Weighing only 16 kg per square metre on the roof (compared to up to 100 kg/sqm with conventional flat panels systems) the system is particularly well suited to meeting industrial and commercial static loading limits. The panels have been tested to withstand wind speeds up to 209kph and do not require rooftop penetration, attachments or ballast. The panels can be swiftly connected through a series of clicks, thereby greatly reducing installation time and costs.

Installed horizontally, the panels cast no shadow across vacant roof space, increasing useable roof space. The lightweight and self ballasting feature allows for easy manoeuvring – panels can be placed over previously unusable parts of the roof such as air ducts and other piping. For access, panels are simply moved aside.

Phoenix Solar testing has shown the energy yield of the Solyndra panel to be competitive with conventional modules mounted at about the latitude angle. Overall, Solyndra’s system can provide higher electricity output per rooftop. The commercial and industrial application of this new technology from Solyndra has the potential to greatly assist local industry with its peak daytime electricity needs, thereby reducing the risk of summer black outs making electricity supply more reliable during hot summer periods.

Having an idea is only the starting point, knowing how to turn an idea into an experience for your customers is profitable. Find a solution to your problem, expand, build on, and shape ideas into tangible, innovative products and services. Compete through origionality. “me to” product is not going to cut it out there. Need help? www.ivoke.com.au

The Megablender, a huge-scale metal blender the size of a large water tank, has five hardened-alloy cutting blades that rotate up to 500 rpm in both directions.

It is able to shred entire steel drums containing solid and semi-solid hazardous and combustible waste materials generated by communities and industry.

These waste materials contained in the bottom of the drums are often solid and require manual removal prior to processing.  In some cases the material cannot be effectively removed and the drums with the solid material are either sent to land fill or stored later for offsite disposal or processing.

The Megablender allows the shredded metal to be washed for recovery and recycling and the waste contents to be processed as solvent based fuel (SBF).

SBF is a liquid fuel used as an alternative fuel in the cement industry and is derived from liquid, solid, and sludgy hazardous and combustible waste.

The SBF is provided to Cement Australia, which operates cement manufacturing plants in Queensland and Tasmania

The capacity to blend existing incoming solid wastes and accumulated solid drum stock into SBF reduces the amount of waste disposed to landfill or sent offsite and recovers 100% of steel for recycling.

Sustainability Victoria provided funding assistance and technical support for the project.

The BioCube: “The social and economic impact of this could be phenomenal, not to mention the massive reduction in the carbon footprint”

One of the first grant recipients under the Climate Ready program, the Biofuel Partnership’s BioCube project delivers valuable biodiesel resources on-site in developing countries – at no cost to the environment.

The BioCube – developed by Gold Coast-based company The Biofuel Partnership – is a fully integrated, compact biodiesel processor half the size of a shipping container. It can be thought of as a community’s own green fuel station, capable of providing 300 to 400 people with a sustainable source of affordable clean energy.

The company’s technical director, and BioCube inventor, Sandy Kelly, says the BioCube is aimed at developing communities in the Tropics. However, it is also ideal for remote areas struck by natural disaster, as it is small enough to be lifted by helicopter.

“The BioCube costs approximately 1% of a mid-sized refinery, takes a fraction of the space, and is highly energy-efficient,” Kelly says. “It uses its own biodiesel to operate and processes feedstock at rates equivalent to much larger refineries.”

Socio-economic impact

Kelly came up with the idea for the BioCube while living in southeast Asia. He recognised small communities – and the environment – throughout the developing world would be far better off if farmers could refine their own biofuel crops in situ, instead of exporting them, and then importing the processed fuel.

“I saw that the social and economic impact of this could be phenomenal, not to mention the massive reduction in the carbon footprint,” says Kelly, a marine engineer and entrepreneur who has lived in the Philippines for the past 20 years.

“For instance, East Timor has a reservoir of crude fossil oil sitting in the seabed,” he continues. “The oil is tapped and shipped to Singapore for refining and then returned to East Timor. There is a net outflow of precious cash resources.”

Trials and challenges

After two years of trials and challenges, the first BioCubes were manufactured in 2009 in Victoria by the Australian arm of German engineering group, EDAG, ready for export to countries in Oceania, Asia, India, Africa and the Americas.

The Biofuel Partnership has raised more than $1 million through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board Limited, and has a six member management team with expertise in engineering, business and marketing, and brand management.

The company was one of the first recipients of funding under the Australian Government’s Climate Ready program. The company was awarded a $500,000 dollar-fordollar grant in early 2009.

The company also claimed the ‘R&D Tax Concession’ while developing the BioCube, which incorporates four ‘innovations’ (see below).

Invaluable assistance

Inventor Sandy Kelly, the Biofuel Partnership’s technical director, with the BioCube

Laurence Baum, the company’s commercial director, says receiving the Climate Ready assistance has been “invaluable”.

“Capital raising is always a big issue for a start-up company, and you either need investors with deep pockets, or venture capital assistance,” he explains. “One of the problems with venture capitalists is they tend to stymie innovation because their agenda is to turn a short-term profit, rather than the excitement of the invention itself. “Being able to leverage assistance from AusIndustry provided valuable funding, and gave private investors confidence in us because they know that the Climate Ready application is a rigorous process, and the Australian Government must have confidence in us and our internal processes.

“As well, the R&D Tax Concession, through the R&D Tax Off set, gave us a $190,000 tax credit for the $1.5 million we spent developing the BioCube. This is a considerable amount for a small, start-up business.”

Sustainable feedstocks

The BioCube can run on a variety of feedstocks, but The BioFuel Partnership had ethical concerns about using traditional food sources such as palm oil and soya bean. “We researched different plants, and narrowed our list to three sources, of which jatropha and coconut constitute 80% of our interest,” Kelly says. “Jatropha can prosper on marginal soil that wouldn’t sustain most food crops and it also permits inter-cropping so that farmers can benefit from a continuous yield. Waste coconut is almost a nuisance crop in some places, and provides an inexpensive feedstock source.”

The Biofuel Partnership conducted field trials of jatropha in The Philippines and in Papua New Guinea, and applied to AusIndustry for a provisional certificate for proposed overseas research and development (R&D) activities. This meant they were able to claim a 125% tax concession under the R&D Tax Concession.

The innovations

The BioCube runs continuously and produces 2,000 litres of diesel in 10 hours. All parts have been designed to be easy to use and service.

The intellectual property includes:

• an oil expeller incorporating a number of unique features;
• a hydraulically-driven mixer that uses straight cut gears to stimulate mixing, and high temperatures to enhance molecular activity;
• a filtering device christened ‘the Cauldron’ that allows the glycerine to settle while separating off excess methanol; and
• ‘the Chantrelle’, a device that uses the thermal energy of the fatty acid methyl ester and the movement of air to remove any remaining methanol.

“The BioCube is extraordinarily effective as even the by-products can be used as fertiliser or even as high nutrition biscuits for refugees,” says inventor Sandy Kelly.

Another unique aspect of the BioCube is its business model. “We identified that a further aspect of the BioCube lay in changing the business model from that currently employed by the biodiesel processor manufacturers,” Kelly says.

“The Biofuel Partnership developed a ‘cradle to grave’ approach by supplying all chemicals within a distributor network – a philosophy currently unique within the industry.”

Website: www.biofuelpartnership.com

Steve Harding, CEO, PMP Group

PMP Group backs technology with an environmental advantage – to the great advantage of many industries seeking emissions reductions in the era of carbon trading. Australian Innovation spoke to PMP CEO, Steve Harding.

Australian Innovation (AI): PMP started as a grass roots project in the 1970s, but arguably climate change and environmental sustainability have only become high priorities on government agendas in recent years. What inspired your early environmental focus?

Steve Harding (SH): Initially the PMP Group was a plumbing company but it then saw that the environment was becoming an important aspect of people’s lives. We are a water and wastewater treatment, design and construction company. So a lot of the things we were doing then had an environmental bent; [for example] getting water quality right so that it goes back into rivers and waterways at the right level. Th at was the sort of thing that the directors at that time saw as important – and we continue to do so today.

AI: Could you briefl y describe some of PMP’s most innovative strategies for reducing our ecological footprint?

SH: We are heavily involved in methane capture projects, which we like to call CARMHA – Covered Anaerobic Reactor Methane Harvesting Activities. There are a number of CARMHA projects we’ve completed both in Australia and internationally that use the methane gas from treatment plants as a resource. In some instances it is used for generating electricity and in others for fuelling boilers.

Because anaerobic treatment plants are capital intensive, we’ve also developed a small digester that we can manufacture very quickly at a much cheaper rate. So we can actually achieve the same outcome of capturing methane and using electricity on farms at an aff ordable price.

We back technology that has an environmental advantage, or can show an improved environmental application. We don’t actually push any particular product but we would support, for example, a product that has an aeration system, and uses low levels of energy, as it wouldn’t require as much power in the long term, and would therefore have good environmental outcomes.

AI: PMP Bioenergy has worked across many industries such as municipal sewerage, piggeries, rendering plants, abattoirs, tapioca plants and other food processing industries. What is the energy generated from these sources best used for?

SH: We can generate electricity from anything that produces high levels of organic waste. Th ere are many specific wastes that we simply treat differently. But they are all quite good for energy use and you can’t really rate one above the other. There’s an application for each of those areas.

The question of what purposes bioenergy resources are best suited to serving really depends on the particular sites that they are used for. Rendering plants have typically used the biogas from their waste plants as a gas for their boilers so it obviously has a direct advantage to them. After tapioca plants have been treated, they use their power to run factories from the waste but they could also export excess waste to the electricity grid in the right environment.

‘Scrubbers’ for a PMP CDM project in Sumatra, Indonesia

The appropriate use for the waste needs to be assessed properly and that’s what we do. We measure how much energy we can achieve against their necessary applications on the site and try to fi nd the best solution. For example, should we put a bigger generator in to generate more electricity because we can put it into the grid or should we just have a small generator and waste a portion of that gas? It really comes down to the site-specific assessment, which we provide our clients.

AI: PMP advocates the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. If implemented next year, how will it aff ect PMP’s numerous specialist projects for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?

SH: Th e scheme will enhance our services as Australians become more aware of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, I think people are going to become more conscious of this need because there will be a greater legal obligation to either pay or spend money to reduce emissions with smarter and more environmentally friendly technology. In terms of carbon trading, there are additional works that could potentially occur in areas such as agricultural and food processing.

And I think there is a public perception that environmental aspects should be taken into account in Australian business. So the scheme will also impact Australian businesses to the extent that they are personally affected by the dollar and the public’s perception of environmental value. But the domestic projects that are out there and the people who want to do the right thing environmentally will have to stand up on their own merit.

AI: The PMP Group prides itself on being a specialist in Clean Development Mechanisms. How does it help companies wanting to take part in carbon emission reduction projects in developing countries?

SH: The nature of the business we do is design and construction. We can advise clients on how to maximise the amount of return they will receive from their projects because we have a solid understanding of what the UN is looking for in relation to certain technologies.

We can also assist companies with their paperwork and the validation process and provide all the appropriate information. We can do the feasibility studies on the amount of gas that will be generated from the different sorts of waste and propose or design the appropriate technology for projects.

We are a company that has a culture based on engineering and plumbing. On that basis we can provide very well engineered solutions that also have practical applications. So we can save money for developers by producing solutions that are very practical long-term and can be operated very easily, whilst also creating very robust plants that clients can rely on from an income stream point of view.

Website: http://pmpgrp.com

Our Mission is “to assist individuals and corporations achieve their highest potential”

As a business innovation and information company, we develop businesses and their strategies, assist in raising capital, develop collaborations and partnerships, provide interim management and develop and mentor existing management teams.

What is – Workright Centre for Entrepreneurship

Innovation incubation

Workright Centre for Entrepreneurship (C4E) is a hands on business innovation and information company. We work closely with organisations to develop their business and market strategies, assist in raising capital, develop strategic partnerships, provide interim management and mentor existing management teams.

The C4E was established in 2002 as a unit of the Workright Group of companies, to provide an entity that is focussed entirely upon delivering services to the business community.

C4E receives proposals to work with individuals and companies, and those opportunities are evaluated to identify their merit and potential for success.

C4E can assist with engineering and scientific production, technology implementation and development as well as service delivery. We also manage processes and will assist with proof of concept and prototyping, manufacture, formalise corporate structure and establishment, prepare for formal operation, perform research and planning, identify employees and raise capital.

The C4E usually works on a fee for service basis.

Our bottom line is to:-

Our Values

• To be true to ourselves and others by working with integrity
• Value and support people, their ideas and principles
• Be practical and flexible in delivering value add solutions
• Share the accumulated wisdom of our “know how network”
• respect the value of every dollar
• embrace sound risk management with an entrepreneurial spirit to banish the fear of commercial failure

Service Outline

We work alongside our clients to ensure their full business potential is realised by providing the practical support necessary to achieve sustainable performance improvement. Our broad scope of specialist knowledge allows us to deliver professional services to a wide range of industries. Key aspects of our service include:

• Delivering strategic intent through practical application
• Adding value by optimising operational performance
• Designing and implementing performance measurement systems
• Installing practical business processes that ensure performance improvements are embedded
• Providing continuous management excellence through Interim Management
• Flexibility of delivery to suit our clients

The majority of the services WC4E offer are not free, however, in certain circumstances we can accept equity for service or delayed invoicing. Some “success fees” may be negotiated for example: If WC4E assists in you in securing an investment, then a percentage of the capital will be payable to WC4E. If your idea requires significant time resources from WC4E, for example, the drafting of a Business Plan, then an hourly rate may be charged.

Conditions and other information

WC4E will give priority to opportunities that have been researched with defined markets and identified costs.

All clients with new ideas or inventions will be asked to prove that they are the inventors and have the sole rights to the idea and that the idea was developed in Australia.

Workright Group

The Workright Centre for Entrepreneurship is part of the Workright Group, which has been providing services to individuals, small business, industry, government and community organisations since 1992, in all States and Territories of Australia.

1. Workright Australia, a Registered Training Organisation, offers qualifications from Certificate II – Advanced Diploma across a range of learning domains, including Entrepreneurship, Strategic Planning, Operational Planning, Management and Human Resources.
2. Workright Global provides offshore services to licensees and franchisees
3. Workright Centre for Entrepreneurship provides incubation services to innovators and inventors, start ups and early stage technology companies. It effects introductions for funding via seed capital, business angels and venture capital.

Incubation Services

Managing the commercialisation of a new product or service is a difficult task, even for the most experienced entrepreneur.

At Workright, we help inventors & entrepreneurs to develop their ideas into products – suitable for commercialisation to local and global markets, and to develop their business from a sole trader or partnership through to a public listed company.

Our corporate expansion process is divided into four distinct phases – incorporation, attracting seed capital, angel capital and venture capital, and our product commercialisation phases run in parallel from idea generation, pre-study and protection of the Intellectual Property, product development, and commercialisation.

Workright has gathered a savvy “know how network” of business experts in management, Intellectual Property protection, graphic and CAD design, prototyping, finance, law, marketing and manufacturing to ensure incubatees receive the support. Experienced coaches support the entrepreneur as they move through the highs and lows that they will experience, and supported innovations receive the best product lifecycle support, advice, and development available from our network of business professionals.

Our Incubation services de-risk the venture, assisting both the entrepreneur and the investors.

Services include:-

• evaluating the invention/product and related market factors
• identifying the entrepreneur’s knowledge gaps and providing accredited training to fill them
• designing the most appropriate business model
• development of interactive financial models
• introduction to potential investors
• applying for Government grants
• structuring critical path to market documents
• introduction to strategic partners
• market research (in three stages)
• general management advice and consulting
• management and personnel recruitment advice

Some of Workright’s Incubation clients, include:-

Digislide Holdings Limited (www.digislide.com.au)

• fully incubated entity
• leading miniature projection technology
• winner of national and global awards
• raised over $20M
• currently has Initial Public Offer with the Australian Securities Exchange

Wanted World Wide (www.wantedworldwide.com)

• debt collection and asset recover services
• investigation services
• Web 2.0 based platform, combining 3 powerful media (internet, call centre and television)
• Introduced to ANZA Tech Network (Silicon Valley) September 2007
• Patents and trademarks in place
• Australian Master Global Licensor now valued at over AUD8M
• US based licensee now valued at USD5M
• “Partner Licensee/Investors” sought for India, UK, Canada, Malaysia, China

Voicetek (www.voicetek.com.au)

H2Oasis Energy Pty Ltd (website under development)

• water and energy related technologies
• early stage technology development
• patent and trademarks in place
• proof of concept prototype
• application submitted for COMET funding (AusIndustry)
• raised over AUD250K
• introductions to Business Angels now underway

Spinergy Pty Ltd (website under development)

• common founders and inventor as Digislide (see above)
• energy related technologies
• global application (residential, commercial and industrial)
• patent and trademarks in place
• early stage technology development
• proof of concept prototype
• application submitted for COMET funding (AusIndustry)
• raised over AUD250K
• introductions to Business Angels now underway
• preliminary introduction to Venture Capital

For further information, contact:

Luceille Outhred
Corporate Leader
Workright Centre for Entrepreneurship
Phone: 61 8 8262 8477
Fax: 61 8 8262 8490
PO Box 20
North Adelaide SA 5006
Australia
www.workright.com.au

The company has a ten year history and during that time they have won several international and national awards including:

• Winner – Australian Secrets ICT Innovation
• Winner – ABC New Inventors (Episode and Viewers Choice)
• Finalist – World Technology Awards
• Winner – Hottest Technology Award (ANZA Tech Network)

Digislide has an extensive intellectual property portfolio of video projection products that have been built to address existing and future market opportunities. This portfolio is protected by granted patents, registered designs and trademarks.

The company has developed and is continuing to develop innovative miniaturised projection technologies with broad applications. These include projection devices which can be embedded or used as stand-alone complementary products with a wide range of mobile communication devices such as smart phones, portable media players, game consoles, and hand held gaming devices, digital cameras, and notebook computers.

Digislide’s products and technologies cater for both professional and consumer applications across many industries, including:

• leisure
• education
• medical
• defence
• automotive
• retail
• telecommunications

Digislide’s next product to market, Digishow® will be released in the Asian market within the first quarter of 2009. Digishow® is a compact, hand held companion projector weighing in at only 160 grams. It allows consumers to project from a 21 inch up to 50 inch image at VGA resolution.

Digivision®, planned for release later in 2009, is targeted towards the corporate market. It is a portable, hand held SVGA resolution projector which connects to the user’s mobile device and enables them to project content in one-on-one or group situations.

WeSii, also a hand held projector, is being designed by Digislide for the gamers market. It will be available in VGA resolution and can be used as a stand alone companion projector, and also interfaces with the Nintendo Wii.

The global market for projection technologies either to be embedded in or to be complementary to, is estimated by technology analysts and industry groups to be over US$350 billion. The mobile phone market is the largest, with approximately 1.15 billion units sold in 2007 and expected growth rates of 32% by 2012. The estimated number of laptop and/or notebook computers shipped worldwide in 2007 was around 103 million with an expected growth rate of 16%.

Contact: Tim English
Title:    Marketing Manager
Phone:    08 8262 3115
Email:    tim.english@digislide.com.au