Battelle and Plannet Group LLC, both based in Columbus, were given TopCAT Awards by TechColumbus last night for the organizations’ outstanding achievements in technology.

Battelle, with 19,000 employees, was honored as Business of the Year for its ongoing leadership in science and creating new regional business opportunities.

The company has developed and created several spinoff ventures, including Velocys, Optimer Photonics, Ventaira and Zivena, all in Columbus. Carl Kohrt is Battelle’s chief executive.

Plannet Group, a seven-person organization led by CEO Jim Mazatos, was named Outstanding Start-up Business for its work in creating security options for computer networks.

Last night’s event, attended by more than 650 people, was organized by TechColumbus, which was formed in October from the merger of the Columbus Technology Council and the Business Technology Center. It’s also linked to SciTech, the developer of Ohio State University’s research park.

TechColumbus’ mission is to accelerate the development of technology businesses in the region and assist existing companies to use technology to become more competitive.

The group also gave TopCAT Awards to:

• Ignatios Vakalis, a mathematics professor and computational-science expert at Capital University, who was named as Educator of the Year.

• Sypherlink, whose Harvester data-sharing and dataintegration product was named Outstanding Product.

• HealthCare Transaction Processors Inc., for Outstanding Service.

• OPMI Funding Corporation Opticon Medical, named Outstanding Technology Team (up to 10 people).

• The Dispatch Printing Company, publisher of The Columbus Dispatch, outstanding technology team (of 11 or more people).

• Betty Lise Anderson, an optical-technology expert at Ohio State University, named Outstanding Woman of the Year.

• Wayne Simmons, chief executive of Velocys Inc., Executive of the Year (for companies with fewer than 50 employees).

• Angelo Mazzocco, vice president and chief information officer of The Dispatch Printing Company, Executive of the Year (for companies with more than 50 employees).

• Pingsha Dong, chief of welding research at Battelle, Inventor of the Year.

TechColumbus CEO Ted Ford last night said organizations such as Battelle and Ohio State attract world-class researchers and students who work with area entrepreneurs to create technology companies.

TopCAT stands for top contributors to the advancement of technology. Award winners were drawn from more than 300 nominations. For more information, go online to www.columbustechnology.org or www.ctctopcat.org.