2b AHEAD Innovator Award

Every year, on the occasion of the 2b AHEAD ThinkTank Future Congress, the most important innovators of the past twelve months are officially recognized by the institute. The awards traditionally go to those visionaries whose innovative business models from the past year have fundamentally changed the course of development for their industries.

The signature award trophy was designed by Cologne sculptor Joachim Röderer as an abstract representation of the titan Atlas who, in Greek mythology, carries the world on his shoulders. In collaboration with French woodwork designer Gilles Fugier, the artist created the trophies for the 2b AHEAD Innovator Award out of teak, iron, glass, and ceramics.

At the 14th future congress in June, 2015, the 2b AHEAD Innovator Award will again be given for the most innovative technological development of the past year. In the past, the award has been presented to Virgin Galactic for launching commercial space tourism (2014), to Google for its Google Glass project (2013), to Dr. Gabor Forgacs for pioneering 3D bioprinting (2012), and to Mrs. Tan Lee, founder of Emotive Systems, for the EPOC headset (2011).

Other recipients of 2b AHEAD ThinkTank awards include: international stars Peter Gabriel, Moby, Lily Allan, Sir Simon Rattle, Mina and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the front man of the "Einstürzenden Neubauten," Blixa Bargeld; companies Skype and Nintendo; German TV networks ZDF and Super RTL; top managers Tim Renner (Universal Music) and Ulrich Scheele (Entertainment Media Verlag); MP3 inventor Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg; Dr. Henning Schulzrinne, father of "voice over IP" technology; SecondLife inventor Philip Rosedale; WLAN pioneer Uwe Jens Neumann; German hip-hop star Smudo (Fantastic 4) for his "rule breaker" commitment to environmentally conscious auto racing; the New Yorker company as a pioneer thinker in the music industry; and to "Minority Report" designer Dale Herigstad for his novel development of a thought control system for devices.