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Pictured at the Trailblazer awards announcement for 2009 (from left) ... |
UOW’s Trailblazer winners announced
Prize winners for the Trailblazer innovation competition, developed to reward innovative ideas and early-stage research, have been announced.
The ideas and research must have the potential to benefit the community, industry or business as well as generate a financial return. And with $15,000 in prize money, the competition also rewards and stimulates innovative thinking.
The ‘open’ winner went to the team of Dr Bridget Munro (Health and Behavioural Sciences), Professor Geoffrey Spinks (Engineering), Professor Julie Steele (Health and Behavioural Sciences) and Professor Gordon Wallace (Science) – team pitch made by Dr Munro.
The ‘student’ winner was Weerona College-based Philippe Bouttefroy (Informatics).
The ‘open runner-up’ was Dr Grant Mathieson (Science).
The ‘student runner-up’ went to the team of Mitra Safavi-Naeini (Engineering Physics), Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld (Engineering Physics) and Dr Marco Petasecca (Engineering Physics) – team pitch made by Mitra Safavi-Naeini.
The ‘open highly commended’ went to the team of Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld (Engineering Physics), Dr Michael Lerch (Engineering Physics) and Dr Marco Petasecca (Engineering Physics) – pitch made by Professor Anatoly Rozenfeld
The ‘student highly commended’ went to the team of Sheridan Gho (Health and Behavioural Sciences), Professor Julie Steele (Health and Behavioural Sciences) and Dr Bridget Munro (Health and Behavioural Sciences)
Dr Munro’s team won the open section for its project titled ‘Controlling lymphoedema in an intelligent fashion – lymphoedema support device for breast cancer patients’. Lymphoedema is a substantial problem suffered post-operatively by breast cancer patients. Insufficient lymph flow can lead to swelling of the arm, disfigurement, pain and reduced function. UOW researchers have now devised a unique wearable sleeve that can provide enhanced lymph flow.
Philippe Bouttefroy won the student section for his project titled,“ On-The-Go Speed Control (vehicle speed detection device). On-The-Go Speed Control is the new generation of speed cameras ready to use within a minute and without calibration procedure. The detection is performed from any video recorders such as camcorders and video-surveillance cameras greatly reducing device cost. An accurate speed detection is achieved even in poor weather conditions.
Dr Grant Mathieson was awarded ‘open runner-up’ for his project ‘The Flexalex Cistern’ which is a toilet flushing system that is simpler and more reliable than conventional systems.
The ‘student runner-up’ team won for its project entitled ‘Design of the first SiPM based PET for small animal imaging’. The team proposes a new compact low-cost position emission tomography (PET) system. This enhanced PET system has the potential to greatly contribute to scientific research into treatment and diagnosis of cancer and many other diseases and conditions.
The ‘open highly commended’ team was recognised for a project focused on in-body imaging technology leading to improving the clinical outcome of prostate cancer treatment. Prostate cancer affects 30 per cent of men during their life and can be treated successfully with brachytherapy by placing radiation sources into the prostate. The In-body Imaging with BrachyVision device can accurately measure localisation of implanted sources in real time and adjust their placement for the best tailoring of radiation to cancer.
The ‘student highly commended’ team was recognised for a project looking at building better bras for women living with a breast cancer diagnosis. The team aims to design innovative comfortable and effective bras that will allow women with a breast cancer diagnosis to enjoy the benefits of exercise in comfort.
Trailblazer was open to all UOW researchers and students. Now in its fifth year, the competition has helped UOW motivate and showcase the vast range of talents among researchers and students.
The competition is run in conjunction with UniQuest Pty Ltd which is one of Australia’s leading technology transfer organisations.
In addition to the cash prizes, UOW will:
• Assess the market potential of entries;
• Assess the potential to protect any intellectual property embodied in the research outcome;
• If appropriate, consider a strategy to protect the intellectual property based on the market potential of the research outcome;
• Assist with packaging the research outcome to secure further investment, if it is considered commercially worthwhile; and
• Assist with fundraising to progress the research outcome towards commercial milestones, if it is considered commercially worthwhile