Company: Lightwave Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA
Company Description: Lightwave is a bioanalytics company that is transforming the relationship between humans and technology by translating the sensor data from connected devices into powerful human insights. Founded in 2012 by the 25 year old Rana June, Lightwave now employs 10 people and is working internationally with some of the worlds biggest brands on both groundbreaking research and creative projects.
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Most Innovative Company of the Year – 10 or Less Employees

Nomination Title: Lightwave, Inc.

Describe for the judges the innovations and accomplishments of the nominated organization since the beginning of July last year (up to 525 words):

Lightwave is a bioanalytics company founded in 2012 by 25 year-old technologist and artist, Rana June. Our goal as a company is to use the data from connected devices to transform the ways humans interact with technology.

Prior to July 2014, we had only taken Lightwave to the world twice. Our first project was an experiment with Pepsi at SXSW, and our second was a sporting event with Gatorade.

Since July 2014, under the leadership of founder and CEO Rana June, we have created multiple award winning world-first experiences across 3 continents, and created a suite of new products and services in the process.

In partnership with iHeartMedia during IAB mix in September, CEO Bob Pittman and artist Jared Leto presented Lightwave biometric data on stage to demonstrate the power of sound.

In December we worked with Google and the International Music Summit to connect the digital and live worlds in completely new ways at an event in Singapore.

In March this year, we created a world first experience at TED in Vancouver that used biometric data to reveal emotional truths about the 800 world-leading thinkers, innovators, artists, activists, business and governmental leaders who came through the experience.

In June, we used a completely new technology - the Apple Watch - to give an immersive keynote about the future of marketing and technology at the Cannes Innovation Lions.

At the end of June, we worked with Jaguar on the most prestigious sporting event in the world, Wimbledon. We used our biometric technology for 14 days to communicate for the first time what it feels like to experience the championship, creating beautiful bespoke content and sending it to social, web and huge digital billboards around the UK in real-time.

A few days later, we worked with Degree on a live broadcast of the hit show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, using our technology to give insight into what really happens in the mind and body of an elite dancer.

Our biggest innovation outside of our projects was the creation a mobile version of the Lightwave platform, making the power of instantaneous biometric analysis much more accessible and scaleable. This is a service we now have ready to offer to clients and partners, with the capacity to integrate with consumer devices like Apple Watch or be activated using nothing more than a standard smartphone. This level of intelligence being accessed by consumer grade devices is completely unparalleled.

Given the nature of these projects, for every single one of them we came across challenges that required highly innovative solutions. It’s not just about the use of biometric data, but the systems that sit around it do not currently exist to make our ideas reality. We faced everything from creating servers and database services that could handle the huge levels of data processing, to simply trying to work out how to measure a dancers galvanic skin response without the device flying off during a move. In the process of aiming to realize our dreams of using biometrics to create magical experiences, we came up with new solutions that touch many, many industries beyond our own.

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the nominated company (up to 125 words):

CEO and Founder Rana June works at the intersection between data, art and analysis. As a technologist, she bridged the divide between wearable technology and next generation sentiment analytics by building Lightwave, an interactive biometric data platform. As an artist, she defined the space for iPad music production and performance as The iPad DJ. She has performed over 200 concerts for nearly 100,000 attendees and has been the headlining artist at events such as The White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Apple’s WWDC, TED, and The X Prize Foundation. Rana is also the author of the book Mobilize (Perseus Books Group, 2011) which examines the first 500 days of the App Store and Apple's mobile success.

Choose one (even if both apply):

The CEO (or other principal manager) of this company is a woman, and at least 40% of the management team is comprised of women.