The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) welcomed six inductees to their Hall of Fame ranks as they celebrated the 20th annual CTA Hall of Fame Awards last night in New York City.
The Inductees in alphabetical order are:
- Colin Angle, co-founder and CEO of iRobot and co-inventor of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, made robots in the home commonplace and created a new consumer technology product category.
- Jim Barry, influential consumer technology reporter and editor, appearing across the country on TV and radio as CTA’s Digital Answer Man.
- Henry Chiarelli, a ubiquitous executive for numerous leading consumer technology, e-commerce and retail businesses, including RadioShack. Chiarelli also served as a chair, vice-chair or member on nearly 50 industry association boards, committees and standards working groups.
- Elizabeth Feinler, leader of the team that devised today’s familiar top-level internet dot-com domains, including .com, .org, .mil, .edu and .gov.
- Dr. Shuji Nakamura, inventor of the blue LED, which makes power-efficient “white” LED light bulbs possible, and the blue laser that the Blu-ray Disc format is based on.
- Owen D. Young, organized the leading radio patent holders in 1919, and founded the U.S.’s first radio company, RCA, which enabled the commercialization of radio and the creation of the consumer technology business.
And for the first time ever, the CTA presented two Innovation Entrepreneur Awards last night.
Startup of the Year: Aurora – The Aurora Driver is a self-driving platform that brings together its software, hardware and data services to power all types of vehicle makes and models.
Small Business of the Year: Heal – Heal is the first app to pair doctor house calls with remote patient monitoring using its Heal Hub, a simple plug-in device that connects with more than 120 health tracking devices.
See also: ‘The Current War’ Helps CTA Celebrate 20th Anniversary of Hall of Fame
