Acadiana Innovation Awards

The Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce began an area-wide search in November for innovation to receive the inaugural Acadiana Innovation Awards. The Chamber established the Acadiana Innovation Awards to help build upon its long-term goal of perpetuating a "Community of Innovators." The award is designed to educate, celebrate and inspire the people of Acadiana to create the transformational changes found in an economically and culturally thriving community.

Chamber President & CEO, Rob Guidry commented, "This type of community outreach and participation is essential to our perpetuating a 'Community of Innovators.'"

Criteria for the award was established by a special Innovation Committee Task Force. Heading the task force was Chris Allain of Vidox and Nanette Heggie of Investment Partners of Acadiana, both also members of the Chamber's 2009 Board of Directors. Applicants must reside or work in the Acadiana area. Chamber membership was not a requirement. Judges focused on results and creativity of the innovation. Applicants were encouraged to include any pictures, videos, etc. to be reviewed by the Judging Committee, which was made up of 6 other members of the Board from all industry types. Out of the 16 applicants, six were selected as finalists.

A recipient from the private sector and one from the public sector will be announced at the Chamber's Annual Banquet on Monday, January 18, 2010. Please contact the Chamber's Marketing Relations Specialist, Carley Ste. Marie, by email at carley@lafchamber.org or by phone at 337-408-3655 with any questions about the award.

The 2009 Acadiana Innovation Award Finalists are (descriptions provided in applications):

Lafayette Entertainment Initiative – Lafayette Consolidated Government & Believe Entertainment

The Lafayette Entertainment Initiative (LEI), under the visionary leadership of City-Parish President Joey Durel, was approved by the Lafayette Consolidated Government City-Parish Council with financial support from the Lafayette Economic Development Authority and the Lafayette Convention & Visitors Center. Believe Entertainment was contracted to design, launch and manage this entertainment industry initiative to attract state-certified production activity to our region.

United Way of Acadiana Multi-Tenant Center serves a region often threatened by hurricanes and other natural disasters. Working closely in partnership with the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, local emergency operations centers, FEMA, Acadiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) and the Louisiana VOAD, United Way of Acadiana convenes volunteers and resources to meet the needs of people in crisis. From its facility, United Way of Acadiana can mobilize volunteers and donated goods as part of a regional response and can provide case management services to help people to successfully work with FEMA and other non-governmental organizations providing assistance.

True to their motto, "Always Forward Thinking,” Dupré Logistics strives to be at the forefront of the logistics industry through groundbreaking initiatives and policies such as state-of-the art safety programs, sleep apnea studies regarding their drivers, an industry rare hourly pay structure for drivers and other innovative processes. Dupré Logistics, the first company in the nation to partner with Fleet Risk Advisors, illustrated that industry-leading safety results can be predicted through a process called Advanced Predictive Analytics. This data aggregation and pattern recognition technology is used to identify risk signatures of drivers, vehicles and schedules. The program allows Dupré to devise new risk management and performance monitoring strategies with the aim of simultaneously reducing operational costs and mitigating risks. Simply put: predicting and preventing accidents on the road BEFORE they happen through a marriage of data and human resources.

FuzziBunz® cloth diapers are the most durable and innovative cloth diapers on the market. This patented pocket diaper is made with sturdy snap closures, which are made to last and require absolutely no maintenance. FuzziBunz® diapers have no Velcro, so they won't fray, collect lint or snag your baby's clothes. FuzziBunz® come in a variety of sweet and fun colors and sizes as well as a One Size that will fit your baby for 3+ years from the time your baby is born until they time they are out of diapers - and possibly for other children. FuzziBunz® diapers are the workhorse of all reusable diapering systems. Made with only the finest and most innovative materials, the stylish three-layered patented FuzziBunz® design works hard to keep your babies' bottoms dry and rash-free… always!

Oil Field Commander Real Time Surveillance systems help our customs increase production, avoid deferred production, and increase recoverable reserves on their most valuable upstream oil and gas assets. Oil Field Commander systems generate enormous ROI and payback and become "mission critical." The program was created to bring real time data to our customers decision makers and technical personnel with analytical tools to turn that data into information on which low risk and high confidence decisions may be made quickly. Oil Field Commander is a leading contender product for the petroleum engineer's surveillance and visualization space in the future digital oilfield. Oil Field Commander has been selected by one of the major integrated oil field service companies as their visualization product.

TigerBullets® are a multiple PSD (particle sized distribution) plugging material used to bridge and seal permeable formations in water, oil, or synthetic based drilling fluid (mud) systems. It can be used for lost circulation control and as an additive for cementing operation. TigerBullets® are made of recycled plastics, recycled cellulosic fibers together with other functional additives; all forming a composite blend through a reactive extrusion process, providing improved performance (rigidity, swelling, lubricating and thermal stability) and field material handling. TigerBullets® represent a new generation — GREEN LOST CIRCULATION MATERIAL.