NSW-based company Solar-Gem ^[1] has been awarded the 2010 Australian Innovation Shoot Out, hosted overnight at Microsoft’s Mountain View, California campus.

The fourth annual Innovation Shoot Out, staged as part of G’Day USA: Australia Week 2010 ^[2], assembled seven pioneering Australian technology companies, each vying for top honours.

Solar-Gem provides modular solar-powered off-grid lighting and electricity systems, pre-pay tariffing systems and high-efficiency LED lighting modules. Its target market is the 1.6 billion people around the world without access to power.

Companies were judged based on their ability to:

• solve a recognised problem
• demonstrate a clearly defined business model and market for their solutions
• offer a solution superior to what’s already available, and
• provide a reasonable return on investment.

The judging panel featured:

• Mark Anderson (Chair) - CEO of Strategic News Service
• Deborah Magid – director of software strategy at IBM Venture Capital Group
• Allison Leopold Tilley – partner at Pillsbury
• Chris Shipley, chairman and CEO of Guidewire Group and former executive producer of the DEMO Conference
• Prashant Shah – managing director of VC firm Hummer Winblad

As the winner of the 2010 Innovation Shoot Out, Solar-Gem received a prize package designed to help it launch its business in the United States. Support includes legal, financial and marketing consultation worth approximately US$40,000.

The seven Innovation Shoot Out finalist companies were:

• Digisensory ^[3] – A provider of an end-to-end security and surveillance solution that combines smart imaging devices with a web-based, real-time distributed intelligence system.
• Intelliguard ^[4] – A provider of DDoS protection for online enterprises and internet service providers.
• Mid-Comp International ^[5] – A supply chain management infrastructure provider.
• MultiTrode ^[6] – A specialist in lift station control and monitoring for water and wastewater facilities around the world.
• Solar-Gem ^[1] – A creator of affordable off-grid energy based on clean solar technologies.
• Synengco ^[7] – A provider of technology that helps companies assess and reduce their greenhouse gas and other emissions.
• Zarloc ^[8] – A provider of The ROSS System, a web-based rostering and workforce management solution for the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) franchises.