Trailblazer

The University of Wollongong's annual Trailblazer innovation competition was developed to reward innovative ideas and early-stage research, which have the potential to benefit the community, industry or business as well as generate a financial return. With $14,000 in prize money, the competition also rewards and stimulates innovative thinking.

Trailblazer is open to all UOW researchers and students. Entries from all research disciplines and across all Faculties are encouraged, whether they relate to businesses, products, services or technologies. Your entry can be an original or novel Idea,Concept, Theory, Discovery, Research Outcome or Invention.

Now in its fourth year, the competition has helped UOW motivate and showcase the extraordinary talents of our researchers and students. Winners announced 31st July.

Trailblazer Winners 2008

Staff : Dr Allison Shorten – Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences
"Informed Birth Choices: Pregnancy Decision Support Package"

Student : Jennifer Saville – Faculty of Science
"A novel non-invasive technique for the diagnosis of dry eye"

Runners Up

Staff : Dr Chris Lukey – Faculty of Engineering
"Polymer-based alternative to steel mesh for strata support in underground coal mines"

Student : Deirdre McGhee – Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences
"Novel sports bra design"

Highly Commended (2 staff members and 2 students)

A/Prof Steven Roodenrys & Dr Stuart Johnstone – Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences
"NeuroCog-TS"

Dr Simon Moulton – Faculty of Science
"In vivo site drug delivery: New Technology to replace mulesing in sheep farming"

Annaleise Riethmuller – Faculty of Education
"Jump start"

Guanghua Lian – Faculty of Informatics
"Closed – form exact solution approach for pricing variance swaps"

Successful Trailblazer recipients (from left) A/Prof. Steven Roodenrys; Dr Chris Lukey, Dr Allison Shorten; Jennifer Saville; Deirdre McGhee; Annaleise Riethmuller, Dr Simon Moulton and Dr Stuart Johnstone [Absent from photo was Guanghua Lian]

Other photos and more information: media website

Other Finalists for 2008

Dr Rachel Jones from the Child Obesity Research Centre (Education) :The Time2bHealthy Program

Dr Weihua Li from Mechatronics (Engineering):Rapid detection and separation of pathogens in water

Dr Jorge Fernandez-Pol (Economics/Commerce): Social Innovation Register (SIR)

Dr Leisa Ridges from the School of Health Sciences (HBS): Functional food synergy

Dr Byron Keating from the Centre for Business Services Science (Informatics): A Fresh Approach to Measuring Customer Preferences (CustPref)

Dr Ping Yu from the School of Information Systems and Technology (Informatics): eSTEPS

Mr Phillip Hall from Creative Arts: To record and promote the extroadinary tradition of Australian nature - or environmental - poetry.

Mr Matthew Hipsley from Civil, Mining, and Environmental Engineering: Rail iNFRA Protector

Mr Javad Foroughi from Material Engineering / IPRI ( Engineering/Science): Towards the development of NanoBionics using Polypyrrole-Biopolymer Fibres

Mr Brad Winton from ISEM/Translational Neuroscience (Engineering/HBS): Engineering a new generation of Nano - structured dietary fiber for improved health effects

Mr Hooman Shidanshidi (Engineering Manufacturing/Informatics): Automatic 3D Geometric & Mechanical Model Generation for Haptic Rendering of Hand-Woven Textile

Previous Winners

Several previous competition winners are working with UOW to turn their ideas into real-world commercial applications.

The competition is run in conjunction with UniQuest Pty Ltd.

Other Information

 JUDGING PROCESS

The Trailblazer judges will be reviewing all applications for their uniqueness and commercial potential.

Finalists
Applications close 25th June. Approximately 12 finalists will be selected from the entries. They will be announced Wednesday 9th July. Extensive searches are conducted to ensure that finalists' entries have not already been discovered or developed.
The finalists will be asked to work with their Faculty Manager for Innovation and Commercialisation to produce a five-minute presentation. This presentation will be made to a panel of judges drawn from the commercial world. When finalists are notified of their short listing, they will be provided with further information about their presentation.

Winners
The winners will be announced at an Awards Evening: Thursday 31st July. All Trailblazer entrants will be invited to the Awards Evening.

 BENEFITS AND PRIZES

A maximum prize pool of $14,000 will be awarded.
Prizes of $5,000 and $3,000 (for first and second place) along with specific students prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 (for first and second place) are available. In addition, four highly commended prizes, two worth $1,000 each and two worth $500 each, will be made. Student applications will automatically enter both the Student and Open categories.

In addition to direct 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;
• Assistance with packaging the research outcome to secure further investment, should this goal be considered commercially worthwhile; and
• Assistance with fundraising to progress the research outcome towards commercial milestones, should this goal be considered commercially worthwhile.

 SPONSORS - Trailblazer is proudly sponsored by:

Platinum Sponsor
Bronze Sponsors

 TERMS AND CONDITIONS

UOW's aims and objectives for Trailblazer are to advance research outcomes with commercial potential and to reward research innovative researchers and students at UOW.

Eligibility
Trailblazer is open to any individual or group of individuals if the applicant(s) is either an employee or a student at UOW.
Innovations and ideas at any developmental stage may be submitted for selection.
Individuals may make multiple applications provided each application is regarding a different idea.

Confidentiality & Intellectual Property
Where significant commercial outcomes exist, UOW will provide advice and support with respect to confidentiality and intellectual property protection.

Prize Money
A maximum prize pool of $14,000 will be awarded.
Prizes of $5,000 and $3,000 (for first and second place) along with specific students prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 (for first and second place) are available. In addition, four highly commended prizes, two worth $1,000 each and two worth $500 each, will be made. Student applications will automatically enter both the Student and Open categories.

Release of Prize Money
The winners' monetary prizes will be placed into an account established at the University of Wollongong . The prizes may be spent on any of the following research related items:

• Travel expenses for attending a conference;
• Travel expenditure associated with meeting with potential collaborative partners;
• Market research;
• Any activity associated with advancing proof of concept for the idea, for example cost of consumables and equipment;
• Research related computer hardware or software.

Judges' Decision is Final
The decision of the Judging Panel is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

 FAQ: Frequently asked questions:

Q. Is it possible for my idea to be too embryonic to enter Trailblazer ?
A: No, it isn't. Even if your idea is only an idea with no research or proof-of-concept data,  you can still enter Trailblazer.

Q. Will only "hard science" ideas win ?
A. No, UOW is keen to receive entries from the Arts, Humanities, Law, Business and Social Sciences areas.

Q: If I win a Trailblazer prize, can I buy things to benefit me or just UOW ?
A: The Trailblazer prize money is meant to reward you for your hard work as well as progress your research. There is a range of spending options that ensure you benefit from your prize money.

Q: If I enter Trailblazer, will UOW automatically take over the commercialisation of my intellectual property ?
A: No. Should your research have commercial potential, UOW will discuss all commercialisation options with you.

Innovation & commercialisation at the University of Wollongong is managed by Managers of Innovation & Commercialisation (MIC) who have specific faculty responsibilities. Email your relevant MIC as per the Faculty areas below.

Informatics, Education, Creative Arts and Law
TBA

Health, Medicine, Science and Arts
TBA

Materials (IPRI), Engineering and Commerce
Scott Needham on scottn@uow.edu.au
T: 02 4221 4470