2.Oakland, formerly known as InOak, will hold its annual Innovator Awards event in October.

By Oakland Local Editorial Team

This program began in  2010 with the InOak Founders Awards presented to Pandora, Skytide and North Social. In 2011, the Innovator Awards honored existing businesses and organizations for investment, innovation and job creation with accolades going to Sungevity, Youth Radio, Pandora, DBL Investors and Code for Oakland. In this exciting third year, voting has been opened to the public - that means you.

2.Oakland has announced  “innovator” nominees in four distinct award categories: Digital Technology, Clean Technology, Investment and Open Data/Community.

Nominee companies for the Clean Tech category include: Borrego Solar, Brightsource Energy, Integral Group and Lucid Design Group.

Nominees for Digital Technology include Ask.com, dlvr.it, iParadagims, Livescribe and Navis.

Nominees for the Investment category include: Cutting Edge Capital, Grow California/Clean Tech Innovation Conference, Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Kapor Capital.

Nominees for the Open Data/Community category include: CyArk, Oakland Shines, Solar Mosaic and the Urban Strategies Council.

Voting, which is currently underway, will end on Monday, Oct. 8. People can cast their ballots online at http://bit.ly/2OaklandInnovatorAwardsBallot.

Winners will be announced at the Innovator Awards event, to be held on 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Kaiser Rooftop Garden, which is also open to the public. The annual event, which was attended last year by more than 300 people, includes a CEO reception, an exhibit area showcasing rich array of tech and community-based businesses, the award ceremony, music by Pandora DJ’s and complimentary food and drinks. 

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit eventbrite: http://2pointoakinnovatorawards.eventbrite.com/