Apr. 18 - Record nine nominees from southern Alberta up for national $100,000 Manning Innovation Award
Proudly sponsored by Innovate Calgary, this year’s Manning Innovation Awards feature a record nine nominees from southern Alberta contending for the country’s largest innovation prize.
The $100,000 top purse, plus $25,000 and $10,000 awards, are presented each year to Canadians who have demonstrated recent innovative talent and successfully marketed their innovations. The nominees are being recognized at a celebration tonight in Calgary and the winners will be announced at the annual Awards Gala in Ottawa on October 17, 2012.
“These are Canada’s most prestigious awards for innovators and can have a tremendous impact on the individuals and companies who win. It is also important for Canadians to recognize the value that this spirit of ingenuity brings to the nation as a whole,” said David Mitchell, President, Manning Awards Foundation. “As the province with the largest numbers of nominees this year Alberta is showing its leadership in recognizing and celebrating the significant contributions of its local innovators.”
The innovations from the nine southern Alberta nominees affect all walks of life, and range from new security technologies and novel processes in oil and gas to advances in health care and innovative equipment for the music industry.
“Canada is home to many successful revolutionary industry innovations, and it is organizations such as the Manning Awards that can really propel their success,” said DJ Sures, President, EZ-Robot. “It is an honour to be recognized as a nominated Canadian innovator, and I am excited about possible future opportunities that come with being a Manning Award winner.”
“Our company is creating innovations to get musicians making music with tools that simply didn't exist a couple of years ago,” said Michael Loh, Founder and CEO, iConnectivity. “The support and recognition we gain through initiatives such as the Manning Awards will help us to continue pushing that envelope in Alberta.”
The nine regional nominees will be recognized at an event this evening hosted by Cybera, and sponsored by Innovate Calgary, in the main lobby of the Alberta Innovates Technology Futures building (3608 - 33 St NW, Calgary, AB) from 5 to 8 pm.
The final Manning Award winners are selected by an independent body recruited from across Canada. Selection committee members are drawn from academic and professional backgrounds with support by experts in the fields presented by the nominations in a given year.
The awards are named after former Alberta premier Ernest C Manning, who was a champion of Canadians who turned their creative genius into beneficial technology.
The country’s largest innovation prize, the Manning Innovation Awards are presented each year to Canadian who have demonstrated recent innovative talent and successfully marketed their innovations. The nominees are being recognized tonight in Calgary and the winners will be announced at the annual Awards Gala in Ottawa on October 17, 2012.
Media contact:
Meagan Hampel
Communications Manager, Cybera
(403) 210-5376
Biographies of the Nominees
Wael Badawy: IntelliView Technologies
Created software that analyzes security video to detect situations that require immediate attention
Wael Badawy is a leading researcher in video technology who lectures throughout the world. As a professor and professional engineer at the University of Calgary, Dr. Badawy developed a new model to describe optical video, thermal, infrared, and 3D data in general. These models have been awarded several awards and patents, as well as published in conference and journal papers. He is president of IntellliView, and is navigating the company through commercialization into both local and international markets. Badawy is also a professor at Umm Al-Qura University in Saudi Arabia, where he advises the vice president of innovation and business on entrepreneurship and commercialization strategies.
Marvin Fritzler: University of Calgary
Discovered new ways of detecting autoimmune diseases
Marvin Fritzler received his BSc from the University of Alberta in 1968 and PhD and MD at the University of Calgary in 1971 and 1974, respectively. He then went to The Scripps Research Institute in California, and then to the University of Colorado as a clinical research fellow to complete his medical research training. He returned to Calgary in 1978 and is currently a professor in medicine at the University of Calgary. Alongside his very active research roles, he is the founder and director of Mitogen, a medical diagnostic laboratory, and serves on numerous boards and advisory committees, including the Alberta Research and Innovation Authority, which was established by the Government of Alberta to provide strategy and policy advice in science and technology, for which he is chair of the board.
Jacob Halldorson: Aqua-Pure Ventures Inc
Found an energy-efficient process for distilling wastewater created during the production of shale gas (a source of natural gas)
Jake Halldorson is chief executive officer of Aqua-Pure Ventures Inc., and has served on the Board of Directors of the company since 1998. He was previously a senior executive and founding partner of Colt Engineering Corporation, a Calgary-based private engineering firm founded in 1973. Mr. Halldorson was directly involved in the creation of the Syncrude Strategic Alliance and the Imperial Oil/Colt Alliance, which he managed for a two-year period. He has also served as a director of Net Shepherd Inc., a public corporation listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange, chair of Anadime Corporation, a public corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and director of Axia NetMedia Corporation, a public corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Halldorson is also a director and officer of Hallmark Resources Ltd.
Michael Loh: iConnectivity
Invented a portable mini-mixer for creating professional-sounding music
Michael Loh brings the vision and technical direction to iConnectivity, a company that specializes in creating uncompromising music gear that enables connectivity of iOS, Mac, PC and electronic music equipment – all at the same time. Mr. Loh is an electrical engineer who graduated from the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. Prior to starting his own company in 2009, he held senior management roles at Nortel, MCK Communications, Novatel Wireless and Wireless Dynamics. He holds three patents and has one patent application.
Howard Malm: REM Technology
Conceived of a system that recovers vented hydrocarbons for use as a supplementary fuel source for natural gas engines
Howard Malm completed his undergraduate and Master’s degree in physics at the University of Alberta, and then went to work at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada, where he led development and wrote and assisted on over 25 publications. He was granted leave to complete his PhD, returned to Atomic Energy and later entered the private sector in Toronto in 1975. As the nuclear industry declined, Dr. Malm moved west, where he joined forces with Spartan Controls and helped form the independent company REM Technology, where he is the chief technology officer. The hydrocarbon recovery product called Slipstream was patented in 2004 and 2005 by REM Technology.
Scott Moore: Precise Transcript Management Ltd
Developed a web-based management services platform for courtroom transcriptions
Scott Moore is founder, president and chief information officer of Precise Transcript Management Ltd. He graduated from NAIT in 1986, studying court reporting technology, and spent several years in his early career as a semi-professional musician. He worked for over 20 years in industry in managerial roles and, in 2007, returned to his transcription roots to develop a prototype that was taken up by Alberta Justice. He is now commercializing the world’s first enterprise transcript management utility services platform, and has received interest from provincial, state and federal clients.
Daniel Pomerleau: FP Marangoni Inc
Invented a vacuum technology for recovering oil-based mud containing drilling fluid
Daniel Pomerleau is chief executive officer at FP Marangoni and the holder of numerous patents related to drilling fluids, fluid recovery and well logging systems, as well as point-of-sales and communication systems, and composite structure vessels, unrelated to the oil and gas industry. Mr. Pomerleau has worked in drilling engineering in Canada, the United States and the Middle East, and led several technical companies as president or senior manager over the course of a 35-year career, before starting his own company in 2007. FP Marangoni invents, develops and commercializes control technologies for solids.
John Remmers: University of Calgary
Invented a controlled breathing device for people suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea
John Remmers is an expert in the field of sleep physiology and sleep medicine. He is a professor in medicine at the University of Calgary, and the first investigator to develop a practical solution to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), which affects an estimated 10 percent of the adult population. Dr. Remmers has developed a number of technologies and medical devices to treat OSA and other respiratory-related sleep disorders, most notably the Tranquility Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). Dr. Remmers’ innovations have changed the way obstructive sleep apnea is treated and have made diagnosis and therapy more widely available.
DJ Sures: EZ-Robot
Created an easy kit for building advanced robotics that caters between beginners and advanced research facilities
DJ Sures was soldering and programming before he entered grade school. His fascination with electronics, software and man-machine interface has been a lifelong pursuit. When he was 10, he received the first Computer Badge issued by Cub Scouts Canada and was designing 3D software in high school. After high school, he worked as software development and embedded system programmer for companies such as Cisco Systems, Security Focus, Symantec and NASA. His company, EZ-Robot, was founded in 2011, and he is combining his diverse experiences to help others create their own experiences – building their dream robots.
Background
About the Manning Innovation Awards
The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation has been recognizing and encouraging innovation in Canada since 1982, during which time it has received over 2,000 applications and has awarded $4.3 million in prizes. This year’s ceremony, taking place on October 17, 2012 at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, ON, will feature 40 nominees from across Canada. These people have demonstrated recent innovative talent in developing and successfully marketing a new concept, process or procedure. The awards to be handed out include: the EnCana $100,000 Principal Award; the David E. Mitchell $25,000 Award of Distinction; and two Innovation Awards of $10,000, each.
For more information, please visit the Manning Innovation Awards' website.