The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama will hand out the “imerge” EDPA 2017 Innovation Awards as part of an Oscars-style celebration on Aug. 23 at the Alabama Theatre.

“The EDPA Innovation Awards showcases the most innovative companies in our state,” EDPA President Steve Spencer said. “The winners, and for that matter all of the nominees, are leaders in their spaces, driving forward Alabama’s innovation economy.”

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The 2017 EDPA Innovation Award winners are:

• Quality Filters of Robertsdale for “Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Manufacturing” in recognition of its advanced methods in cutting the lead time for filter deliveries from three or four weeks to averaging five days or less.
• ZeroRPM of Cullman as “Corporate Innovator of the Year (small company, 1-50 employees)” in recognition of its battery-powered ZeroRPM Idle Mitigation System that allows a vehicle to idle without running the engine.
• Diatherix of Huntsville as “Corporate Innovator of the Year (large company, 50+ employees)” for its groundbreaking pathogen detection technology, which enables healthcare providers to determine more accurately the cause of an infection and determine multiple infection sources.
• This year’s “Lifetime Achievement in Innovation” recipient is Jim Hudson, co-founder of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville.

Keynote speaker Thomas L. Friedman is is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author of six best-selling books, including “Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Acceleration.”

Thomas L. Friedman (contributed)

Friedman will speak at 4 p.m. and a networking reception follows at 5 p.m. The imerge EDPA 2017 Innovation Awards celebration is at 6 p.m. The annual awards highlight companies of all sizes and innovators who strengthen Alabama’s economy, generate jobs and develop new ideas.

The imerge event. presented in conjunction with SummitMedia Entertainment, will continue into the evening with “Celebrate Imagination,” beginning at 7 p.m., which offers a taste of Alabama, with delicious food, live music and entertainment “after parties.”

For a complete agenda and to buy tickets, visit alabamalaunchpad.com/imerge.

“This will be a wonderful night celebrating the incredible ideas, imagination and ingenuity in the state,” said Angela Wier, EDPA vice president. “Congratulations to all the 2017 winners.”

A panel of judges, chaired by ADTRAN CEO Tom Stanton, chose the winners from a pool of 88 nominations submitted from across the state.

The awards, which were started in 2014, annually spotlight thought leadership, innovation and creativity. With the launch of imerge, EDPA kicks off the next generation of the Alabama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference held for the past six years.

In addition to Stanton, the 2017 judges are: Ralph Hargrove, president and CEO of Hargrove Engineers + Constructors; Tharon Honeycutt, founder and president, MSB Analytics; Gene Moorhead, professional EOS implementer; Peggy Sutton, founder and president of To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co.; and Neill Wright, executive vice president of Liberty Bank.