Innovators Award

What is innovation?
Innovation is concerned with change. It is a continuous process of learning, discovering and applying knowledge to the production of goods or services. This knowledge might be acquired through learning, research or experience. Knowledge which is at the base of innovation is acquired not only through formal education and formal research but also through ‘experience in doing or using’ and through interaction.
The range of innovations is quite wide comprising both radical changes and many small improvements in product design and quality, in production processes or the way in which production is organized, in management, marketing or maintenance routines that collectively modify products and processes, bring costs down, increase efficiency and ensure environmental sustainability

Why innovation?
At a time when its main industries are under global pressures, the challenge for Mauritius is to move onto a new phase of development and an upward curve of growth that is driven by innovation-based competition. Our firms should be able to compete not only on price but also on the basis of their ability to innovate. To take up this challenge, Mauritius has to develop the innovative potential of its people. Knowledge has to be introduced into the economy and into society at large. Active learning by individuals and organizations is required to enable them to take part in different kinds of innovation processes as the knowledge intensity of production gradually extends beyond the high–technology sectors to reshape even the low technology or traditional industries like agriculture and textile.

Who is concerned with innovation?
Innovation is not only the business of researchers but also involves all actors capable of influencing the application of knowledge to production, including what happens on the production shop-floor and between enterprises. Innovations are rooted in everyday activities in firms and in the competencies and capabilities of ordinary people. Innovation is everybody’s responsibility. However, there are different levels of innovation. Formal innovation refers to patents and trade secrets. Formal innovation can help organisations make quantum leaps. But innovation is not limited to technology generation and new product development activities in the laboratory. It also occurs on the shopfloor, in the classroom, in our garden, etc. Every function and every employee in an organization, every citizen should work under the expectation that they can be creative. Innovation has therefore a broader dimension and includes informal innovation which relates to the million little things we do in our everyday life which make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today.

How is productivity linked to innovation ?
In the context of the dismantling of protectionist barriers to trade and investment, innovation-based competition is diffusing around the world. For a small economy like Mauritius which is facing rising costs and fierce competition, engaging in a process of continuous innovation is vital, not only to maintain its economic growth but also to ensure the well-being of all its citizens. Our competitive advantage will depend on differentiating our processes, products, services and positioning.

Innovation is the strongest building block to achieve competitive differentiation. Productivity happens when we engage in perpetual improvement. The attitude should be that every process or operation in any organization requires constant improvement. Once this productivity culture is entrenched, the result is a continuous flow of innovation. Productivity thus supports innovation which in turn leads to the creation of higher value added products and services and hence to sustained international competitiveness for the welfare and happiness of all citizens.

What has the NPCC achieved in the field of innovation ?
The NPCC approach is two-pronged:
(i) to develop a culture of innovation at all levels and in all sectors of Mauritian life
(ii) to create a national innovation system.

Since the NPCC started its operations, in May 2000, one of the major problem areas that were identified was resistance to change. It was decided that this problem had to be addressed through innovation. To sustain growth and development, Mauritius must become more innovative as a nation. For NPCC, innovation is a driver of growth and it can be bolstered anywhere and by anybody to achieve a Better Living. For this to happen, there should be an endeavour, in all sectors and at all levels, to make tomorrow better than today.

A multidisciplinary PC (Productivity Committee) on Innovation acts as a think-tank and has started the reflection on the process of setting up a national innovation system - a dynamic network for sharing information, views, knowledge and projects among public and private institutions of various sectors and for creating an environment conducive to the development of innovation in all walks of life. Setting up an innovation system will imply adopting a new perspective on a wide set of policies (social, educational, industrial, and environmental, to name a few). All these area specific policies affect learning and competence building. They need to be designed with this in mind and brought together and attuned into a common strategy.

In 2004, two major projects were implemented, namely the first edition of the Innovators Mauritius Award and a National Innovation Summit. Both projects aimed to bring about a paradigm shift and foster innovative thinking and actions. In 2005, the first edition of InnovED, i.e innovation for the education sector, allowed our youth to demonstrate their creativity and to experience the joy and pride of creating models and prototypes of innovative products.

How has green productivity been implemented in other countries?
In Costa Rica, INBio, the national Biodiversity Institute, developed in 1991, the concept and practice of ‘bioprospecting’ as one of the answers to the need of using, in a sustainable way Costa Rican biodiversity to benefit society. The forest sector was thus reconceptualised as a ‘system’ of production- with backward linkages to the identification of inputs into pharmaceuticals and agriculture and to training in science and sustainability and forward linkages to ecotourism- if not yet fully as a system of innovation.
Zero waste means the elimination of waste by replicating the cycles of nature where all waste is food for other organisms within the ecocycle. This is being practiced with breweries in Fiji, Tanzania, China, and Namibia by an eco-engineer, Gunther Pauli. Breweries produce solid waste from spent barley grain composed of fibres and protein as well as liquid waste. Mushrooms are grown on the fibres found in the solid waste, producing five harvests of mushrooms in one batch of spent grain - including high-quality consumer mushrooms such as shiitake. (No mushroom experts around the world had ever thought of growing them on beer). The mushrooms also break down the lignin content of waste into high quality carbohydrates which are fed to local cattle.

Earthworms are cultivated in the protein content of solid waste, producing 287 pounds of worms from one ton of solid waste. These earthworms are fed to chickens in a chicken farm linked to the brewery, creating food for the local population. Chickens and cattle produce manure rich in methane, which is collected and fed into a digester that generates steam and electricity. One of the largest breweries in China, producing 800,000 litres of beer a year, is powered by a digester running on the waste of the chickens and cattle. The liquid slurry waste of the digester has a very high biological oxygen demand, but this is put into fish ponds on which floating gardens produce flowers, rye, grasses, and tomatoes. Within 24 hours the slurry is broken down and helping to produce seven kinds of fish.

In Singapore, a hospital installed tower fans, temperature sensors, and motion sensors in toilets so that lights could be switched off automatically when they are not needed. The use of energy saving light bulbs contributed to the conservation of water and energy.

In Vietnam, in a village in the Cu Chi District, the implementation of green productivity options like the use of a suitable water treatment model, the application of biogas technology to treat sewerage, and the use of integrated pest management technique in cultivation activities to reduce reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, improved life at the community level. All villagers now use groundwater from wells rather than ponds for their domestic needs. This has reduced cross-contamination from sewerage in the ponds and has prevented the spread of diseases in the village. One central water supply plant has been installed providing drinking water for 30 to 40 households. A rattan-bamboo production cooperative with 80 members has been established providing jobs for the villagers of all age groups and enhancing the living standard by increasing income for households.

Is there a particular title for Innovators Mauritius Award II ?

Green M is the title of the Innovators Mauritius Award II.
The dominant idea for NPCC activities, during 2005/06, is related to Green Productivity - continuous application of preventive measures to make the economic, physical and social environment cleaner, safer and healthier. The Innovators Mauritius Award II is one of these activities and it will focus on products and / or processes which involve innovative ways to reduce waste (Reduction), identify new uses of waste products (Reuse) or create innovative products from waste through transformation (Recycling).

Who can participate in the Innovators Mauritius Award II?
The Award is open to Mauritian citizens, irrespective of their place of residence, and any foreigner who is holder of a resident permit and is residing in Mauritius at the time of the submission of the final entry.

There are two categories of participants:
(i) industrialists and professionals
(ii) the general public including students.

Proposals can be made either on an individual or on a team basis.

What are the rewards and prizes of the Innovators Mauritius Award II ?
The best entries will be rewarded as follows:

Industrialists / Professionals
Gold Award
A cash prize of Rs 300,000
A trophy and a certificate

Silver Award
A trophy and a certificate
Bronze Award
A trophy and a certificate
----------------------------------------------------

General public, including students
Gold Award
A cash prize of Rs 200,000
A trophy and a certificate
Silver Award
A trophy and a certificate
Bronze Award
A trophy and a certificate

Rules and regulations
Participation: Participation is free.
Entries: Entries have to be totally innovative. They can include processes and products.
Process: A process is a method of doing or producing something, or an interrelated series of activities that convert (business) inputs into (business) outputs.
Product: A product is the tangible or intangible results of a process.
Categories: Entries - processes and products - can be submitted in any of the three categories:
Reduction - innovative ways to reduce waste
Re-use - identification of new uses of waste products
Recycling - creation of innovative products from waste through transformation

Definitions
Waste: Waste includes any matter whether solid, liquid or gaseous which is discharged, emitted or deposited in the environment.
Reduction of waste: Is considered reduction of waste, any reduction in terms of quantity of waste generated. The definition also includes any process or activity which leads to a complete avoidance of waste through efficient selection or use of inputs (materials, energy, etc)

Re-use of waste: Is considered re-use of waste, new uses of waste products.

Recycle of waste: Innovative products created from waste through transformation are considered as recycle of waste.

Non-eligibility: Members of the Productivity Committee on Innovation, of the Technical Committee set up to work out the concept of the award, of the jury, management and staff of the NPCC, as well as their relatives, are not eligible for participation in the Innovators Mauritius Award II.

The jury:

The jury reserves the right to move entries from one category of participants to another. The jury reserves the right not to award any prize in any category, if entries do not meet the minimum standard. The decision of the jury is final and irrevocable. NPCC will not enter into correspondence with any participant who may feel aggrieved by the choice of the jury.

Proprietary rights:
Entries shall remain the sole property of the participants. The ideas will not be used by the NPCC or any other organisation.

What are the requirements needed for each entry ?
Each entry shall include:
- A full description of the product and process (if deemed necessary, photographs, drawings and physical product can be submitted).
- A presentation of the merits and advantages of the innovation.
- The development stage of the innovation (laboratory stage, prototype, industrial or commercial use and since when).
- Who has already benefited from the innovation (public institution or agency, private sector). Please give references or recommendations from users, if applicable.
- Impact of the innovation on the sustainable development of Mauritius.
- Any other relevant information (e.g. please indicate if a patent or a patent application exists).

What is the deadline for submitting entries ?
In the first stage, prospective participants should fill in the Registration form to express their interest for the Award as early as possible before the deadline for submission of entries. These potential participants will thus be offered the possibility to attend sensitisation and training programmes related to innovation and green productivity that will be organized in the weeks prior to the date of submission of entries. Furthermore, the aim of the Award being to develop a culture of innovation, the organisers would wish to know about ideas that have been tried even though they may not have reached a successful conclusion. The NPCC would give special mention to these ideas. Maybe people, other than those who got the ideas, can make them work. Innovation is about connectivity and sharing.

In the second stage, all participants must fill the entry formand project details form. The completed form together with the entry must be deposited at the NPCC (National Productivity and Competitiveness Council), 7th Floor, Saint James Court, Saint Denis Street, Port Louis, Mauritius by Friday 21st April 2006 at latest.

FORMS RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.