The San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. announced Wednesday that it created an award named after the late biotech executive Duane Roth, who died from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident.
The inaugural Duane Roth Renaissance Award will go to Qualcomm Inc. at the EDC's annual dinner on May 13.
The award recognizes an organization for creating outstanding inventions, innovations or breakthroughs that have changed and improved the world, according to the EDC.
Roth founded Alliance Pharmaceutical in 1988 and was CEO of San Diego Connect, which brought together leaders from the region's high tech and biotech industries. He was considered an inspiring leader of the local innovation industry.
Roth also was on the board of the state agency responsible for stem cell research and had been set to become chairman of the Sanford-Burnham Research Institute's board of directors. He was a member of the executive board of Lead San Diego, a leadership training organization.
Earlier in his career, he was a senior executive at Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth.
Roth crashed his bicycle July 21 into a rock outcropping near Lake Cuyamaca, with an impact so severe it broke his helmet, authorities said. He died Aug. 3.
