Sonarworks, a Latvian music technology company, is among 30 companies from all over the world nominated for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Global Awards. It is the first Latvian company to qualify for the award's final in the Creative Industries category.
A total of 780 applications for the WIPO Global Awards were received from 95 countries. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Geneva on 11 July, during the 66th WIPO Assemblies.
Helmuts Bēms, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board at Sonarworks says: “We are honoured that Sonarworks is one of the 30 finalists and proud to be the first from Latvia to be nominated for such a world-level recognition. Sonarworks is a technology company, and intellectual property (IP) is the basis of our operations. It allows us to innovate, protect our market position and license solutions worldwide. This recognition highlights the essential role of IP in the development of technological innovation, and we are committed to following this path to be part of the future of the global music and audio industry."
Sonarworks is an internationally recognized audio technology company that offers uniquely accurate sound experiences to both music creators and listeners. The company’s patented technologies are used in over 250,000 studios worldwide and have been recognized by over 75 Grammy-Award-winning sound engineers who work with world-class artists such as Lady Gaga, Madonna, Rihanna, Adele, Coldplay, and many more.
“We are truly proud of the Sonarworks’ success! The fact that the technologies created by this company have not only reached world-renowned musicians and sound recording studios but also allowed Latvia to be named for the first time among the finalists of the WIPO Global Awards is an outstanding achievement and acknowledgement of Latvian innovative capacity. At the same time, it an excellent example for other Latvian small and medium-sized enterprises, proving that our innovations are able to conquer the global market and achieve international success!” notes Agris Batalauskis, Director of the Latvian Patent Office.
Innovative technologies are basic to several products designed for music professionals, including SoundID Reference (a solution that provides a consistent and reliable sound across headphones and speakers) and SoundID VoiceAI (a professional voice and instrument transformation plug-in for digital audio workstations (DAWs) that improves workflow efficiency).
This year’s 30 finalists are companies that have been highly rated by the jury for their innovative solutions, strong IP strategies, and contributions to economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
The 2025 finalists are divided into five categories: Health, Environment, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Creative Industries, and Agrifood. The finalists have been selected based on the following key criteria: the company’s business case and current IP portfolio, future growth and international IP strategy, IP culture within the company, and their impact for a better society.
This year three small and medium-sized enterprises and three start-ups have been nominated for the final.
Sonarworks has been selected for the Creative Industries category as a small and medium-sized enterprise. There are six finalists in this category:
- Sonarworks (Latvia), Chengdu Chenghua Butterflies Huatian Cultural and Tourism Development (China), Kavčič Furniture (Slovenia), ClicknClear (United Kingdom), GAM3S.GG (United Arab Emirates), CodeGream (Republic of Korea).
- Health category: Shanghai Bangbang Robotics (China); OsseoLabs (Thailand), noul (Republic of Korea); PepTiDa (Italy), Hummingbird Bioscience (Singapore), Glovatrix (India).
- Environment category: Carbfix (Iceland), Carbon One (China), Vertoro (Netherlands), Smart Drain - Urban Inventors (Sri Lanka), AFNON (Zambia), BANIQL (Indonesia).
- Agrifood category: PhageLab (Chile), Ecoxtract (France), MoonBiotech (China), UNIBAIO (Argentina), Toopi Organics (France), Planetary (Switzerland).
- ICT category: Shaanxi ORCA Electronic Technology (China), FestivalOn (Republic of Korea), Unitree Robotics (China), Quinas Technology (United Kingdom), ICTK (Korea), Teramime (Korea).
The descriptions of finalists are available on the WIPO’s webpage.
The WIPO Global Awards aim to highlight small businesses, start-ups and university spinouts that excellently use the opportunities provided by IP to achieve business goals and have a positive impact on society as a whole.
The winners will receive not only a special trophy, but also a mentoring program with a focus on such critical aspects of entrepreneurship as access to financial resources and strengthening of IP strategies.
Two new categories have also been introduced this year - the WIPO Global Awards will be awarded to the best woman entrepreneur and the best youth entrepreneur, selected from among the award winners.