The SmartBrief Innovation Awards in AI recognize the change-makers in marketing, education, IT/cybersecurity, retail and beyond. For expert vetting, we at SmartBrief turned to our partners at ITPro and ActualTech Media, where our colleagues are steeped in the AI innovations remaking our world. See below for the ventures that stood out most among a stellar field of nominees.
Winners in education
Lincoln AI is a personalized, AI-powered learning assistant that puts help right at students’ fingertips, right when they need it, enabling educators to focus on higher-value learning interactions. Developed by Creatium, Lincoln AI links support to curriculum learning objectives, provides beneficial context and depth where appropriate and ensures interactions are aligned with educational standards, ethical and age-appropriate.
From our judging panel
Lincoln AI calls to mind a personal tutor from a science fiction story. Yet the AI Bill of Materials (Claude, ChatGPT, Amazon Bedrock) grounds this solution in best-in-class current technologies. Appreciate the way Lincoln AI appears to take seriously questions of guardrails and student focus.
MobileMind
MobileMind seems to be on a mission to simplify professional development for district leaders, educators and staff. The MobileMind platform blends best practices from professional development learning with its AI Content Genie, which allows district leaders to rapidly generate and customize content to meet the needs of their teams with minimal time investment, then seamlessly track progress and compliance. Meanwhile, learners enjoy a personalized experience that meets them where they are, and MobileMind’s AI-focused learning modules offer them focused pathways for learning how to leverage AI to plan, teach and engage students.
From our judging panel:
MobileMind has vast potential with multiple elements that deliver value to K-12 school districts. AI Content Genie, in particular, is innovative and really saves both time and money – both of which can be reinvested to drive value to educators and students alike.
Honorable mentions
- Nearpod AI Create, Nearpod
- Otus Insights, Otus
Winner in marketing
Alli, from PMG
PMG’s Alli leverages the power of AI for marketing decision-making, and it’s enabling smarter forecasting, planning, and optimization for more than 50 brands to make smarter investments in retail, consumer tech, health and wellness, finance and travel marketing campaigns. Alli’s modular platform and scalability provide the flexibility needed to serve brands of all sizes, and case studies demonstrate clear benefits such as reduced reporting times, increased revenue and improved cost per acquisition.
From our judging panel:
The way PMG has combined predictive models, autonomous workflows, and generative AI tools into Alli makes for a thoughtful and integrated system that addresses the challenges of marketing in a comprehensive way. Case studies indicate real gains for customers.
Honorable mentions
- Emplifi AI-Powered Listening & Unified Analytics, from Emplifi
- Ventas AI, from VBT
Winners in our general innovation category
AI Data Readiness – Intelligent Data Management Platform, from DryvIQ
DryvIQ’s AI Data Readiness – Intelligent Data Management Platform is all about solving the unstructured data problem to power enterprise AI, surmounting a significant barrier to organizational transformation, even in heavily regulated industries such as financial services and health care. With its support of more than 550 file formats and 175 languages, and organization, cleansing and security capabilities DryvIQ’s solution is designed to position enterprises to make the most of their data, while governance features mitigate business risk.
From our judging panel:
Setting yourself up for true AI success requires data you can trust. DryvIQ empowers organizations by giving previously unstructured data structure, making it more trustworthy. The ability to deliver AI-ready data that is clean, organized, relevant and secure at source is likely game-changing for many.
Option Circle, from Trading Circle, Inc.
Trading Circle’s Option Circle puts hedge-fund-caliber insights at the fingertips of retail, professional and institutional investors, enabling trading with confidence and powering solutions for individuals and businesses. Option Circle leverages AI for analytics, automation, personalization and risk management, and built-in transparency positions users to learn to invest more effectively and stay focused on the big picture, while Option Circle’s real-time assessment of risk and opportunity delivers agility and confidence.
From our judging panel:
Every technology cycle brings claims of democratizing trading technologies to allow everyday investors to rival the Wall Street pros. AI is no exception, with Trading Circle among the offerings. The sophistication of their AI-driven Automated Trading Platform is impressive. Count on the big hedge funds to retain their edge, but if you’re a relatively sophisticated outsider or a smaller trading firm, the platform’s features are worth a look.
Honorable mentions
- AriAI, from Unlock the Sales Game
- RevenueEngine, from Wildfire Systems
- Aquant AI Platform, from Aquant
- Satisfi Labs, from Satisfi Labs
Winner in cybersecurity/IT
Hyperproof, from Hyperproof AI
Hyperproof aims to shift governance, risk and compliance functions from administrative burden to strategic advantage by delivering superior outcomes at a lower cost, freeing up resources for investment in innovation. Leveraging a suite of AI agents, Hyperproof AI’s Comply module enables teams to enter and maintain certification in new markets with reduced effort, while Mitigate serves as a single source of truth for understanding and managing risk.
From our judging panel:
Few IT categories cry out for AI solutions as loudly as governance, risk and compliance. With differing regulations all over the world, GRC is arguably the most complex set of responsibilities in the IT manager’s portfolio. With a multi-faceted approach appropriate to the landscape, Hyperproof AI gives organizations AI-powered tools to tackle their GRC challenges faster, more efficiently and more comprehensively.
Winner in retail
Simplain Vendor Portal from Simplain Software Solutions
Simplain Vendor Portal is a cloud-based SaaS created to simplify vendor collaboration for retail and wholesale organizations, support master data integrity and supply chain transparency, and accelerate go-to-market speed and operational productivity. The portal shifts the burden of ensuring complete and accurate data entry to vendors and replaces convoluted, error-prone processes with a simple, one-stop-shop solution.
From our judging panel:
The potential for AI to improve collaboration between wholesalers, retailers and others in the retail supply chain is immense. Simplain Vendor Portal is off to a good start after two cycles of AI integration into its vendor collaboration solution.
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