Background

On May 11, 2018, the Puerto Rico Information Technology Cluster (PRITC) hosted the first-ever PRITC Innovation Awards ceremony, corresponding to the year 2017. This was a momentous achievement, as it positioned the local IT sector to help spearhead the future of the Puerto Rican economy, and afforded its participants the opportunity to celebrate excellence and technological prowess. PRITC bestowed five awards upon five companies and organizations that, in a year during which Puerto Rico was severely impacted by Hurricane María (2017), were able to advance their IT products, services, processes or platforms with great success.

During its next annual CIO & IT Leadership Conference, scheduled for May 17, 2019, PRITC will again be presenting the winners of the PRITC Innovation Awards corresponding to the year 2018. Under the continued vision of positioning the island as a regional leader in IT services and technological innovation, the strategic objectives behind the awards process are as follows:

To increase awareness of the salience of the Puerto Rico IT industry in all its dimensions
To prominently recognize individuals, products, projects and organizations for their relevance as they pertain to the Puerto Rico IT industry, in terms of level of technological innovation, business impact, industry contribution, international projection and societal benefit
To support the industry’s strategy of increasing its competitiveness throughout the region, and help it achieve a more elevated position of recognized excellence

It is PRITC’s unwavering position that now is the time for industry participants to openly celebrate IT excellence in Puerto Rico, thus contributing to the island’s continued ascent as an industry powerhouse.

The Awards

At the 2019 CIO & IT Leadership Conference, PRITC will be publicly presenting the 2018 winners of five specific awards. The awards are the following:

Awards

Intellectual Property (IP) Award

Presented to the individual or organization that, over the previous year, developed the piece of IT intellectual property deemed to be the most innovative, ingenious, influential, practical and/or commercially viable

IT Project of the Year

Presented to the organization that, over the previous year, completed the IT development or deployment project deemed most innovative, technologically elaborate, influential and successful

Tech Exporter of the Year

Presented to the locally based individual or organization that is most successfully engaged in the process of exporting innovative technological products and/or services out of Puerto Rico

Tech Startup of the Year

Presented to the organization that, over the previous year, completed the IT development or deployment project deemed most innovative, technologically elaborate, influential and successful

Societal Impact Award

Presented to the locally based individual or organization that, through the use of innovative IT products, services, processes or platforms, has had the most significant positive impact on the advancement and well-being of human society

Recognizing the inherent speed at which the industry normally develops and introduces technological change, PRITC plans to continue celebrating the PRITC Innovation Awards on an annual basis.

Awards Process

The Awards Process

This is the second year that PRITC will be presenting the PRITC Innovation Awards. To carry out the process within the highest quality and transparency standards, PRITC will carry out the following steps:

Initial Announcement

The 2018 PRITC Innovation Awards cycle kicks off on February 20, 2019. On that date, PRITC messages its membership and starts engaging in a communications initiative aimed at making the process known to all potential participants. Details regarding the process, as outlined herein, will be openly distributed.

Nominations Period

Starting on the day of the initial announcement and extending up to March 26, 2019, PRITC will be accepting nominations for the five different PRITC Innovation Awards. Nominations are to be exclusively submitted through the PRITC website, www.puertoricoisit.com. Successful submissions will be confirmed, after which candidates will be periodically updated on any relevant issues.

Initial Requirements and Eligibility Validation

Once the nominations period expires, PRITC will perform an initial screening of all submittals, and validate that they indeed comply with the award nominations acceptance criteria, as established in the Conditions of Participation. PRITC will progressively notify pertinent candidates of any situations of nonconformance with the established criteria, and specify the remediation alternatives available, if any. Candidates not meeting the established criteria will be disqualified from further consideration, and notified accordingly. This initial requirements and eligibility validation process is set to conclude on April 3, 2019. At such date, PRITC expects to notify all candidates of their updated status.

Independent Judges’ Panel Evaluation

PRITC will charter a panel of independent judges that will receive all relevant documentation corresponding to the nominations that successfully clear the initial requirements and eligibility validation process by April 3, 2019. Based on the materials provided, and following internally established evaluation guidelines for each award, the panel will evaluate each nomination. Throughout said evaluation process, the panel may request additional information from any nominees, a condition with which they are expected to comply. By May 3, 2019, the panel will have made a final determination of who the award winners will be, and will submit a confidential communiqué to the PRITC Board of Directors notifying it about such determination.

Awards Announcement

Shortly after receiving the confidential communiqué from the independent judges’ panel, during the 2019 CIO & IT Leadership Conference, to be held in May 17, 2019, the PRITC Board of Directors will announce the award recipients and publicly recognize their accomplishment.

PRITC is enthusiastically engaged in this second edition of the PRITC Innovation Awards. The Board of Directors recognizes that the stated process is bound to evolve every year, all intended to enable the IT industry to meet the strategic objectives stated herein.

The Judges and the Judging Process

The PRITC Board of Directors is currently finalizing the list of members of the independent judges’ panel that will ultimately determine to whom the PRITC Innovation Awards will be presented. Because the Board recognizes that the present and future success of this initiative hinges on the integrity and credibility of the members of such panel, and on the overall transparency of the process, it shall name judges of unquestionable reputation and with little inherence in local IT industry affairs.

The Awards Calendar

No

Nomination deadline extended until March 26, 2019.

The following timeline establishes the dates when all events related to the PRITC Innovation Awards are scheduled to occur:

(subject to change please come back to check on updates)

Judging Process

Calendar

Fine Print

The Fine Print

The PRITC Board of Directors recognizes that, due to its nature, an initiative like the PRITC Innovation Awards entails numerous detailed rules and conditions. Therefore, PRITC requires that all parties wishing to submit a nomination accept and agree to the conditions established in the Conditions of Participation document. This will be done electronically as part of the nomination submission process.