CityBusiness Names 2007 Innovator of the Year Winners

NEW ORLEANS - SDT Waste & Debris Services received the CityBusiness' 2007 Innovator of the Year Gold Award today during a lunch program at the Sheraton New Orleans hotel.

The sixth annual program honors New Orleans-area businesses for innovative products and services. The 2007 program had 59 honorees.

New Orleans-based SDT is owned by Sidney Torres, a Chalmette native and real estate developer who started a trash-removal business in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The company, which is contracted by the city of New Orleans to clean downtown, has become a household name in less than two years. Many say the French Quarter has never looked cleaner.

Torres uses state-of-the-art trash-removal and street-cleaning equipment and products, including a biodegradable disinfectant he commissioned a chemist in Chicago to make.

Drivesoft LLC received the Silver Award. The Metairie company's innovation is Drivesoft Alive Automotive Linked-in Vehicle Entertainment, a touchscreen in-car computer that features MP3 capabilities, a DVD player, TV tuner, navigation tools, e-mail and Internet access and mobile office functions, including the ability to access Excel and Word files. The product, developed by CEO Jack Cali, has been featured on MTV's "Pimp My Ride."

Diamond Data Systems Inc. received the Bronze Award. The New Orleans company, whose president is Rick Gremillion, revolutionized meteorological and oceanic data systems for the U.S. Navy. The project, Naval Oceanography Portal, completed for the Navy at Stennis Space Center, will consolidate meteorological and oceanic information to aid military personnel in making tactical decisions such as beach landings, submarine navigation and submarine stealth operations.

Others honorees included:

General Innovators

Advanced Imaging Solutions
Aqua2Go — Esgee Enterprises LLC
Barker Homes
The Biodiesel Resource
COMPAS Computerized Health System — East Jefferson General Hospital
Crais Management Croup LLC
E-Claim.com
The Equestrain Therapy Center of Slidell
Evertain
Frank Relle Photography
FutureProof LLC
Green Bean Foam Insulation
iSeatz.com
Laughing Buddha Nursery
Macromolecular Research — Tulane University
New Orleans Demolition Services
New Orleans Ice Cream Company
NPower Mobile
Ochsner Clinical Workstation — Ochsner Health System
Omni Technologies
Piccadilly Food Services
Plaine Studios
qTrack — Ochsner Health System
sunglassengraving.com
TeAM Inc.
Transformyx
Trumpet Group
Tulane University Center for Gene Therapy
UAppoint Inc.
U.S. Flood Control
West Jefferson Behavioral Medicine Center
World’s Healthiest Pizza

Innovative Investors

Brachytherapy cancer treatment — East Jefferson General Hospital
Cardiovascular MRI — Ochsner Health System
Ci System — Touro Infirmary
da Vinci Robotic System — Ochsner Health System
Gulf South Joint Replacement Center — Touro Infirmary
64-slice CT scanner — Ochsner Health System
Nathan Laser Institute
Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty — Touro Infirmary
Trilogy Cancer System — East Jefferson General Hospital
Trilogy Cancer System — Ochsner Health System

Nonprofits

Beacon of Hope Resource Center
IDEAcorps
The Idea Village
Louisiana Appleseed — Adams and Reese/ConocoPhillips
New Schools for New Orleans
St. Anna’s Episcopal Church
Stay Local, A Project of the Urban Conservancy

On the Brink

Basin St. Station
Broadway South
GrayMatter Inc.
The Occasional Wife
RE´VOLVE
siteMighty.com
Tommye’s Tiny Tots 2