get more than just vegetables. You get BETTER vegetables. You know who grows them and where they came from. In fact, you might get to work on the farm as part of your share. Because having a farm share means you're part of the farm. You have to do a little bit more to get your vegetables (drive to a farm!), but you end up with better vegetables, and your supermarket-shopper friends are definitely jealous. But the best part of it all is this: you get to be part of a community.

At MITX, we believe inspiration drives innovation. That belief drives us to work hard at supporting the growth of this great community every day. In everything we do, MITX strives to inspire you, our community, to try something new, to innovate as you approach new opportunities in creative and different ways. We know that one of the best sources of inspiration comes from seeing what others have tried and created. The digital marketing community in Boston is dynamic and vibrant; we are the hub of modern marketing. There is no better place to check out what’s next.

On October 15th, we announced the finalists in this year's Interactive Awards competition.  Keeping reading for the full news announcement.

The Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) announced the finalists of its 17th annual Interactive Awards competition, recognizing achievement in web and mobile innovation and emerging marketing applications produced and developed in New England.

“The finalists this year have demonstrated that incredible things can happen when technology and creativity come together in innovative ways,” said MITX President Debi Kleiman. “Through their smarts and originality, the teams behind this work are setting a new standard for digital marketing.”

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The following blog post was provided by an industry veteran who has judged our Interactive Awards competition for many years and wanted to anonymously share his suggestions for putting together an entry.

As you consider your company's entries into this year's MITX Interactive Awards, it's worth knowing that your peers who volunteer their time as judges really enjoy the process. For many of us, like you focused intently on our own work, this presents a great opportunity to spend some quality time with great work being done by other firms, teams and agencies. In years of judging, I've never met another judge who didn't enjoy the process.

It's also true that, as quickly as our space tends to evolve, the experience of reviewing entries remains remarkably consistent — regardless of category or quality of the work. With that in mind, here are some suggestions as you put together your entries:

Sometimes it is surprising how much strong writing skills can make a difference. In the case of Award competitions like our Interactive Awards, providing the judges with the right information, in the best form, and in the optimum length, can greatly increase the chances of winning. At MITX, we love when our people get recognized for their great work so we have put together some best practices for writing a #winning entry for our Interactive Awards competition, starting with an example of a real submission for a project that did, in fact, win: the 2011 winner in the Applied Technology category and of the Best in Show honor, Good Form Running (entered by Almighty on behalf of New Balance). While the way Almighty wrote their entry didn't guarantee the win (the work was innovative and amazing, and that's what ultimately lead to the award), they provided the information in way that made the judges understand their work easily and deeply. Check it out.

The Interactive Awards celebrates the best marketing and creative accomplishments emerging from New England. And every year, we know know we need to give you our best, because we ask you for your best (best examples of modern marketing, that is).  So, in effort to beat last year's showcase of our region's winning work, we've revamped and enhanced our categories. Ten of them are brand new (keep an eye out for Corporate Social Responsibility and Screens), and the rest got made over so hard their families won't even recognize them. Check them out in the list below! You'll laugh at LEAST twice, or we're not the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange.

We are now accepting entries for the 17th Annual Interactive Awards!  This show celebrates the innovations in integrated marketing and advertising developed right here in New England. And it’s got a reputation for bringing out the most interesting and exciting new work.  We are particularly excited for this year’s competition because of the many new and enhanced categories for the awards, making make them even more relevant and meaningful.

This year, categories are divided into three sets: Industry, celebrating the unique ways organizations in different industries reach out to their constituencies; Strategy, honoring the different marketing tools, approaches and techniques used to connect with current and prospective clients and partners; and Media, toasting the evolution of agencies in creatively using clients’ paid media budgets for more impactful results.

Industry Categories