Chief executives and employees of Boston’s hottest tech and life science startups, and their venture capital investors, mingled last Thursday at the 9th Annual NEVY Awards over miso-glazed salmon bento boxes and mixed drinks. The event showcased that people (and sponsors) still believe in-person events are valuable — at least judging by drinks like the “Deloitte Hulk Smash,” “Bank of America Titanium Tequila,” and “AbbVie Commander,” which all came with a JP Morgan plastic stir stick.
Ari Fine Glantz, a director at NEVCA who organized the event, said all but one sponsor this year was a returner to the NEVYs.
Glantz was dressed in full costume as Thor’s adopted brother, Loki. Halloween-like themes are one way NEVCA brings “levity to what can otherwise be a somewhat run-of-the-mill program,” Glantz said. This year, the theme was meant to “pull from the pages of your favorite comics to highlight the ‘heroes’ of New England’s innovation ecosystem.”
So… Boom! Pow! Whoop (which won Tech Company of the Year)!
The event was hosted hybrid-style, with about 250 people in-person (down from more than a thousand in 2019), who had to show their vaccine card or a recent COVID-19 test upon entry.
“With all that is going on, I appreciated the more spacious feel,” said Tom Ryden, the executive director of MassRobotics.
People could also tune in virtually, since the actual awards ceremony was pre-recorded and projected onto a large screen. But most people there weren’t paying too close attention to the award winners — except maybe the announcement that Moderna won the Patient Impact Award for its COVID-19 vaccine, which elicited a big round of applause.
Despite the over-the-top theme — there was an aerial acrobat dressed like Spider-Man on stage — much of the night consisted of “normal” networking. People even shook hands and exchanged business cards.
The tech industry may have a reputation for preferring WFH-ing, but Glantz said he thought the atmosphere was reflective of the Boston tech community’s desire to gather.
“There are certainly silver linings that can be found in the shift to remote work, but the energy in the room was a testament to the value of in-person interaction and the relationships that can grow from that,” he said.
Some aspects of the event might be specific to a gathering of Boston techies.
Greg Raiz from Techstars shared his business card via QR code. Vicarious Surgical CEO Adam Sachs arrived wearing one of the surgical masks you’d see on Grey’s Anatomy.
And although Cambridge startup Verve Motion (Emerging Tech Company of the Year) didn’t bring any of its robots, Russell Nickerson from MassRobotics outfitted his blazer with a multi-arm, moving-claw contraption, which he 3D-printed for a Doc Ock costume.
The claws couldn’t pick up bento boxes, but maybe next year.
View a full list of NEVY winners here.
Anissa Gardizy can be reached at anissa.gardizy@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @anissagardizy8.
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