21/01/2010

Superpuck Shortlisted For Prestigious Innovation Award

Press Release from John Logie Baird Awards Office

The John Logie Baird awards were established in 1989 by Scottish Innovation on the centenary of the inventor's birth, in celebration of Scotland's best known inventor.

From small beginnings the John Logie Baird Awards have grown to a competition of Scottish national significance and are now the longest running national innovation awards in Scotland, receiving an average of 300 applications per year.

An innovator from Peebles is in the running to scoop a top award for his unique design ice hockey puck.

Robert Jamieson, 62, is hoping to claim a business support package worth GBP20,000 after his invention, the Superpuck, was shortlisted for a national John Logie Baird Award.

Serial inventor Robert came up with the idea for the Superpuck after a holiday to Slovakia, where ice hockey is the national game.

He explains:
"In the 1970s I lived in Canada and loved going to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs playing at Maple Leaf Gardens. Years later, in 2008, I was lucky enough to attend some World Cup ice hockey games in Bratislava. I was amazed to find that in all the years that had passed no one had come up with a better method of accurately confirming close goal-line and offside decisions.

"Ice hockey is a thrilling sport but unfortunately the speed of the game makes it very difficult for the referee and goal judge as well as the players and viewers to keep up. This causes a lot of disputes and there are often questions about the validity of goals. It got me thinking!"

Inspired by his love of motorsport, Robert set about creating the Superpuck. He continues:

"In motorsport a small transponder, fitted to the racing car, is used to give accurate times for laps around the track - to within a thousandth of a second. It struck me that this method would work perfectly well in ice hockey so I set about modifying a standard puck to hold a small transponder."

When the transponder which is embedded in the Superpuck passes over a magnetic field ... a loop fitted under the ice and around the goal-frame, it registers a hit on a rinkside decoder and in the referee's earpiece within 1/1000th of a second.

If the goal-frame becomes dislodged before the Superpuck crosses the goal-line the magnetic field is broken and it's a no-goal. Conversely, if the goal-frame is dislodged 1/1000th after the Superpuck has crossed the goal-line - the goal stands.

And Robert already has some big names backing his invention. TAG Heuer, the world's biggest sports timing company, are helping him to develop the technology behind the transponder and VEGUM in Slovakia, the world's largest producer of hockey pucks, will manufacture and distribute the Superpucks into all major Ice Hockey leagues across the world.

Isabell Majewsky, chief executive of awards organisers the GO Group, said
"The calibre of entries to this year's JLB Awards was particularly high so I would like to congratulate Robert for making it through to the final stage of the competition.

"The John Logie Baird Awards are about recognising and celebrating innovation talent in Scotland. Inventions such as the television, Chip and Pin and Penicillin all have roots here ... proving that although we are a small nation, Scotland can make a significant impact to the UK and the world."

Winners will be selected in six categories (Knowledge Transfer Champion, Impact through Innovation, Early Stage Impact through Innovation, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Young Innovator and Social Enterprise Innovator) at an Awards Dinner in March.

The John Logie Baird Awards, in partnership with the Technology Strategy Board, Informatics Ventures, the University of Glasgow Innovation Network, Biggart Baillie LLP, EDTC Technology Gateway and Edinburgh Napier University and PERA Innovation Network are open to both individuals and companies from across Scotland. Entrants will compete to win GBP20,000 worth of product and marketing support.

//ends//

For further information:
Jo-Anne Hamilton
Axis Media Group
T: 0141 242 2802
M: 07595 203 502
E: jo@axismediagroup.co.uk