Subscribe » Issue #38, March-April 2012 Mag Cover
Idealog—in the ideas business

People’s Choice finalists

 

Voting is now closed. Thanks for your help!

The nominations are in, the list has been compiled, and the end is near. All will be revealed at the Innovators Awards on October 20 – but the People’s Choice is still to be selected. Cast your votes and let us know who deserves the title of New Zealand’s most innovative person, product or organisation. Feel free to vote as many times as you like in each category and witness the magic of democracy in action.

Person

  1. Alan Gibbs: Founder of Gibbs Technologies, a company working to manufacture an amphibious all-terrain vehicle (the Quadski), car (the Aquada) and military vehicle (the Humdinga).

  2. Grant Ryan: Creator of the YikeBike, the smallest folding electric bike in the world.

  3. Professor Bernd Rehm: Inventor of a bio-beads platform technology that harnesses the natural power of bacterial cells to create protein-dense bioplastic particles without creating any toxins in the process. This has potential uses in bioseparations, biocatalysis, diagnostics and vaccines.He co-founded PolyBatics Ltd, which was spun out of Massey University as an independent commercial entity in 2009.

  4. Professor Robert Elliott: Founder and medical director at Living Cell Technologies, which develops products to treat diseases including diabetes and Parkinson’s. Its technology enables healthy living cells to be injected into patients to replace or repair damaged tissue without the use of drugs to prevent rejection.

  5. Ray Avery: Scientist and entrepreneur named New Zealander of the Year last year. He founded independent development agency Medicine Mondiale, which works to create low-cost sustainable solutions to fight global poverty and health issues.

  6. Steve Martin: Auckland teacher who won the Prime Minister’s Science Teacher Prize in 2010 for his virtual science lessons that encourage students to learn at their own pace and think for themselves. The Virtual Lesson Project has two components: a ‘Learning Log’ which breaks down learning outcomes based on three levels of thinking and ‘Virtual Lessons’ which enable students to access lessons at any time using computers and mobile devices.

  7. Suzie Moncrieff: A Nelson sculptor and the creator of the World of Wearable Art. First shown in 1987, the concept originally began as a promotion for a rural art gallery.

  8. Troy Dougherty: CRL Energy scientist who discovered a new method of producing silicon nitride nanofibres using low-cost feedstocks: coal, sand and nitrogen. The process developed will produce nanofibres for less than the current price of nanofibres. Production is being scaled up from a laboratory to a plant capable of producing kilogram quantities.

  9. Vaughan Rowsell: Founder and chief executive of Vend, a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) that runs online in a browser on all devices and platforms. It works with any payment technology, from card swipe to NFC to loyalty cards and cash.

Product

  1. C-Dax pasture meter: Senses and records the amount of pasture grass in a given are by pulsing a beam of infrared light from one side of the meter, which is then received on the other side. Grass interrupts this beam and the sensor calculates the height of the grass based on the level of interference. It tells you how much feed you and identifies areas of poor pasture performance.

  2. CrushPak: An accordion-like, award-winning packaging that allows consumers to eat viscous foods in four different ways: with and without a spoon, as a dispenser and as a packing for spreads.

  3. Expleco compact glass bottle crusher: A specialty glass reduction machine designed with bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs hotels, resorts and holiday home owners in mind. The operator simply needs to ensure the bucket is not full and is inserted correctly, switch the machine on and feed individual bottles through the rubber safety flap, which are then reduced to a fine sand or grit in seconds.

  4. Fumacare ultra-high-speed hand dryer: A hygienic touch-free air jet drying machine.

  5. Jelly Tip in a tub: A much loved Kiwi classic in much more satisfying quantity.

  6. Rex Bionics legs: A robotic exoskeleton that enables a wheelchair user to stand, walk and go up and down steps and slopes.

  7. RimPro-Tec system: Designed to help reduce the risk of damage to your car wheels during parking and manoeuvreing, it consists of a base and an inner with interchangeable colours that covers and protects the rims.

  8. Smart Gels: A natural biomedical gel based on a sugar polymer, chitosan, derived from crab shells and squid. This is combined with another sugar to produce a novel cross-linked ‘natural’ hydrogel that is proven to stop bleeding and significantly eliminate post-surgical complications, especially adhesions.

  9. Stratis Ice: A super-light, super-strong sail membrane fabric combining both a new process and new materials. It is currently on trial in the America’s Cup – an international first for a New Zealand-manufactured fabric.

  10. The Journal: A website that guides people through the lifestyle changes and mental skills they need to recover from depression, guided by spokesman John Kirwan. In its first year the Journal helped over 8,500 people reduce the severity of their symptoms by half.

  11. The Next Step neonatal resuscitator/transport ventilator: Controls tidal volume, airway pressure and respiratory rate simultaneously, minimising the risk of complications from birth asphyxia. More than one million babies die annually from birth asphyxia and 10 million require resuscitation assistance.

  12. TVNZ U: Delivers New Zealand’s first ‘social television’ experience – commentary, guests, chat, giveaways, competitions and music come together with a specially developed Facebook application that brings audience comments and opinions to the screen.

Organisation

  1. eBUS: eBUSdelivery is a cloud-based solution that digitally delivers TV commercials and other video content to broadcasters, web and mobile media for faster and safer delivery, as well as reducing the impact on the environment.

  2. Enasolar: Creator of solar inverters, a key component in any solar energy system. Its inverters all come with built in wi-fi and a PC statistics package to track and view data.

  3. F&P Healthcare: Manufacturer and marketer of products for use in respiratory care and acute care, including the ICON - a device for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. It consists of a pump which is run by a microprocessor-controlled motor designed to generate and deliver pressurised air to the airway.

  4. Greentide Ltd: Researches, manufactures and distributes a range of biopesticides to New Zealand greenhouses and outdoor growers as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides.

  5. HaloIPT: Creator of wireless car charging products that use induction power transfer (IPT) to transfer power between a transmitter pad in the ground and a receiver pad on the vehicle. It has been granted a worldwide license to develop and commercialise the IPT system for use in the field of road vehicle application exclusively.

  6. Lanzatech: Cleantech company developing and commercialising technologies for the production of low-carbon fuels.

  7. Magitrek Ltd: Developer of a range of magnetic resonance (MR) spectrometers and imaging scanners exported to customers all over the world for use in higher education, research and industry. Magnetic resonance uses radio waves to interrogate atomic nuclei which in turn provide information about molecular structure and material composition as well as providing a method of non-destructive imaging.

  8. Meatvision: Developed X-ray technology and software for scanning meat in order to determine the fat content and weight non-invasively and in real time, so that batches can be blended accurately to a specified ratio.

  9. Medtech Global Ltd: The largest provider of primary healthcare technology solutions in New Zealand, including ManageMyHealth, a personal internet health portal that enables individuals to access medical records and results uploaded by their doctor, and engage electronically with their health care provider.

  10. Mt Cook Alpine Salmon: A fledgling New Zealand salmon exporter, which has created a premium brand (currently the highest price for farmed salmon in the world in the US market). Just nine months after launch, Saikou Salmon is listed on the menus of some of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants including the French Laundry in the Napa Valley and Nove in the Palms in Las Vegas.

  11. Rakon: Manufacturer of quartz crystal and oscillators for the electronics industry.

  12. Serato : Created Scratch Live, a platform that allows a DJ to control a digital music library using special control vinyl records. Music controlled by Serato control records can be cued, looped, and rearranged in ways not possible with regular audio records.

  13. Technopak: Produces modular, hygienic dry powder packaging lines for the dairy and pharmaceutical industries, from metal detectors to bag fillers and heat sealers