The SXSW Innovation Awards recognize the most exciting, most promising and most inspiring new endeavors across 10 different categories.

This competition highlights new projects that have been launched in the last 12 months. Unlike SXSW Pitch (which focuses on the forward-thinking business models of new startups), the SXSW Innovation Awards showcase the merits of specific releases — these releases can come from either new or established companies.

From the hundreds of submissions to this competition, a committee of expert judges helps select the five most deserving finalists in each category.

Winners will be honored at the SXSW Innovation Awards ceremony on the evening of Monday, March 13 in Ballroom D of the Austin Convention Center.

Stay tuned for 2023 application information coming later this summer.

Eligibility

A project or product entered into the Awards must have launched or have been completely redesigned in calendar year 2021 (between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.)

For Awards eligibility, “launched” may mean any of the following things:

• When a discovery is made, when a scientific paper is published, or when a patent is approved;
• When a physical device is made tangible, (i.e., a prototype);
• When the applicable regulatory body (FDA, FCC, etc.) approves a product or procedure for use;
• When the product is made commercially available; or
• When a project is publicly released.