Australian Invention of the Year Award Finalists Announced

The seven finalists in the Australian Design Awards Australian Invention of the Year Award 2004 have been announced. Judging for the awards is based on six main criteria; commercial viability, inventiveness, functionality, technical feasibility, safety and social/environmental consideration and eligible inventions must not be in mass production or available widely in the market place.

In announcing the finalists, Australian Design Awards Director, Brandon Gien said that Standards Australia's Australian Design Awards has a very proud history of recognising some of Australia's most successful inventions such as the Cochlear Implant.

'The Invention of the Year Award is a new award in the Australian Design Awards. Last year, Standards Australia worked with the Triton Foundation to create a way to recognise the grass roots of Australian Invention,' Brandon said.

'The quality of entries was outstanding. There is an enormous amount of valuable innovation happening in Australia at the moment. We had everything from medical advances, agricultural improvements to new building and entertainment devices. It was extremely hard for the judges to make a final decision.' General Manager Triton Foundation, Alex Lamond said.

'The total level of market potential played a very important role in the final decision. Some inventions were fantastic but very industry specific, which means that they weren't finalists in this competition but definitely have the potential to be commercialised in their niche market,' Alex said.