The 25 finalists in INNOVIC’s Next Big Thing Award have been named and will be on show at the Melbourne Museum from 30 May to 12 July. The Awards, which identify exciting new commercial innovations, were opened up to international entries this year. The finalists reflect the key challenges of our time in the medical, environmental and ICT fields.
The winners will be announced at an Award presentation ceremony in Melbourne on 2 July 2009. The overall winner of INNOVIC’s International Next Big Thing AwardTM 2009 will win $10,000 cash plus other prizes, including design work from Rankin Design, media exposure and a MYOB Business Management software package.
On-line voting for the People’s Choice award is open at www.nextbigthingaward.com.
The 25 finalists are:
360 Paper Water Bottle – will disrupt the global bottled water category/industry by redefining the emotional, visual, functional, tactile, material, manufacturing, operational and environmental touch points of the containment.
Vecor Building Materials – Fly ash is an unavoidable by-product of burning coal to produce electricity. This environmental pollutant, can be “locked up” to produce strong, lightweight tiles, bricks, pavers, aerated blocks and building aggregate.
Fermiscan Hair Test for Breast Cancer – women who have breast cancer have a change in the molecular structure of their scalp hair. This change is detected using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The test is painless, safe and suitable for women of all ages.
Road Transformer – an implement which is towed behind any four wheel drive vehicle which will condition/groom an unsealed road on a semi-regular basis.
Joinlox – a spring-loaded joint, which joins and locks together parts. It’s a versatile alternative to traditional joining methods such as nuts, bolts, welding and screws.
Jambot – a musical robot that can listen to music and jam along.
envirotate – a biodegradable fishing sinker that is designed to spin on retrieval thus removing the twist in fishing line caused from casting and retrieving.
WRINO – the world’s first multi-function boat mooring devise that works in combination with the boats mooring lines. It solves the marine problem of mooring with speed, safety and ease of use.
VideoTrace – interactively generates realistic 3D models of objects from video.
Signos Personal Ultrasound – a palm size ultrasound device which acts like a visual stethoscope, allowing physicians to look inside the body, improving their physical exam.
Aquatain AMF – a silicone-based liquid which spreads across the water, forming a monolayer film. The product was originally developed for evaporation control, but a variation has been found to have exceptional benefit in stopping the mosquito lifecycle.
SI-TOROTM technology – the next generation technology for radiation detection and measurement systems.
SolaMate – Solar Air Heating, Cooling & Ventilation System – a solar air heating, cooling and ventilation system for domestic and commercial buildings.
The Eco-switch – a simple and inexpensive energy saving device that effectively allows you to move the location of your power point (socket) switch to a new more convenient location.
Creative Water Technology – a highly advanced solution to solve waste water problems that other technologies, such as Reverse Osmosis are unable to address. It makes complete water independence possible even for top-200 water users.
CarbonNavigator – a web-based offering allowing organisations to tick the boxes for compliance and audits and help them assess and manage carbon reduction opportunities. It combines sustainability and finance and helps move carbon management into the mainstream of business management.
Lockbox – Secure online file management and storage mechanism using world’s best practice security including private/public key encryption and digital signatures.
Oodles Qjump Membership Program – allows frequent car renters to complete one form online, and be signed up with all major rental companies in a matter of minutes.
Handheld medical diagnostic system – a handheld system to be used at Point-of-Care for IVD (in-vitro diagnostics) testing, designed to deliver laboratory quality results on the spot to unskilled users in any environment.
Biosol – in the sewage catchment, it addresses issues such as sewage odour, infrastructure corrosion, greenhouse gas emissions, fat, oil and greases blockages and hydraulic efficiency.
Bamboo De-brancher – a power tool that accelerates the de-branching of bamboo and addresses the safety issues that exist in the industry.
Controlled Plasma light – a long life, low cost, high efficiency general purpose light source to replace incandescent and compact fluorescent lights.
Raymax – a fingerprint lock with a biomatric interface between the user and a conventional mechanical lock. No wiring is required and it can be fitted to a door with an existing compatible lock in approximately 15 minutes.
Gigabit Wireless Transceiver on CMOS – will enable the next generation of portable, ultra-high-speed wireless communication products for hand-held multimedia products.
Smart Energy and Load Management System – the ability to monitor and manage your own power consumption from intelligent touch screens, desktops and smart phones.
