Silicon Valley June Summit 2024: Meet the Corporate and Startup Award Winners
Watch the full event recordings here!
We’re excited to announce the winners of the corporate and startup awards at Plug and Play’s Silicon Valley June Summit! The event showcased cutting-edge trends and technologies curated by our extensive network of leading corporations and startups, emphasizing the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) across various industries. This three-day Summit celebrated the achievements of over 300 innovative startups spanning 17 industry-focused innovation programs.
Before announcing our industry-specific award winners, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate five of our partners for their decade-long commitment to innovation:
- Nissan
- Daikin
- Kyocera
- US Bank
- SMBC
“Recognizing these partners for their decade of commitment to innovation and collaboration within this tech ecosystem is an honor and privilege,” says Kevin Withstandley, VP of Partner Success at Plug and Play. “It takes immense passion, curiosity, and grit to overcome the ever-changing challenges facing these organizations to remain leaders in their industries. They are true innovation leaders!”
Celebrate with us as we honor the outstanding achievements of these exceptional companies and reveal the recipients of the event’s most esteemed awards.
Below are the winners from each of our industry-specific expos:
Brand & Retail
Costco is a membership-based warehouse store established in Seattle, WA that has evolved into a worldwide retail powerhouse renowned for its discounted bulk sales. Offering a diverse range of products spanning groceries to electronics, Costco’s exceptional quality, value, and distinctive merchandise attract devoted members globally in pursuit of savings.
DRIVE (Diversity, Respect, Inclusion, Visibility, and Equity)
Visa, a multinational corporation based in San Francisco, CA, is renowned for its cutting-edge payment card services. Its extensive global network facilitates seamless electronic fund transfers worldwide, predominantly through the widely esteemed Visa-branded credit, debit, and prepaid cards.
Solvent is dedicated to developing and providing a range of innovative and cost-effective technology-driven personal finance and banking solutions for those who are financially marginalized, disadvantaged, underserved, and often overlooked, including individuals impacted by the system. Their goal is to empower them financially and facilitate wealth creation.
Enterprise & AI
Brunel is a global workforce provider in the energy, infrastructure, mining, automotive, and pharmaceutical industries. It links skilled professionals with leading companies worldwide, providing recruitment, project staffing, and consultancy services. With a focus on innovation and sustainability, Brunel offers flexible staffing solutions to meet project needs effectively. Brunel is committed to safety and compliance and improves workforce productivity and project outcomes through tailored staffing solutions and industry expertise.
Food & Beverage
Ki Tua Fund, a venture capital subsidiary of Fonterra Co-operative, the world’s largest dairy exporter and a leader in dairy innovation, partners with founders and startups to scale disruptive solutions. They focus on combining science, nutrition, and technology to impact health positively.
Omaiko is leading the way in the next era of microalgae farming, transcending the limitations of traditional cultivation methods to achieve exceptional cost-efficiency and an impressive 400% boost in yields. Their cutting-edge farming platform offers various applications, such as protein production, nitrogen fixation, and carbon capture.
GOAL
niosense leverages interconnected traffic signals to offer stop avoidance as a service to fleet owners and operators, turning traffic signals into revenue streams. By harnessing the GPS systems embedded in heavy trucks and integrating them with connected traffic signals, they provide a traffic signal priority system that can be invoiced based on performance.
Health
Eli Lilly & Company is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, USA. Established in 1876, Lilly has built a reputation for its groundbreaking efforts in the healthcare sector. Its core focus is uncovering, creating, and bringing cutting-edge pharmaceuticals to the market. The organization excels in areas such as oncology, diabetes, immunology, and neuroscience.
Insurtech
GNP Seguros, a leading Mexican insurance provider, offers a diverse range of insurance policies and financial services. These encompass life insurance, medical coverage, casualty protection, auto and home insurance, retirement plans, investment opportunities, and annuities.
Media & Advertising
Suntory is a global beverage company based in Japan renowned for its premium alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Founded in 1899, Suntory offers a varied range encompassing whisky, beer, wine, and soft drinks. The company upholds a dedication to superior craftsmanship and innovation, blending traditional methods with modern technology to craft distinctive flavors and memorable experiences.
New Materials & Packaging
SIG is a leading systems and solutions provider for aseptic packaging. Leveraging its cutting-edge technology and exceptional innovation prowess, it offers a comprehensive selection of packaging solutions, adaptable filling machinery, and strategies for more intelligent factory operations, enabling it to continually meet consumers’ evolving demands.
BioTwin focuses on the often unseen areas within a building, such as the spaces between walls or behind boards, where materials carry a significant carbon footprint. Despite the impact, these areas are often overlooked. BioTwin aims to shift this perspective by driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and influencing change in sustainable building materials.
Supply Chain
Walmart is a multinational retail corporation that operates several chains of discount department and warehouse stores. It has over 2.2 million associates worldwide and 11,000 stores under 69 banners in 27 countries. Walmart helps foster economic growth across the global communities in which it operates by boosting tax revenues, lowering prices on goods, attracting customers to local stores, and creating job opportunities.
Travel & Hospitality
WestJet is a low-cost airline based in Calgary, Canada, and the second-largest airline in the country. Established in 1994 and taking flight in 1996, WestJet provides scheduled, charter, and cargo services to over 100 destinations across North and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Through strategic airline partnerships, WestJet extends its reach to more than 20 countries. The airline’s extensive network encompasses routes to popular US cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Orlando and key metro areas like San Francisco and New York.
Alō Index offers an AI-powered B2B sustainable hotel marketplace SaaS. Utilizing a proprietary algorithm to assess ESG data, Alō offers comprehensive scores and insights for every hotel. Subsequently, its recommender engine aptly connects corporate travel buyers with hotels that resonate with their ESG objectives. This efficient procedure facilitates informed contract selections, performance evaluation, and program oversight, fostering mutual advantages for both buyers and hotels within the sustainable travel domain.
Lucia is a freelance marketplace for the travel sector, serving as a Contractor Marketplace for Hospitality. It connects hospitality businesses with skilled contractors, called CoPilots, who provide various services from admin tasks to customer support. Lucia streamlines talent management, cutting down on recruitment and payment time, and supports businesses in finding top freelance experts.
Be a part of the next Plug and Play Summit bystarting your innovation journey with us today!
