CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

Award of Innovation:

Administered through the University-Industry Liaison Office and sponsored by Innovation Place, the Award of Innovation rewards and promotes the efforts of researchers involved in the commercialization of their research. Award winners are selected by committee from a group of nominees who must be faculty members, staff or students at the University. Applications must be based on innovative or potentially commercializable technology from their research program or laboratory. Criteria include intellectual achievement, uniqueness and originality, stage of development and degree of commercialization, and the economic and social benefits to Saskatchewan or society in general.

The Award of Innovation includes a monetary award, a trophy, and a photo on the Award of Innovation Wall.
 

2011 Winner:

U of R engineers, Dr. Luigi Benedicenti, Dr. Raman Paranjape, and Craig Gelowitz, of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science win 2011 Award of Innovation for their innovative TransitLive technologies

Congratulations to U of R engineers, Dr. Luigi Benedicenti, Dr. Raman Paranjape, and Craig Gelowitz winners of the 2011 Award of Innovation for their TransitLive computer technology. The award was announced at the Regina Chamber of Commerce Paragon Awards on April 7, 2011. TransitLive is a computer technology designed to make public transit easier to use and manage. At the same time, TransitLive helps transit officials monitor and manage the fleet in real time, and be prepared to respond to emergencies more quickly. Currently 22 buses or about 20 percent of Regina's fleet are tracked by TransitLive in a trial project [Read More].

2010 Winner:

U of R professor, Dr. Stephanie Young, Faculty of Engineering, wins 2010 Award of Innovation for her innovative greywater technologies

Dr. Stephanie Young has developed a system to reclaim greywater, which is any wastewater that is not from toilet flushing. It could be from showers, sinks and dishwashers, for example. The systems are unmanned and cost-effective. They are very compact and portable. It can treat greywater to such a quality that it can be reused for a number of purposes, typically in shower, laundry, bathroom sinks, toilet flushing, and irrigation. It also can be used for sewage treatment and reuse, and produce potable water which is the next stage of pilot testing. The award was presented to Dr. Young at the prestigious Regina Chamber of Commerce’s Paragon Awards banquet on April 1, 2010 [read more]

2009 Winner:

U of R professor and Swift Current firm share Award of Innovation

Dr. Denise Stilling receives this year's Award of Innovation for her work that advances Saskatchewan agricultural fibre utilization for the commercial production of biodegradable, single-use containers (for dinnerware). Success has been achieved through the support from her local commercial partner, Urban Forest Recyclers Inc. (Swift Current) and financial support from the provincial government and various funding agencies and other research centres where lab-scale trials and bench-scale production runs have been completed. The award was presented to Dr. Stilling and Linden Maxwell (Manager of R & D at Urban Forest Recyclers) at the prestigious Regina Chamber of Commerce’s Paragon Awards banquet on April 2, 2009 [read more]

2008 Winner:

U of R engineering group wins Award of Innovation for CO2 capture technology.

Three University of Regina engineers who have developed several CO2 capture and storage technologies are the 2008 recipients of the Award of Innovation. The award was presented to the members of the U of R Process Systems Engineering (PS-Eng) group at the Regina Chamber of Commerce’s Paragon Awards banquet on the evening of April 3. The PS-Eng group, which consists of Raphael Idem, Paitoon Tontiwachwuthikul and Don Gelowitz, received the Award of Innovation for developing a variety of CO2 capture technologies and processes [read more]

2007 Winners:

Two University of Regina computer scientists Dr Xue-Dong Yang and Orland Hoeber, a PhD candidate, are the recipients of the 2007 Award of Innovation presented at the Regina Chamber of Commerce’s Paragon Awards banquet on April 4.  Yang and Hoeber won the award for their HotMap and WordBars web search interface software prototype systems which use interactive visualization to allow computer users to take a more active role in the Internet search process. Click here for more information.
 

2004 Winners:

Dr Luigi Benedicenti, a University of Regina engineering professor, and Jeffrey Mahovsky, a former U of R student who is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary, won the 2004 Award of Innovation for their Distributed Visualization System (DVS) software.  DVS converts data into visual forms and can be applied to a wide variety of applications from simulating and modeling of geological sites (for petroleum reservoir  simulation, for example), to medical imaging, to electronic games.  Click here for more information.

2003 Winners

Charles Fox, an assistant professor in the Media and Production Studies Department of the University of Regina's Faculty of Fine Arts, and Wade McGregor, Principal Consultant of McSquared System Design Group Inc., won the 2003 Award of Innovation for their modular microphone array mounting system (MMAMS).  The invention – a first for microphone arrays – ensures simplicity, is lightweight and compact, and is easily transported and deployed in a variety of recording situations.  The device is commercially targeted at audio engineers who record multichannel sound for musical performances, film and video production, broadcast, sound effects and soundscape recording, video gaming and theatrical productions, and virtually any other application using surround sound.  Click here for more information.

NSERC Innovation Challenge Award

Awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund (CSTGF), the Innovation Challenge Award is "intended to encourage students doing graduate studies in the natural sciences, engineering or computer sciences to take a new look at their thesis work and identify, by written essay, what potential product or service could be implemented through application of their research results."  Each university in Canada is allowed to nominate two eligible candidates.  Entries are judged by a selection committee consisting of Canadians who are familiar with university research and judging the potential of innovative ideas. The criteria used to judge entries will include presentation of the idea, enthusiasm of the student, novelty of the approach, realism, chance of success, and impact/value of the proposed product or service.  Click here to visit the office website.

2007 Winner

University of Regina PhD candidate, Richard Dosselmann, was among 11 finalists honoured at the NSERC Synergy Awards Gala on October 29th. The Innovation Challenge Award honours students pursuing graduate studies who have demonstrated an entrepreneurial flair for thinking of ways to transform their research into products and processes that will benefit Canadians. Dosselmann was awarded for his development of a first-of-a-kind prototype TV and video quality monitoring system.

2004 Nominee

Graeme Drysdale, a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Engineering, was nominated for the 2004 NSERC Innovation Challenge Award.  Mr. Drysdale graduated in November 2003 with an MSc from our Faculty of Engineering and is continuing as a PhD candidate in the Department of Electronic Systems. He has proposed translation of the practical applications of his MSc thesis work for a Spread Spectrum Acoustic Ranging System in the attached proposal for the Award. He shows a clear understanding of the technical and prototyping issues involved in developing working models, and of their commercial utility.

Manning Innovation Awards:

The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation has been recognizing and encouraging innovation in Canada since 1982. By means of a nomination, Canadians who have demonstrated recent innovative talent in developing and successfully marketing a new concept, process or procedure, may be eligible for one of three awards:
Principal Award ($100,000)
Award of Distinction ($25,000)
Innovation Awards (2 at $10,000)

Should you apply? Click here to read the rules, criteria and to download the nomination form.

Read about last year's winners.