Peeple and Kasita Win SXSW Innovation Awards

The word innovate has become such a buzzword at South by Southwest Interactive that Onion did a parody on it.

“Word “Innovate” Said 650,000 Times at SXSW So Far,” by the Onion is worth checking out.

But all joking aside, Innovation is serious business. And SXSW every year gives out Innovation Awards to the startups that stand out from the crowd and two Austin-based companies landed those coveted awards.

In the “Smart Cities” category, Kasita won. Jeff Wilson, also known as Professor Dumpster for having lived in a 33 square foot Dumpster for year, is a professor and dean at Huston Tillotson University and the founder of Kasita. Wilson’s startup takes minimalist living and makes it affordable and realistic in an urban setting. He has created 270 square foot container-sized homes that can be moved from city to city easily and installed in a pre-existing framework like plugging in a lamp.

And in the “Privacy & Security” category, Peeple By Building 10 Technology won. The Austin-based startup, founded in November of 2013, makes a smart peep-hole camera for a front door that notifies the homeowner when someone is there through an app on a smart phone. The company successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign last summer. The company founders originally came up with the idea for the Peeple during a hackathon in Austin.

A full list of all the winners can be found on the SXSW Interactive website.