Brain Waves Cup 2009 winner announced

South East Water’s Databar team has won the Brain Waves Cup 2009, receiving a $10,000 cheque and the commitment their project will be developed by the company.

And this year’s runners-up are Works Central and Social Media Strategy.

South East Water’s Managing Director Shaun Cox, who was also on the judging panel, said the competition between the final seven teams was fierce, with the panel struggling to decide between four of the seven finalist teams.

This year’s winning team Databar proposed a bar coding solution for the 25,000 new water meters installed in South East Water’s region each year. This is also a first for the Australian water industry.

This concept will cut costs associated with installing new water meters and the mistakes which accompany the manual tracking system currently used. Projected benefits of the innovation include labour savings of $300,000 per year and a reduction in costs associated with errors in meter management of a further $150,000 per year.

“Databar was the overall winner because the team already has a process in place for solving a real problem for our business, as well as creating real potential for external commercialisation for South East Water,” Cox said.

“This year we had two runners-up because both had innovative but very different concepts. The Social Media Team’s strategy is a fantastic way for us to be a leader in the water industry and engage with our customers using media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs, while Works Central has developed a strong method of collaborating planned infrastructure works between various businesses, such as councils and electricity companies, which should reduce the amount of repetition of road works."

Cox committed funding to all seven finalist teams to develop their concepts.

Now in its third year, the Brain Waves Cup has given 51 teams comprising volunteers from across South East Water the resources to spend five months turning their ideas into viable business plans.

This year South East Water’s seven finalists developed concepts ranging from Smart Monitoring Systems for high-rise residential buildings to a Dialysis Water Recycling Solution.

Brain Waves is designed to tap into employees’ innovative ideas, providing them with encouragement and resources to develop their ideas into concepts and business plans, and rewarding innovations that deliver a substantial contribution to meeting business objectives.