UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards

NewSouth Innovations presents the UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards on Thursday 1 September at 6:30 PM in the Tyree Room of the John Niland Scientia Building (G19).

The UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards celebrate and reward UNSW researchers that are making a positive difference to the world.

Watch some of the finalists discussing their passion for innovation. 

Special guests at the UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards include:

• Professor Fred Hilmer AO, UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor,
• Professor Les Field AM, UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
• Dr Kevin Cullen, CEO, NewSouth Innovations Pty Limited (NSi)

Please take a few moments to view some extraordinary achievements from last year's winners and finalists. Click here to view a YouTube video of last year's winner - Thorsten Trupke and here for our Student Inventor of the Year - Henner Kampwerth.

Enquiries please contact Michelle Evans on (02) 9385 4374 or email: events@nsinnovations.com.au

 

UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards

Entries for the 2010 UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards are now open.

Presented annually by NewSouth Innovations, the UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards
recognise and reward inventors that are making the world a better place.

Boasting a total cash prize pool of $28,000, the awards are open to UNSW academics and
students who are commercialising their research with NewSouth Innovations, the
university’s commercialisation company. This year’s awards will introduce a new Student
Inventor of the Year category and a category to recognise Intellectual Property Notifications
(IPNs).

NewSouth Innovations annually receives in the order of 100 new IPNs. These are the
starting point for commercialising new inventions that can make a positive impact on the
world. All IPNs submitted in the 12 months to 30 June 2010 will automatically be entered
for the IPN award.

Please visit the competition web site for further details and application forms.
http://www.unswinventorawards.com.au 

Entries for the awards competition close 22 April 2010

NYT on Edison, Invention versus Innovation

Thanks to Andy Hargadon's blog, I found this article on Edison in the NYT that came out today. As Andy pointed out, one of the most insightful comments made in the article is this passage:

Whom we credit with an invention often has less to do with who came up with an idea, and more to do with who translated it into something usable, accessible, commercial. Garages and laboratories, workbenches and scribbled napkins are filled with brilliant ideas unmatched with determination, resources and market sensibilities, said Jack Russo, a Silicon Valley intellectual-property lawyer.

I can't agree more. In the Management of Innovation course I took with Dr. Elicia Maine and later TA'd/co-taught with Dr. Richard Smith, one of the first things we foster a debate on is "what is innovation?" In a nutshell, it is a process by which inventions make it to market. Invention alone is a respectable task, but unless the inventor or their champion can bring it to market, society remains deprived of the great idea.

For my PhD research, I am interviewing founders of high-tech start-ups (not necessarily the inventors!) about how (in their own words) they "make shi* happen." While entrepreneurship in general can be said to be about seeking independence and not "working for the man," it if often forgotten that no one is truly independent. So-called independent businesses are dependent on the support of related services firms (IT, legal, accounting, media, and various consulting firms), as well as suppliers and customers. Once I find out more about the "matching process," as it is described in the passage above, I will post something here. Until then, here is one of my conference papers from last year on the topic, which I presented at ISRN.