Fresh ideas for the farm at the Innovation Centre

MEDIA RELEASE
23 March 2007
For Immediate Release

Fresh ideas for the farm at the Fieldays Innovation Centre

The Innovations Centre at the New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is undergoing improvements of its own in 2007 with the support of new major sponsor, The University of Waikato.

Competition will be fierce this year with categories pared down to simplify the Innovations Centre for visitors and entrants alike. Innovations will be split into two categories, ‘Inventions’ and ‘Equipment’.

The Inventions category will appeal to farmers and backyard inventors with items that are at concept or prototype stage. Invention of the Year attracts a cash prize of $5,000 and broad media exposure which will help inventors in this category springboard their ideas into action.

Complementing the major prize are categories in recognition of the future needs of New Zealand agriculture: Young Inventor of the Year and Software Innovation of the Year, each offering prizes of $1,000.

The Equipment category is hotly contested by businesses and professional product designers inside the Innovations Centre and right around the Fieldays site. This category, in which entries may have been on the market for up to one year with advertising and marketing in place, includes more refined prototypes such as Lite-a-Load’s Collapsible Stock Ramp, now in production with Brian Nicoll Engineering. Equipment entries can also be sold at Fieldays, a unique opportunity to reach more than 115,000 visitors over the four-day event.

Good things take time and the opening of the Innovation Centre at Fieldays is just three months away. Visit www.fieldays.co.nz to begin planning your entry or phone Amie Woods at the Innovation Centre on 07 843 4499.

Necessity is the mother of invention

In the 1930’s, Bill Gallagher Snr had a problem. His car had become the favourite scratching post of his horse, Joe. From Gallagher’s inspiration to electrify his car to give the horse more of a scratch than he signed up for, came the modern electric fence, used worldwide to manage stock and pasture resources.

Have you got a problem on the farm or lifestyle block for a bright spark to solve? For the first time, the Fieldays Innovation Centre is looking for your problems to solve. Innovations Chairman, Tony Smith, says that some of the best inventions and equipment developments come from the need to solve a specific problem. “Farmers and those serving the rural sector come up with some fantastic inventions and equipment,” he says. “Real success is achieved by identifying a common problem and creating a solution.”

“Show us your challenges and win a great prize,” says Smith. Each week the most common and original issues will be featured on the website and entries will also be displayed in the Innovations Centre at Fieldays. “And who knows,” says Smith, “a solution to your problem could be on display in the Innovations Centre in 2008!”

Problems and wishlists can be submitted to the Fieldays Innovations Centre by visiting www.fieldays.co.nz, and downloading an entry form. All submissions will also be in to win one of ten cash prizes of $100 along with two Fieldays tickets, drawn on 8 June 2007.

Smith thinks that farmers will be surprised by how many people face similar challenges to their own. “Inspire us for a solution” he says.

ENDS

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