Leave it to Yet Analytics CEO Shelly Blake-Plock to offer a mic drop moment at the Baltimore Innovation Awards.
Accepting the award for Tech Startup of the Year, he said, “Elon Musk thinks it’s all going to happen on Mars. We know it’s happening right here in Baltimore.” Then he walked offstage and out of the auditorium to much applause.
After nominations and more than 3,500 votes from the community, the fourth annual Baltimore Innovation Awards were handed out on Friday to close out Baltimore Innovation Week 2016 at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Brown Center.
The big party, hosted by Technical.ly Baltimore and Innovation Village, featured innovative art, along with new Baltimore-made games and VR. We also took so many selfies with each of the winners onstage.
Here are the winners:
- Entrepreneur of the Year: Jasmine Simms, for her work helping other mothers start businesses with Moms as Entrepreneurs and leadership of Scrub Nail Boutique.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BK_8tDGA-JE/?taken-by=maeentrepreneur
- Tech Startup of the Year: Yet Analytics, for its work on a platform to unify experience data, and tech community leadership in Baltimore.
- Tech Business of the Year: Planit, for continued growth, as shown by a move to new offices in Federal Hill and appointment of a digital creative director.

Planit’s team and Technical.ly Editor in Chief Zack Seward with the award selfie. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)
- Technologist of the Year: Gillian Henker, for her work developing Sisu Global Health’s Hemafuse device.
https://twitter.com/messypixels/status/782004840436228096
- Colocation Community of the Year: Impact Hub Baltimore, for creating a new space bringing together entrepreneurs, activists, artists and policymakers in Station North.

Impact Hub Baltimore team takes a selfie with Technical.ly Baltimore. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)
- Tech Mission Org of the Year: Code in the Schools, for continued work expanding access to computer science in schools, and through a summer job training program.

Code in the Schools’ team and Technical.ly take a selfie. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)
- Young STEM Leader: Jacob Leggette, 9, who wowed (and advised) President Obama and is an emerging leader at the Digital Harbor Foundation.
Favorite moment of the #BIW16 Innovation Awards, was this young leader, Jacob Leggette pic.twitter.com/ruGFRWED0N
— Impact Hub Baltimore (@impacthubbalt) October 1, 2016
- Design/Dev Firm of the Year: Fearless Solutions, for work to expand access to a federal program that helps small businesses in Historically Underutilized Business zones and provide environmental education tools.

Fearless Solutions and Technical.ly Baltimore. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)
- Sciences Group of the Year: Infinite Biomedical Technologies, for work to improve prosthetics.
- Dev Product of the Year: Loople, for continued development of a platform to find food and drink specials, both in Baltimore and D.C.

Phil DiMuro and Dave Phelan of Loople. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)
- Makerspace of the Year: Station North Tool Library, for their work expanding access to making through tool lending and education.
- Indie Video Game of the Year: Sparkypants, for Station North-based development of DropZone and a game engine made specifically for the game.

Sparkypants’ Jason Coleman and Dave Inscore hold their award. (Photo by Stephen Babcock)
- Creative Group of the Year: Baltimore Rock Opera Society, for nine years of creative, innovative and epic musical theatre.
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