ASIAN INNOVATION AWARDS: 2004 FINALISTS
Making a Difference
Enhancing safety, recycling waste, conserving energy, protecting
the environment, improving health, curbing crime. Finalists in this year's Asian
Innovation Awards do their bit to make life easier and better
By Helen
Przygodzki/HONG KONG
Issue
cover-dated October 14, 2004
Safe Track
Ibrahim Nahla, of New South Wales, Australia, has developed a
collision-avoidance system for trains. The Train Navigation and
Control System reduces the risk of train accidents due to human
error or communications breakdown. The on-board computer device uses
the Global Positioning System to provide real-time monitoring of a
train's movements and collision-avoidance gear over single or
multiple tracks. If danger looms, the system overrides the train's
controls. It is cost-effective, simple to install and suitable for
rail systems worldwide.
Fruit-Fired Power
What do you do with waste bananas? Turn them into electricity. Rejected
bananas from Queensland's plantations are left to decompose in sealed vats where
they produce methane, which is used to power a generator. But bananas take time
to decompose. To speed things up, Bill Clarke, senior lecturer in the School of
Engineering at the University of Queensland, and his team feed nutrients and
micro-organisms into the vats. Clarke reckons that 20,000 tonnes of bananas
could power 500 homes.
Cyber Lab
James Law, of Cybertecture MediaLab in Hong Kong, has transformed an
outdated broadcasting studio into a state-of-the-art media lab. The Radio
Television Hong Kong lab is controlled by "artificial intelligence."
It's equipped with voice-recognition systems and human-presence detectors. The
operator literally tells the system what to do. For example, at a verbal
command, furniture is moved around and cameras are activated for recording.
Eye in the Sky
The world's smallest and lightest flying robot could help to save lives
after a disaster. It's a tiny helicopter and is equipped with a Bluetooth
wireless control system. It carries a minute digital camera. Weighing just 12.3
grams, this ultra-light robot, developed by Seiko Epson Corp. of Japan, could be
used, for example, to look for signs of life among collapsed buildings or after
earthquakes.
Keep It Clean
Parmjit Singh, of the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology in
Malaysia, has developed software that keeps computers free of pornography.
Unlike existing filters, which block access to porn Web sites using key words
and blacklisted Internet addresses, the ScreenShield Suite blocks porn from
several sources, including the Internet, DVDs, CDs, e-mails and attachments.
Rather than focusing on key words, it captures and analyzes images. If the
content is pornographic, it blocks access.
The Eyes Have It
A New Zealand team has slashed the time it takes to conduct a complicated
eye test. The Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue colour-vision test identifies problems
in the optic nerve, diabetic blindness and glaucoma. It takes 60 minutes. But at
Christchurch Hospital, it takes just four minutes. A team from the hospital's
ophthalmology department, led by Dr Rudy Hidajat, devised a computer program for
reporting the FM test, which also allows the patient's data to be read with a
bar-code scanner.
Chill Factor
Power-hungry air-conditioning systems pump out carbon dioxide, contributing
to global warming. The Grand Hyatt Singapore hotel has installed an
air-conditioning system that cools and removes dampness from the air before it
enters the building. The system has helped to cut the hotel's energy consumption
by 8 million kilowatt-hours and water consumption by 65,000 cubic metres
annually.
Pay Phone
Sending money home just became cheaper, faster and easier for the 8 million
Filipinos working overseas, who last year remitted $7.6 billion. Now, instead of
sending money to their families via banks or money-transfer companies, which is
expensive and can take days, they can do it via short-message service (SMS) on
their cellphones. Philippines-based Smart Communications' text-based remittance
service works like this: An overseas Filipino files remittance instructions with
one of Smart's partners. A text message is sent to the recipient in the
Philippines informing him or her of the transfer. The amount is credited
instantly to the user's mobile phone account. The money can then be withdrawn
from a cash dispenser.
Tracking Infection
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is spread through contact with infected
droplets when a patient sneezes or coughs. Identifying people who have been in
physical contact with a Sars patient, so that they could be quarantined, was
crucial to containing the spread of the virus last year. But this can take days.
Singapore's Institute for Infocomm Research has developed mobile tags to speed
up the process. The tags could be worn by hospital staff, for example. Whenever
people wearing the tags come into contact with each other it is recorded on
their tags.
Mind Mender
A group of engineers and doctors from Singapore has come up with a
biodegradable plastic mesh to patch holes in the skulls of people who have had
surgery for head injuries. The substance allows the bone to grow back and is a
cheaper, safer alternative to titanium implants, which carry some risk of
infection. The plastic and the technique for using it were developed by a team
from the National University of Singapore and National University Hospital, in
collaboration with Temasek Polytechnic.
Fill It Up
At last, a gadget that makes refilling ink-jet printer cartridges clean,
cheap and easy. Singapore's Tan Kong Cheok has developed Inké, a machine that
refills ink-jet cartridges for a fraction of the cost of buying new ones. Simply
put the empty cartridge inside the machine and an Inké tank in the other, press
a button and within minutes the cartridge is full again. Over three years, the
average user can save up to $290. It's good for the environment, too, since
cartridges are reused.
The Real McCoy
In Asia, piracy is rife. So how do manufacturers prove their goods are
genuine? Dr. Adrian Burden and Dr. Peter Moran of Singapore's Institute of
Materials Research and Engineering have developed nanotechnology that creates
unique magnetic "fingerprints" which can be attached to goods such as
CDs and medical supplies to prove their authenticity. The tags are analogous to
a human fingerprint and are impossible to copy.
Bank On It
Mumbai-based i-Flex's banking software, Flexcube, monitors transactions in
real time over various channels, such as ATMs, phone banking and Internet
banking. The software helps banks cut costs and improve efficiency. Since it was
launched in 1997, more than 190 financial institutions in 85 countries have
chosen Flexcube. Research organization International Banking Systems ranked
Flexcube as the best-selling banking solution in the world for 2002 and 2003.
From the Heart
An Australian team has developed an automatic digital blood-pressure monitor
that takes a patient's blood pressure from the comfort of his or her home and
then sends the data by phone to a clinic for analysis. A recent study indicates
that patients who have high blood pressure and who monitor their blood pressure
at home have better control over their condition. Medical Monitors' BPFone could
aid the early diagnosis of heart disease and improve medical management.
Who's Calling?
Bangalore-based Subex Systems' telecoms-fraud-management product, Ranger,
helps telecoms carriers to curb fraud through innovative subscriber-profiling
techniques. Launched in 2000, Ranger counts Global Crossing and Sprint Local of
the United States among 39 customers in 16 countries.
See the Net
IBM Japan is helping to make the Internet accessible to the visually
impaired. It has come up with software that helps Web designers understand the
difficulties people with poor or no eyesight have when surfing the Internet. It
also helps them figure out how to adjust their home pages so that they're more
accessible to visually impaired people.
Invisible Ink
Ink that disappears: It sounds like something out of a Harry Potter
adventure, but Toshiba has made it a reality. E-blue ink disappears when exposed
to heat, allowing the paper to be reused. Toshiba has developed e-blue-filled
pens and markers and an erasing machine which uses heat to break down the ink.
