MaSSSoftech

M edical detective work may have just gotten a lot easier.

Just how difficult it is gets highlighted every time an infectious disease sweeps the globe, as the new strain of swine flu did earlier this year. Current methods of testing for disease-causing microbes are pretty effective at discovering whether an infected fluid or tissue sample contains a known virus or bacteria. But trying to detect previously unknown organisms is a whole different story.
To address this problem, David Ecker, co-founder of Ibis Biosciences Inc., and a team of researchers developed a sensor able to quickly detect and identify all the pathogens in a given sample.

The equipment promises not only to alert health officials to new disease strains, but also to guard against bioterrorism and enable hospitals to identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Abbott Laboratories and its Ibis Biosciences unit, which developed the Ibis T5000 sensor, took the Gold in this year's Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards.

The Silver award went to Touch Bionics Inc. for its i-Limb artificial hand, which features bendable fingers and a rotating thumb. The hand uses sophisticated motors and computer controls to grip objects and move in ways that traditional prosthetic hands can't.

Vihaan Networks Ltd., an Indian telecommunications company known as VNL, won the Bronze award for a solar-powered base station to bring cellphone access to remote rural villages. The inexpensive base station can be quickly assembled and set up by unskilled villagers, and can run entirely on the built-in solar panels and batteries.

For the ninth annual Innovation Awards, a Journal editor reviewed nearly 500 entries, sending more than 180 to a team of judges from research institutions, venture-capital firms and other companies. Judges considered whether innovations were truly groundbreaking and—new this year—looked at whether their application would be particularly useful in a time of economic hardship.
And the winners in each category are…
Computing Systems

Capturing real-life motion to use in computer animation can be complicated. Typically, actors are filmed wearing bodysuits covered with glowing dots or embedded with sensors that trace their movements, then high-powered computers use that data to help create characters that move realistically.

New York-based Organic Motion Inc. won in the computing-systems category for developing a motion-capture system that doesn't require bodysuits or markers.

The core of the system is technology that uses sophisticated software to produce a digital clone of a person being filmed. Fourteen video cameras capture images simultaneously and send them to a standard computer with a high-end programmable graphics card, making the system far cheaper than the specialized equipment used in movie special-effects shops.

Organic Motion systems are being used in the creation of virtual environments for training coal-mine rescue personnel and for helping returning military veterans readjust to civilian life. Andrew Tschesnok, the company's chief executive and founder, says future versions will work with next-generation game consoles for more-lifelike game experiences.
Consumer Electronics

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute, or ITRI, won in the consumer-electronics category for its work developing a paper-thin, flexible speaker.

Researchers at ITRI, a nonprofit organization, devised a way to create arrays of tiny speakers that can be combined to produce high-fidelity speaker systems of almost any size.

Because the fleXpeaker is lightweight and consumes little power, it could be attractive for use in cellphones or in car sound systems. Other possible applications include giant banners that could be used to deliver public-service announcements in train stations or advertising messages in shopping malls.

ITRI is seeking to license the technology or create a spinoff ­company to commercialize the ­product.
Energy

SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG, based just outside Munich, won in this category for developing small, lightweight fuel cells that can be used by soldiers instead of much bulkier, heavier batteries to power communications and navigation devices and other battlefield equipment.
One advantage of the SFC fuel cells is that they produce power from methanol. Many fuel cells produce electricity from hydrogen. But hydrogen is highly explosive, so it needs to be stored in special heavy-metal cartridges. Cartridges for the SFC fuel cells are less expensive, lighter and less bulky.
Environment

Serious Materials Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., was recognized in this category for its EcoRock drywall substitute, which is made with recycled material and, the company says, requires 80% less energy to make and produces 80% less carbon dioxide than standard gypsum-based drywall. EcoRock, which is also termite- and mold-resistant, will be priced to compete with premium drywall products. Serious Materials has been selling limited test quantities of the product to a few contractors since early this year and plans to expand production and distribution over the next two years.

Though some judges wondered if a relatively high price would limit how widely the product is used, it is a "novel solution to a basic problem that has enormous impact," says Darlene Solomon, chief technology officer of Agilent Technologies and an Innovation Awards judge.
Health-Care IT

DataDyne.org, a Washington-based nonprofit, and its co-founder, Joel Selanikio, won in this category for EpiSurveyor, free software for mobile devices designed to help health officials in developing countries collect health information.
In developing countries, gathering and analyzing time-sensitive health-care information can be a challenge. Rural health clinics typically compile data only in paper records, making it difficult to spot and to respond quickly to emerging trends.

With EpiSurveyor, developed with support from the United Nations Foundation and the Vodafone Foundation, health officials can create health-survey forms that can be downloaded to commonly used mobile phones. Health workers carrying the phones can then collect information—about immunization rates, vaccine supplies or possible disease outbreaks—when they visit local clinics. The information can then be quickly analyzed to determine, say, whether medical supplies need to be restocked or to track the spread of a disease.

The software has been rolled out in more than 20 African countries.
Materials and Other Base Technologies

Light fixtures based on light-emitting diodes—semiconductors that glow brightly when charged—promise long-lasting, low-energy illumination. But there's a problem: The light produced is harsh and bluish in color. Special filters can be added to produce warmer tones, but they can make the fixtures less efficient. Devising a way to make warmer-colored, high-efficiency LEDs is seen as essential to their widespread adoption.

QD Vision Inc. of Watertown, Mass., won in this category for inventing a way to dramatically improve the color quality of LED lights by using quantum dots—tiny semiconducting nanocrystals. QD Vision quantum dots can also be used to make energy-efficient flat-panel and other displays that can deliver purer, more intense colors.