The 28th Annual InnoVision Awards were presented Thursday evening, November 5th, at the Thornblade Club in Greer, bringing together business leaders, innovators, and ecosystem partners from across South Carolina to celebrate the state’s latest advances in technology and entrepreneurship. Winners in six competitive categories, plus two special honorees, were announced before a capacity crowd.
FOX Carolina’s Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist Myra Ruiz served as emcee for the evening. Hunter Freeman, InnoVision Awards Chairman and intellectual property attorney with Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm, opened the program by reflecting on a year of statewide activity, including events in Greenville, Anderson, Florence, Rock Hill, Columbia, and Charleston, that brought InnoVision’s community together around advancements in manufacturing, logistics, aerospace, and artificial intelligence. “Every innovation recognized at this year’s ceremony started as a question: What problem can we solve? What if we could make this work better?” said Freeman. “The innovators we honored didn’t stop at the question. They had a vision to see another way. They built a prototype. They ran the trial. They took the risk, and kept going after the first ‘no,’ the second and even the third ‘no.’ It is our privilege to celebrate them.”
The evening’s keynote address was delivered by Elizabeth Dougherty, Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Drawing on South Carolina’s own history of invention, including the legacy of Greenville-born Nobel laureate Dr. Charles Townes, Dougherty spoke to the enduring relationship between intellectual property protection and innovation. “When we protect innovation, we encourage more innovation,” Dougherty said. “To every finalist and awardee here tonight: your work matters because it moves innovation forward. It helps create jobs, improves the quality of life, strengthens communities, and expands what is possible.” Dougherty noted that the USPTO will issue its 13 millionth patent next year and encouraged the innovators in the room to consider themselves part of a national system stretching from local communities to universities, investors, manufacturers, and customers around the world.
Application volume for the 2026 cycle of the InnoVision Awards reached its highest level since 2019, led by the debut of the new Emerging Technology Award, which drew one out of every three applications submitted.
The 2026 InnoVision Award Winners are:
Community Enrichment Award, Presented by ChemAu:
Pathly of Lancaster
Pathly is an AI-native platform, co-founded in Lancaster by high school senior Grace Brusky and her father Alan Brusky, that learns each student’s interests and strengths and builds a living roadmap across colleges, careers, courses, and scholarships—free for students, with school- and district-level tools designed to deliver personalized guidance at scale.
Emerging Technology Award, Presented by SCRA:
All three finalists in this inaugural category, Pressiant Health, Comlantech Therapeutics, and VASiQ Technologies, were born out of MUSC and affiliated with the Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization. The winner of the award was Pressiant Health and accepted by Michele Esposito.
Charleston based Pressiant Health’s JVPro turns a smartphone into a heart failure specialist, enabling remote exams that allow providers to reduce hospital readmission rates and keep patients healthy at home.
Small Business Award, Presented by the McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise, University of South Carolina
Class Window of Charleston
Created by a teacher, Class Window gives parents a free daily window into their child’s classroom moments and gives teachers an easy way to receive appreciation and support. Shannon and Matthew Grason accepted the award.
Sustainability Award, Presented by VELUX America
GreenerFleets of Greenville
GreenerFleets converts a fleet’s own operating data into a fundable, ready-to-implement decarbonization roadmap — turning a complex maze of technologies, fuel options, and grant programs into a single actionable workflow. VELUX has sponsored the InnoVision Sustainability Award for twenty years.
Technology Development Award, Presented by Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm
Bellwether Biotech of Charleston
Bellwether Biotech’s NanoTone platform, built in Charleston, is one continuous, focused ultrasound handheld system which may be used at every stage of research across the entire preclinical workflow, from cells in a dish to the living, awake brain, at a fraction of the cost.
Technology Integration Award, Presented by Carolina Tech Founders
KYOCERA AVX Components Corporation of Fountain Inn
Sensitive electronics, from aircraft systems to AI processors, need clean, noise-free power to work reliably, which usually requires several separate components wired together. KYOCERA AVX’s new capacitor combines those jobs into one compact part, filtering out electrical noise across a much wider range than any single component could before. That means smaller, lighter, more reliable circuits for the aerospace, defense, and computing industries: a meaningful upgrade engineered right here in South Carolina.
Ibrahim Janajreh Michelin Young Innovator Award, Presented by MICHELIN Innovation Lab
South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics of Hartsville
For the second consecutive year, GSSM received the Young Innovator Award. The award is named in memory of Dr. Ibrahim Janajreh, a longtime Michelin Research leader and former InnoVision Advisory Board member.
This year’s recognition highlights the school’s Computational Chemistry program, launched in 2018 by Dr. Roberts, which gives high school students access to professional-level drug design software and real, original research experiences. Students in the program study how proteins interact with drugs and neurotransmitters, then work in teams on group projects centered on neurodegenerative diseases. Because the research is genuinely new, students develop the analytical thinking and problem-solving skills of working scientists. “These students could be developing the next medicinal treatment for Alzheimer’s, for Parkinson’s, for rare diseases we’ve never heard of,” said Dr. Roberts. “It’s very exciting.”
Dr. Charles Townes Individual Achievement Award, Presented by Contec
InnoVision’s highest honor was presented to Mike Baur, founder and longtime CEO of ScanSource, Inc., in recognition of his sustained contributions to technology, entrepreneurship, and community advancement in South Carolina.
Baur’s story begins at the intersection of technology and retail. A Clemson University graduate, he came up through Radio Shack before becoming sales manager at Modern Office Machines, one of Greenville’s first computer stores. In 1992, he and a small group of co-founders launched ScanSource from a borrowed office near Pelham Road, with a whiteboard, a leased space, and an idea that didn’t immediately impress everyone in the room.
Today, ScanSource is a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Greenville. Baur has led the company through recessions, the global financial crisis, and a global pandemic and kept it independent, growing, and rooted in the Upstate.
Colleagues who appeared in a tribute video at the ceremony described Baur’s impact extending well beyond ScanSource. He has been deeply engaged in the Greenville entrepreneurial community for decades, committed to Clemson University, and personally led ScanSource’s adoption of a Title One school that, in the words of one speaker, “doesn’t get a lot of attention” and needed it.
“I think this is really what the meaning of innovation is: the longevity,” said one colleague. “How do you keep a company going that long and stay independent and strong?”
“We just need companies to be like ScanSource,” said another, “and leaders to be like Mike Baur.”
The Dr. Charles Townes Individual Achievement Award is named for Greenville native and Nobel laureate Dr. Charles Townes, whose foundational work led to the development of the laser. It is made possible by InnoVision title sponsor Contec, whose CEO Jack McBride was himself a Townes Award honoree in 2000.
About InnoVision Awards
Founded in 1999, InnoVision Awards is a grassroots, volunteer-led nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing innovation and technology across South Carolina. Through its statewide events and the prestigious annual InnoVision Awards, the organization recognizes and celebrates outstanding leadership, innovation, and technological excellence by businesses, individuals, and organizations driving innovation in the region. 2026 InnoVision Sponsors include Contec, Kim, Lahey & Killough Law Firm, the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA), Michelin North America, Velux, My Blue Butterfly, SiMT, Carolina Tech Founders, the McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise at the University of South Carolina, ChemAu, Founderville.vc, American Technology Venture Lab, Launchpad, Robinson Ventures, the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science + Mathematics, the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, and The Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization powered by MUSC.
InnoVision’s next event, Built in SC: A Healthcare Innovation Forum, will be held January 26, 2027, at the Harbor Entrepreneur Center in Charleston. The forum will bring InnoVision alumni back into the room to discuss their journeys scaling, pivoting, navigating regulatory hurdles, and building their companies in South Carolina. Learn more and register for the free event here.
About Contec
In 1988, Contec was established to provide the expertise necessary to meet critical cleaning needs. Dedicated to developing and manufacturing innovative cleaning products for use in critical applications. Through their proven expertise and side-by-side support, Contec builds confidence and trust into every relationship. Today, Contec is the leading manufacturer of and partner for contamination control products in mission-critical cleaning environments around the world. Their work has significant impact when and where “clean” counts most. Learn more about the Spartanburg-based company and their commitment to the people and products that make a difference where Clean Counts Most at www.contecinc.com.
