Nearly 200 of Brooklyn’s leading technologists, inventors, coders and entrepreneurs descended upon WeWork Dumbo Thursday night for the inaugural Brooklyn Innovation Awards.
One of the themes of the night was community: what it means, what its scale is and what its benefits can be. At Technical.ly we’re trying to help build and strengthen the Brooklyn tech community by connecting people with similar interests from across the borough.
The awards last night were fun, but on another level, simply being in a big room with so many people thinking critically about solving problems and creating solutions was the real thrill. We can only imagine years down the line what will have come from the people gathered in that room last night.
We’re excited about the current state and the future of the Brooklyn tech community. Below you’ll find the winner in each category and a story we’ve written about them in the past year.

The Winners

Incubator of the Year: Made in NY Media Center by IFP

• 6 inspiring projects that just won grants from Made in NY Media Center

OH SNAP! @NYMediaCenter WINS BROOKLYN INCUBATOR OF THE YEAR! #crushingit #BKIA16 pic.twitter.com/N7ogoPHoSh

— StrategyHack (@StratHackers) January 29, 2016

Maker Space of the Year: Genspace

• Cool talk alert: ‘Biology is the new digital’

Winner of best makerspace 2015 at @TechnicallyBK is @genspacenyc !! "Come engineer your own organism" pic.twitter.com/9ZnI6cBQmT

— Kathryn Dickerson (@scalelocal) January 29, 2016

Technologist of the Year: Catt Small

• Keeping up with Catt Small

https://twitter.com/cattsmall/status/692893920280227841
Best Locally-built Indie Video Game of the Year: Brooklyn 1776

• Defend Brooklyn in this new Revolutionary War iOS game

We just won the Brooklyn Innovation Award for video game of the year! So proud. https://t.co/LV1T0i168h pic.twitter.com/n5oFHCsIjA

— Mark Hurst (@markhurst) January 29, 2016

Tech Mission Org of the Year: Brooklyn Public Library

• Brooklyn Public Library just made New York history buffs very happy

Brooklyn Tech Awards by @TechnicallyBK! Favorite moment was Brooklyn Public Library's win for community connection pic.twitter.com/2jSbSkhIzK

— Emily M. D. Scott (@Broken_Bread) January 29, 2016

Best Web/Mobile Product of the Year: Push for Pizza

• Pizza ordering app launches out of Park Slope

Just learned about @PushForPizza and I'm feeling it, slash the dudes outfit at the @TechnicallyBK awards tnite was #onfleek #pushforpizza

— Sydney Campos (@sydcampos415) January 29, 2016

Artist/Creative Group of the Year: Brooklyn On Demand

• There’s now a TV channel for just Brooklyn

We won! Thanks to @TechnicallyBK and to everyone who voted. #BrooklynInnovationAwards pic.twitter.com/n21k6IZQ5Y

— The Art of Brooklyn (@TheArtOfBklyn) January 29, 2016

Coworking Space of the Year: DUMBO Startup Lab

• 4 founders we met at DUMBO Startup Lab

Congrats @john_cogs @DumboStartupLab https://t.co/dgez2Nx8Kf

— Laurie Coghlan (@Laurie_Coghlan) January 29, 2016

Tech Community Leader of the Year: Allison Esposito

Congratulations @allisonveronica & #nyctechladies!

— Lacey Ray Althouse (@LaceyAlthouse) January 29, 2016

Creative Agency of the Year: Huge

• Predictions for 2015 from Dumbo’s creative agencies

Creative agency. @hugeinc Congrats winning!!! #tech. #creative awesome !

— CoLab-Factory (@CoLabFactory) January 29, 2016

Science Firm of the Year: HabitatMap

• Know how much air pollution you’re breathing in with AirBeam

#AirCasting #AirBeam nominated for a @TechnicallyBK Innovation Award. Join for the awards, stay for the party! https://t.co/conDbApuVH

— HabitatMap (@HabitatMap) January 13, 2016

Tech Startup of the Year: Voodoo Manufacturing

• Will 3D printing be the next industrial revolution?

Tech Business of the Year: Kickstarter

• What you can learn from Kickstarter’s analytics saga

The winners pose with their awards. (Photo by Alexandria Leggett)