Creative Water Technology wins Innovic’s International Next Big Thing Award 2009

An innovation that allows highly-contaminated wastewater to be cleaned has won Innovic’s International Next Big Thing Award 2009 — Green/Environmental category.

Victorian inventor Stephen Shelly conceived the idea of Creative Water Technology which can clean wastewater with contaminant levels of more than 300,000 ppm.

Traditionally waste contaminated to that extent would otherwise have to be stored or chemically treated at ten times the cost of the Creative Water Technology process.

Ms Joss Evans CEO of Innovic, the not-for-profit organisation that runs the International Next Big Thing Award said there was strong export potential for Creative Water Technology and interest had been received from China, India, Africa, the USA and the Middle East.

“We were impressed by the simplicity as well as the cost-effectiveness of the system,” said Evans.

“For $1.00 per ton Creative Water Technology can produce clean water, and the extracted contaminants can be sold or re-used."

The award attracted hundreds of applicants including entrants from 18 overseas countries — from Iceland to Brazil.

“The winners this year represent the best of the best new Australian and international innovations in the vital areas of medicine, water, recycling, communications and technology,” said Evans.

“All finalists are highly original and smart innovations developed by people who are creating the new technologies and businesses of the future,” she added.

“Past winners and finalists have gone onto reap enormous success in Australia and globally. They employ over 514 people, export to over 42 countries and generate sales of over AU$119 million a year.”

Innovic was established in 1986 and provides a range of practical services to help commercialise new ideas.

The Melbourne Museum is hosting a special free exhibition of the finalists’ innovations until 12 July 2009.

Among the 25 finalists were:

360 Paper Water Bottle — will disrupt the global bottled water category/industry by redefining the emotional, visual, functional, tactile, material, manufacturing, operational and environmental touch points of the containment.

Vecor Building Materials — fly ash is an unavoidable by-product of burning coal to produce electricity. This environmental pollutant, can be “locked up” to produce strong, lightweight tiles, bricks, pavers, aerated blocks and building aggregate.

Road Transformer — an implement which is towed behind any four-wheel drive vehicle which will condition/groom an unsealed road on a semi-regular basis.

envirotate — a biodegradable fishing sinker that is designed to spin on retrieval, thus removing the twist in fishing line caused by casting and retrieving.

Aquatain AMF — a silicone-based liquid which spreads across the water, forming a monolayer film. The product was originally developed for evaporation control, but a variation has been found to have exceptional benefit in stopping the mosquito life cycle.

SolaMate - Solar Air Heating, Cooling & Ventilation System — a solar air-heating, cooling and ventilation system for domestic and commercial buildings.

The Eco-switch — a simple and inexpensive energy-saving device that effectively allows you to move the location of your power point (socket) switch to a new more convenient location.

Creative Water Technology — a highly advanced solution to solve wastewater problems that other technologies, such as reverse osmosis, are unable to address. It makes complete water independence possible even for top-200 water users.

CarbonNavigator — a web-based offering allowing organisations to tick the boxes for compliance and audits and help them assess and manage carbon-reduction opportunities. It combines sustainability and finance and helps move carbon management into the mainstream of business management.

Biosol — in the sewage catchment, it addresses issues such as sewage odour, infrastructure corrosion, greenhouse gas emissions, fat, oil and grease blockages and hydraulic efficiency.

Controlled Plasma light — a long-life, low-cost, high-efficiency, general-purpose light source to replace incandescent and compact fluorescent lights.

Smart Energy and Load Management System — the ability to monitor and manage your own power consumption from intelligent touch screens, desktops and smart phones.