4th Annual MIT Sloan eBusiness Awards open for nominations

Cambridge, Mass., November 1, 2001 - The MIT Sloan eBusiness Awards (eBAs) will begin accepting nominations for its 4th annual awards program honoring successful innovations in eBusiness starting November 1, 2001 and closing January 15, 2002. The MIT Sloan eBAs will be presented on April 17, 2002 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kresge Auditorium and will highlight an extended three-day conference sponsored by the Center of eBusiness at MIT. The MIT Sloan eBA event is produced and managed entirely by MIT Sloan School students as part of the School's eBusiness at MIT program.

“The MIT Sloan eBAs are the only event in the world where leaders in business, academia and business journalism determine and recognize outstanding achievements by companies and individuals who have made innovative contributions in eBusiness,” said Matthew Rhoden, a Sloan School of Management student and co-producer of this year's Awards. “By opening nominations to the public at large, we ensure all candidates will be considered on their merits and the contributions they have made to the enrichment of business practices worldwide.”

Awards Highlight 3-Day eBusiness Conference

Building on the success of the past three Awards and to further meet the needs of eBusiness professionals, the Sloan School has this year developed an extended three-day conference that will include speaking panels and workshops focusing on the today's eBusiness issues and agendas for success.

“The conference will include speaking tracks and panel discussions on a range of eBusiness topics, including case studies of successful practices engineered by mainstream businesses,” noted Jay Livens, Sloan School of Management student and Awards co-producer. “In addition, MIT/Sloan School of Management students and faculty will deliver new eBusiness research.”

The Nominations Process

A company may be nominated by anyone in any category, so long as they meet the category's predetermined set of criteria. Nominations are submitted by completing a simple form on the MIT Sloan eBA website. Nominations for the 2002 eBAs will be accepted in the following categories:

Business of the Year: The MIT Sloan eBAs recognize companies that have successfully achieved excellence in technology innovation. In particular, the Business of the Year award recognizes that company that has best-demonstrated innovation, vision, and industry leadership over the past year.
Innovator of the Year: Individual contribution from entrepreneurs, technologists, venture capitalists, academics, and other business leaders often fosters innovation. Over the years, these practitioners and thought-leaders developed creative ideas, pioneering technologies, innovative business models, and original theories that have fueled significant growth in a number of industries. This award honors the individual whose contribution facilitated innovation and had a significant impact within and outside of his organization.
Social Responsibility: This award recognizes an organization that has demonstrated its commitment to improving society through the use of an innovative product, service, technology, or business practice. Potential applicants include for-profit and non-profit organizations that have implemented innovative, sustainable programs impacting peoples' lives and the communities in which they live.
Business Transformation: Increasingly our world is immersed in intense technological, financial, and political changes that are reordering the rules governing business competition. To be competitive in business today, companies need to continually transform themselves. The introduction of new technologies makes devising a comprehensive strategy much more complex. This award recognizes a company that has successfully enhanced its strategy to respond to, or take advantage of evolving business conditions.

Examples include companies that have:
- Created a new market or a new way of doing business OR
- Sharpened competitive advantage in an existing market.
Rookie of the Year: This award recognizes the emerging business best positioned to generate explosive growth. The Rookie of the Year should have an innovative technology or business model, which will allow them to quickly enter or create a market, and acquire market share.
Disruptive Technology of the Year: Throughout history, companies have introduced various technologies that have truly changed the way human beings do things. Some of the more obvious introductions include the airplane, the cell phone or, of course, the Internet. As these technologies have so greatly impacted our daily lives since their introduction, they are labeled as “disruptive” technologies. The Disruptive Technology of the Year award recognizes the technology that has begun to, or has the potential to, positively disrupt our daily lives.

Secondary Awards

New for 2002 are the Secondary Awards categories. Special juries made up of industry leaders will be selecting the winners in these categories. The secondary awards are:

Communications Technology: The Communications Technology sector has played perhaps the most critical role in the Internet age. Breakthrough technologies such as optical-networking, DSL and Ethernet have served as the nuts and bolts for today's high-speed, high-capacity and high-reliability communications service networks. This award recognizes a company that has most significantly impacted the communications sector over the past year, both by acting as a “best of breed” product for today's communications service providers, as well as pushing the envelope of tomorrow's leading communications technologies.
Health Care: The health care industry is one of the most complex and dynamic. Traditional industry players are being challenged by more technologically nimble companies who are leveraging technology to find new therapeutics, design better diagnostics, and dramatically cut the development time for new drugs. Incumbents are reacting quickly to this dynamic, and innovating more rapidly than ever before. This award recognizes innovation in the health care industry.
Internet Services: Today, the Internet is playing an increasingly important role in business transactions and in everyday life. This award recognizes a company that has innovatively leveraged the Internet to creatively serve its customers.
Media/Entertainment: The Media and Entertainment community is a vibrant part of the economy and has a strong reputation of fostering breakthrough technology. This award recognizes a company that has successfully adapted its strategy to an innovation having a direct impact on its operations during the course of the past year.
Operations: The manufacturing community is becoming increasingly innovative in improving its operations. This award recognizes a large company that has successfully adapted its operations strategy to improve its efficiency in manufacturing during the course of the past year. This company should have revenues of at least $500 million.
Financial Services: The financial service community has always been a leader in introducing innovation. This award recognizes the financial service firm or organization that has demonstrated innovation leadership during the course of the past year. This company should have revenues of at least $250 million.

About the Awards

The MIT Sloan eBAs were founded in 1999 to recognize and award successful innovation in eBusiness. The awards, which are entirely student run, have quickly become the premier event recognizing global innovation and leadership in the field of eBusiness. This reputation is largely due to the support and sponsorship of leaders in the academic and business communities. Previous sponsors of the Sloan eBAs include Fleet, Scient, Dell, GM, Visteon, Nokia, Microsoft, British Telecom, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Merrill Lynch. Jury members responsible for choosing the winners of past shows have included Michael Dell, Bill Porter, the editors of Newsweek, Red Herring, The Financial Times and Fast Company and the chairman and CEOs of Nortel, BellSouth and Intel.

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