AquaShield, Inc., a manufacturer of a unique line of patented stormwater treatment solutions that effectively treat highly contaminated stormwater runoff and protect environmentally sensitive receiving waters, is the 2004 recipient of the Kruesi Spirit of Innovation Award.

The award was announced before an audience of over 400 during the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce 4th Annual Spirit of Innovation Breakfast Friday at the Convention Center.

“The Chamber is proud to sponsor the first community-based award for innovation in the country,” said Chamber President and CEO Tom Edd Wilson. “Innovation is the intangible spark that can lead to profoundly quantifiable returns in terms of more jobs and higher profits.

“Through the Kruesi Spirit of Innovation Award, the Chattanooga region has a mechanism that focuses on creative capital and offers a method of promoting our innovators both locally and nationally.”

AquaShield president J. Kelly Williamson accepted the award from Tom Kinser, chairman of the Chamber’s board of directors.

“If the Kruesi Spirit of Innovation Award was just a way of recognizing companies that excel, it would be a worthwhile event, but what we are doing here today is so much more,” Kinser said.

“We are entering a time when innovation drives our economy. As all of you know, in the U.S. few companies can survive by doing things the way they have always been done. Today, companies that can match innovation to the marketplace thrive and create jobs. Those that do not, go out of business.

“The Kruesi Spirit of Innovation Award is one way that the Chattanooga region focuses on innovation. Today, we are here not just to recognize the recipient company, the laureates, and the finalists but also to promote the importance of innovation in all of our businesses.”

The Spirit of Innovation laureates for 2004 are Microwave Technology, Inc., and Smart Furniture, LLC.

Microwave Technology provides a method for harnessing the energy in microwaves to rapidly heat and melt metals in a way that reduces processing costs and yields a final product technically superior to that produced using traditional heating and melting practices.

Smart Furniture provides organizational, workspace and display solutions for customers in all 50 states and Canada. Based on a patented tool-free system, Smart Furniture saves time, space and money by delivering customized products at mass production prices. Customers may design and order their own Smart Furniture at www.smartfurniture.com.

“Our Kruesi Award judges this year selected as winner and laureates three small, emerging companies with breakthrough technologies at their core,” said Jim Frierson, vice-chair of the Spirit of Innovation event.

“AquaShield’s stormwater filtration products offer three levels of treatment for impaired water resources, resulting in more effective protection of our waterways. Microwave Technology provides a superior process for high-intensity heat treatment of metals and ceramics of strategic importance to the aerospace and defense industries. And Smart Furniture brings the power of Internet design, infinite configuration and rapid customer order fulfillment to the home, office and retail store shelving market.

“Individually, these firms operate in wildly different sectors of the economy; yet all are positioned to serve national and global markets. Collectively, they show us the new face of local ingenuity and American competitiveness.”

The Kruesi Spirit of Innovation Award winner, laureates and finalists were determined by two rounds of judging. In the first round, a distinguished local panel came together to select nine finalists. In the second round, judges with a connection to innovation at the national and international levels completed the process of determining the winner and laureates.

The six finalists were Edge Flooring, Flex-Trax, Stealth Charging Systems, Technical Design Associates, TMIO and Tricycle, Inc.

Keynote presenter at the Spirit of Innovation event was Jim Clinton, executive director of the Southern Growth Policies Board, a public policy think tank in Research Triangle Park, NC.

The event also featured 20 exhibits by Spirit of Innovation winners, laureates and sponsors.

A record 42 companies were nominated for this year’s Kruesi Award, which honors the Kruesi family of Chattanooga and commemorates its Swiss ancestor John Kruesi, who built the first successful phonograph and other inventions for Thomas Edison.

The Spirit of Innovation Breakfast is presented by Ivan Allen Workspace and Steelcase. Sponsors are American Mammographics, Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel, Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings, First Tennessee Bank, The Johnson Group, Kruesi Center for Innovation, Miller & Martin, and U.S. Xpress. Clear Channel Outdoor and The Pulse are media sponsors.