In addition to recognizing the top innovators from among more than 25,000 YPO members across 130 countries, the Global Innovation Awards also honor Africa’s top innovator and the top young adult innovator, who is an adult child of a YPO member (ages 17-29).
“Each year, YPO has this amazing opportunity to honor and highlight these distinguished innovators who are making an indelible mark around the world. The Global Innovation Awards highlight those who are leading the way in creating forward-thinking companies and significant opportunities now and for future generations,” said Keith Alper, Chair of YPO Innovation Week.
2018 Global Innovation Award winners
Global Innovation Award – Harjit Gill, X-Halo
Harjit Gill is the CEO of X-Halo, the world’s first device to detect the early onset of respiratory diseases before any signs of symptoms. Connected to a smartphone, the device is the only one to give early warnings of disease and track lung health by measuring breath temperature. Through the device, once signs are detected, patients can implement lifestyle changes and medication options to manage any potential issues at an affordable cost at home.
Global Innovation Award – Africa Top Innovator – Yariv Cohen, Ignite Power
Yariv Cohen is the CEO of Ignite Power, a Pan-African developer and financier of safe clean energy solutions. Of these solutions is a solar system for rural homes that integrates with mobile money for a pay-as-you-use energy and leasing model costing as little as USD4 per month. Ignite Power has connected nearly 500,000 people to safe solar power and projects to reach 10 million by 2021.
Global Innovation Award – YPO Next Generation – Leslie Lim, Cicil
Leslie Lim is the Co-Founder of Cicil, a Google launchpad accelerator startup focused on providing financial access to the underserved Indonesian university student segment. Cicil provides micro loans to students, helping them in a number of ways including financing laptops and tablets, sports equipment and more.
“Congratulations to the 2018 Global Innovation Award honorees as they highlight the innovation and breadth of talent of the global YPO network,” said Scott Mordell, CEO of YPO. “These innovators are accelerating what’s next and leading the way for the future.”
Finalists
The top finalists for the YPO Global Innovation Awards include:
Jerry Callahan is the inventor of Ohmic Array Technology, which combines an array of graphite electrodes with a digital control mechanism, providing a pure and effective method of heating water using water as the heating element instead of metallic heating elements.
Nicolas Durand is the CEO and Founder of Abionic, which has developed the abioSCOPE, the world’s most rapid diagnostic platform based on a drop of blood to improve medical diagnosis at point-of-care.
George Kurtz is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity technology company highly recognized for its cloud-driven approach to stopping breaches. CrowdStrike’s technology — the Falcon platform — has established a new standard in helping organizations stop breaches, extending beyond malware to prevent advanced targeted attacks regardless of their origin or technique.
Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director of Binatone Lifestyle Ltd., founded Project Maji to tackle the global water challenge by designing and developing solar-powered water kiosks across rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa to provide safe drinking water. Currently, Project Maji provides 15,000 people with clean water across 11 locations with the goal of expanding to one million people by 2025.
Christina Lomasney is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of Modumetal, which manufactures a new class of nanolayered metals that are stronger, lighter and more durable than conventional metals and alloys. While derived from the same basic raw materials as conventional metals, Modumetal’s nanolaminated alloys can be used almost anywhere metals and alloys are used today while providing significant performance improvements over conventional metals
Bob White is the President and CEO of Entellus Medical, Inc, which has created the XprESS ENT Dilation System. The system, which has treated more than 200,000 to date, is used for the minimally invasive treatment of adult and pediatric patients with chronic and recurrent sinusitis. Patients treated with the system have experienced faster recovery, less bleeding, less use of prescription pain medication and fewer post-procedure debridements.
Lee Zheng is the owner of Smart Technologies and Investment and Founder and CEO of PIN Genie. PIN Genie is an innovation of PIN technology. This highly secure, peek-proof patented technology can be applied to devices that require the use of PIN, making it impossible for others to spy a PIN and providing more security and convenience for users.
