2003 Tekne Award categories and recipients are:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
William “Bill” George, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medtronic, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of leadership and innovation.

INNOVATION AWARD
Honors a business, academic institution or business/academic collaboration that has demonstrated leadership, dedication and excellence in the development of an innovation in areas such as digital technology, nanotechnology, MEMS, or medtech/biotech, genomics/bioinformatics or other areas of life sciences research with the potential to contribute significantly to Minnesota’s technology-based economy.

• Emerging company recipient is Guidance Interactive, Delano, which created the Glucoboy by combining blood glucose monitoring and video games into a “kid friendly” medical device that provides motivation for blood testing.
• Established company recipient is 3M, Performance Materials Division, St. Paul. This division of 3M developed a new, high performance conductor material that can provide transmission capacities up to three times greater than those of existing systems.

LEADERSHIP AWARD
Honors an outstanding individual who, beyond a specific innovation or achievement, has contributed significantly to Minnesota’s technology expansion.

• Emerging company recipient is the late Roger Jensen, former executive director, Anoka County Economic Development Partnership, Coon Rapids.
• Established company recipient is Dr. H.S. Muralidhara, vice president, Plant Operations, Center of Expertise – Process Technology, Cargill, Wayzata. Muralidhara

TECHNOLOGY COMPANY AWARD
Recognizing emerging companies (annual revenues under $50 million) and established companies (annual revenues of $50 million+) or division within an established company that exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit, and promises continued economic growth through technology development and/or application in the following six categories:

Advanced Manufacturing – Advanced materials and chemicals, machinery and equipment, electronics and components, measuring instruments, photonics, optics and lasers, and computer and peripheral equipment.

• Emerging company recipient is Infrared Solutions, Plymouth, a privately owned company that develops infrared sensing and imaging devices for thermal measurement and evaluation.
• Established company recipient is 3M, Performance Materials Division, St. Paul. This division at 3M introduced a new class of clean extinguishing agents to the fire protection agency.

Biotechnology – Agriculture, environmental, food science and pharmaceuticals. (Companies in this category were not singled out as emerging or established.)

• Recipients are Gel-Del Technologies, St. Paul, and Protein Design Labs, Plymouth. Gel-Del Technologies designs and produces customized biomatrix materials to advance the efficacy and safety of a broad array of medical products. Protein Design Labs is a leader in the development of humanized monoclonal antibodies to treat various disease conditions.

IT-Software, Communications, and Infrastructure – Software, networking, communications, and wireless equipment and products.

• Emerging company recipient is Integrated Decisions and Systems, Bloomington - a leading provider of revenue optimization solutions designed to deliver measurable revenue increases.
• Established company recipient is Digital River, Eden Prairie. Digital River builds and manages online businesses for nearly 34,000 companies worldwide such as Symantec, Macromedia, Major League Baseball and Motorola.

Medical Technology – Devices, diagnostics and equipment.

• Emerging company recipient is SurModics, Eden Prairie, which was formed in 1979 to develop and commercialize diagnostic and medical/pharmaceutical products.
• Established company recipient is Arizant, Eden Prairie, which develops and manufactures a complete line of temperature management products.

Technology Services – Finding innovative solutions for a client’s use of technology.

• Emerging company recipient is ePredix, Minneapolis. ePredix solutions accurately predict future job performance and help employers make better hiring, employee development and succession planning and staffing decisions.
• Established company recipient is Identix, Minnetonka – the world’s leading multi-biometrics security technology company.

Technology User - Innovative application of products or services resulting in dramatic business improvement or market advantage.

• Emerging company recipient is NaviCare Systems, St. Paul - a provider of capacity management, resource optimization and dynamic patient-flow solutions for the health care industry.
• Established company recipient is Cargill, Wayzata. Cargill is an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products and services with 98,000 employees in 61 countries.