Itronix Corp. honored at LaunchPad 6.0

Spokane’s annual tech party, LaunchPad, saluted the success of one area business on Thursday and launched a regional effort to help other companies reach the same level.

The networking event attracted hundreds of visitors. LaunchPad 6.0 was held at the Big Easy Concert House in downtown Spokane.

Organizers handed the 2004 Williams Family Most Innovative Product of the Year award to Itronix Corp., the Spokane company that designs ultra-rugged laptop and handheld computers.

The award is named after Luke Williams, the late founder of American Sign and Indicator, which made the first electronic outdoor time- and-temperature signs, and for Bill and Judi Williams, the founders of Liberty Lake-based Telect. Bill Williams is Luke’s nephew.

LaunchPad speakers also summed up new efforts to turbocharge technology-industry growth in the region. The Inland Northwest Technology Education Center (INTEC) unveiled the formal structure of Connect Northwest, a clearinghouse that expects to provide assistance to promising startups.

In another announcement, Itronix CEO Tom Turner described the initial efforts of a different organization called the Northwest Coalition for a Safer America.

That new coalition is an umbrella group of regional technology companies, civic agencies and universities that are developing tools or systems for national security and homeland defense.