MakerBot Designs & 3D Prints the Johnnie Walker ‘Keep Walking’ Trophy for Tonight’s TechCrunch Disrupt

Every year since 2011, TechCrunch has held their annual “TechCrunch Disrupt” in , an event that features various technology startups launching their products and services, and competing on stage in front of venture capitalists with deep pockets. The idea is to impress enough people with their business models to entice someone to provide investment capital for them to expand their presence.

Tonight is the 2014 version of the event, being held in San Francisco, California, and those wishing to watch it at home can do so via the official Disrupt 2014 website.

There will be 26 startups competing for the attention of not only investors but the entire world, as thousands of spectators and media outlets will either be on hand, or watching via the live-stream.

Also at this year’s event, five sponsors will be awarding prizes to various startups, based on certain criteria. One of those sponsors is a company, we are all familiar with; Johnnie Walker. The award that they will be giving out is called the “Keep Walking Award” and the winner will receive a “VIP Johnnie Walker Experience” along with an exclusive, one of a kind “Keep Walking” trophy.

What makes this trophy so special is the fact that it has been 3D printed on the world’s most popular line of consumer level 3D printers, the MakerBot Replicator.

The Johnnie Walker “Keep Walking” Trophy – 3D Printed by MakerBot

“Johnnie Walker asked us to design and 3D print the “Keep Walking” award,” Jenifer Howard of MakerBot told 3DPrint.com. “It was designed by the MakerBot Studio design team and will be presented tonight to the winner of the TechCrunch Disrupt competition. It is 100$% 3D printed and then painted gold. It is a great example of real time prototyping and 3D printing on a MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer.”

Johnnie Walker will select one winner to receive this award, and that winner will be a company that is not “defined by what they’ve done, but rather by what lies ahead”. Undoubtedly, the winner will have one very unique trophy to take home with them, one that was created with a technology that has received a tremendous amount of coverage from TechCrunch over the past year — 3D printing.

What do you think of this “Keep Walking” trophy? Discuss in the MakerBot 3D Printed Trophy forum thread on 3DPB.com.