The first bottles of Coca Cola were bottled in Chattanooga and the tow truck as we know it was first demonstrated here.
In other words, the city is home to many groundbreaking products and business practices.
That was the idea behind Tuesday's Spirit of Innovation Award at the Trade Center.
The old saying is "Build a better mousetrap and world will beat a path to your door."
The Greater Chamber of Commerce believes there are plenty of great new ideas being developed in our area and they take a few minutes every year to acknowledge those projects.
J. ED MARSTON, V.P., GREATER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE "We do this both to get great publicity for Chattanooga...to show this is a great business environment, people that might invest here. We also do it as a way of building a culture of innovation....because it is through true innovation that we're competitive, and in this global market place, its more and more important that our companies are able to compete in every way they possibly can."
This year the honoree company is Sherman and Reilly.
CEO Mike Dunn was introduced by Chamber President and CEO Ron Harr.
MIKE DUNN, CEO, SHERMAN & REILLY "We supply equipment to almost every utility in the United States, and every contractor. What they are doing is using our equipment to restring the power lines that have fallen..and to make the kinds of repairs that need to be done, to get that region back up and operational."
J. ED MARSTON, V.P. GREATER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE "They make the equipment that power line operators use to strong power lines...very dangerous and they've created a way of enhancing the safety of those people."
Last year's winner, Mobile Green Lighting is now selling its idea of better street lighting to the city.
JOHNNY OWENS, V.P. MOBILE GREEN LIGHTING IN:11:40 "the first deployment will be the middle of December. We should start off with 500 lights in the downtown area. And it will phase ..The next phases will be the extremities in the city."
The other nominees were: American Bicycle Group, who built parts for the Mars lander Curiosity; Motion View Software for Orthodontists, and Whoople LLC, a simple and affordable eLearning Platform.
