The UK had a strong showing at the inaugural European Union Women Inventors and Innovators awards, but it was a Finnish concrete engineer who won top honours at the mid-June ceremony in Berlin
Aino Heikkinen was voted overall winner for her development of recycled building material that can be used in low-cost housing in Africa. Her patented TEXCEM process, which recycles waste synthetic rag and combines it with micro-cement, received high praise at the mid-June awards ceremony in Berlin. Heikkinen impressed the judges not only by her inventiveness in coming up with the technology, but also the innovative way she has developed novel uses for the material—such as providing immediate and economically sound habitats for people in developing countries or who are affected by natural disasters.
The awards were dominated by businesses with a strong social-enterprise element: Wales’s Liz Williams, who won the science & technology category, developed her DNA security alarms in response to the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Likewise, Portugal’s Maria Conceicao, a former flight attendant for Emirates airline, won the “Exceptionally Creative and Innovative Woman” category for her Dhaka project, which raises funds and supplies for families living in the slums of Bangladesh.
There were 35 finalists at the awards, which were the brainchild of Bola Olabisi, the CEO of the British Female Inventor of the Year award and the founder of GWIIN, a worldwide networking group for innovative women.
Other category winners included:
Mother and child
Schoolteacher Elaine Stephen from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (UK) impressed the judges and other participants by having a group of three-year old children at the awards showcase to demonstrate her Walkodile ® invention. The product keeps 3 to 7-year-old children linked together—and to accompanying adults—when they are on educational walks outside school or nursery premises and allows supervisors to manage a group more effectively.
Healthcare Innovation
Thuridur Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland, is from a family of self-taught herbalists. She has developed a new healing treatment, Green Balm, using Iceland wild yarrow for the treatment of burn wounds. She is also the developer and producer of a herbal cosmetic range ‘Taer Icelandic’, which carries the coveted ‘Organic Product of Iceland’ mark.
Information & Communications Technology (ICT)
Brigitte François, from France but now living in England, is a mother of four from a deaf family and is a sign language interpreter. Registered in the UK, she also works internationally. She set up Significan’t in 2003, SignVideo in 2005 and became the first video call centre in Europe providing remote video interpreting services for deaf sign language users.
Design
Celia Gates is a British product designer, based in the UK. Her Doctor Cook range of cookware has a unique handle and other design elements that make the items easier to pick up and manoeuvre. This is of particular benefit to the elderly or those with weak or injured hands or wrists. The products’ design will help reduce the likelihood of accidents and personal injury to the millions who use cookware in the home every day. Gates’s other product designs include avalanche breathing vests and a power kite steering device.
Posted 19 June 2007 : Director.co.uk