The UOW Pitch competition has drawn to a close for the 5^th consecutive year and we’ve yet again seen just how bright, energetic and entrepreneurial-minded UOW staff and students are.

This year more than $40,000 no-strings-attached cash was awarded to participants for their innovative ideas at the 2017 Awards Party held last Thursday at the iAccelerate Centre.

The call went out earlier this year for UOW applicants to submit their ideas, no matter what stage of development they were at, with the best ideas shortlisted. After undertaking professional pitch training, our bright sparks presented their pitch to a panel of UOW and industry experts.

Taking out first prize in the Staff category was Andrew Short, Nathan Larkin and Dr. Zengxi Pan (current residents of iAccelerate) for their software which automatically generates robotic welding programs directly from a 3D model of a part to manufacture.

Postgraduate student Maryam Ghahramani had an award winning pitch for iBalance – a wearable sensor and a paired mobile application for balance and fall risk assessment. Maryam claimed overall winner for postgraduate students and also took out the Best Pitch award for her category.

A 3D scanner for education created by students Ben Brown, Jason Clissold and Havelock Vaisey impressed the judges and led to taking out the undergraduate category. Their winning concept – a scanner which enables access for the entire education segment to help increase interest in STEAM areas (Science, Technology, Education, Arts, Mathematics)

Here is the full list of our award winners for this year:

Undergraduate

Winner: Ben Brown, Jason Clissold and Havelock Vaisey – 3D Scanner for Education – 3D scanner for education, enabling access for the entire education segment to help increase interest in STEAM areas (Science, Technology, Education, Arts, Mathematics).

Runner Up: Thomas Opie – REAL – Utilising virtual reality (VR) as an empathic medium, changing perspectives and creating social change.

Best Pitch: Samantha Dewhurst and Elysse Turner – Here – An app for finding, saving and sharing outdoor experiences. Where will it take you?       

Encouragement Award: Bilal Arshad – ALSS (Autonomous Land Supervision System) – On a mission to protect Australia, using drones to track bush and forest fires.

Encouragement Award: Vanja Nikolovski – Portable Micro River Current Turbine – A small-scale, portable renewable energy turbine that can be used in remote locations where access to running water is available.

Postgraduate

Winner: Maryam Ghahramani – iBalance – A wearable sensor and a paired mobile application for balance and fall risk assessment.

Runner Up: Dan Yang – Protective Clothes for Teeth – An invisible but powerful protective coating of functionalized silica dioxide nano particles to prevent the formation of dental plaque.

Best Pitch: Maryam Ghahramani – iBalance – A wearable sensor and a paired mobile application for balance and fall risk assessment.

Encouragement Award: Saeid Ezani – Waterless Urinal – An eco-friendly, hygienic urinal offering significantly less cost in maintenance and water consumption.

Encouragement Award: Hafiz Ali Asadullah – Smart Cricket Bat – An affordable cricket bat with touch sensors to improve the accuracy in umpire decisions.

Staff

Winner: Andrew Short, Nathan Larkin and Dr. Zengxi Pan – Automated Programming for Robotic Welding – Software which automatically generates robotic welding programs directly from a 3D model of a part to manufacture.

Runner Up: Colin Bleasdale – Quality control of Glasswool Insulation using Terahertz Radiation – An affordable and robust technology for the monitoring of glasswool insulation during the manufacturing process not currently available to industry.

Best Pitch: Andrea Kornhoff, Fran Walder and Oliver Batten – Playce – An app that allows international students to engage with orientation information and enables social connectedness through game design, pre and post-arrival to Australia.

Best Pitch: Tim Boniface – Enhancing play-based learning in the Early Start Discovery Space using beacon technology – An app for the Early Start Discovery Space that uses beacon technology to provide parents and carers with location based information and questioning techniques to improve the quality of interaction, play and learning between an adult and their child.

Next year’s competition offering might be something altogether different – stay tuned.