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ASIAN INNOVATION AWARDS: THE WINNERS 2003
Tackling Global Issues
The winners of this year's Asian Innovation
Awards offer practical solutions for a better world
By Michael Somers
Issue cover-dated
November 06, 2003
The REVIEW's Asian Innovation
Awards have, for the past six years, recognized the efforts of
back-shed inventors and serious scientists who have worked
hard to turn their ideas into real, life-improving
applications.
This year, our panel of five judges had an additional task.
In addition to choosing winners for the Gold, Silver and
Bronze awards, they also had to decide the winner of a new
honour, the Global Entrepolis @ Singapore Award.
This new prize, presented in association with the Economic
Development Board of Singapore, recognizes the importance of
having a strong business model behind innovation. This helps
to ensure a new application makes it to the market, where it
can benefit a much wider audience.
In picking this year's winners, the judges selected people
who have applied their expertise to some of the biggest
problems facing people and the planet: cancer and heart
disease; the dwindling supply of fresh water; and the
sustainable management of energy.
The World Health Organization lists cancer and heart
disease as the biggest killers in the world. Together, they
claim the lives of more than 23 million people every year. The
WHO also says that fresh water is becoming so scarce that many
people have to resort to using recycled waste water for
agriculture and drinking.
And while energy is key to development and better living
standards, the United Nations Division for Sustainable
Development says that its production and use cause pollution
and damage health and the environment.
Big problems, indeed. This year's winners were selected for
developing solutions that go some way towards tackling them
and making the world a better place. Read on, and see for
yourself.
* Full
coverage
MEET THE JUDGES
Lim Kok Wing
President of the Malaysia Design
Technology Centre, Petaling Jaya
John Chen
Chief executive and president of
Sybase, a United States-based solutions provider
Anil Gupta
Head of the Society for Research and
Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Innovations,
India
Mechai Viravaidya
Chairman of the Population and
Community Development Association, Bangkok
Tony Buss
President and chief executive of
MerLion Pharmaceuticals, Singapore
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