Leapin (formerly Easelock from Adelaide University)
'Smartphone room check-in' was recently voted a top emerging travel trend for 2011 in a survey to corporate travellers by Australia's best known travel agency group 'Flight Centre'. We have just launched a trial of Australia's first smartphone room check-in system in a Gold Coast resort. See the short video here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d47MAVwoc
Leapin recently finished runner-up in the 2011 Licensing Executives Society Foundation Global Graduate Student Business Plan Competition, where they beat 78 University teams from across the globe including Harvard, Stanford and Yale to qualify for the finals. See http://www.lesfoundation.org/competition/2011.html and http://www.lesfoundation.org/competition/2011Finalists.html for details.
If you know anyone who works in a hotel or resort who would be interested in offering smartphone room check-in to their guests please contact us for more information.
goCatch (formally known as TaxiApps from UNSW)
2010 1st Runner Up Winners
After 6 months+ of intensive brain storming, development, and loitering at airport taxi holding bays recruiting drivers, I'm glad to announce goCatch is now ready to go with the critical mass of drivers in Sydney and Melbourne.
goCatch works by having both passengers and drivers download and run the app from their phones. This allows us to pick up the location of available drivers and display them on a map on your phone so you can tap on a driver, flag them directly through the app, and then watch as they approach (no more guessing if your taxi is on the way or needing to stand out in the rain!). The app is currently only available for iPhone but we'll be building for Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.
We have over 400 drivers each in Sydney and Melbourne and we're quickly ramping up numbers in other cities around Australia. To make goCatch a huge success we're asking for your support in the following ways...
- If you have an iPhone, download the app from http://bit.ly/iG196H
- Post a a glowing review of the app in the Apple App Store using the link above
- Post the link above to the app download page on your Facebook/LinkedIn profile and encourage your friends/connections to download the app
- Tell every taxi driver you come across about the app
- Let us know about any contacts in media you have that you can introduce us to. We have a PR manager who is currently driving national media coverage for us
- Send an email to all of your friends and colleagues encouraging them to download and use the app (let me know if you'd like suggested wording)
- If you're a tweeter, post a glowing tweet about @gocatchapp
- Become a fan of our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/goCatch
With your support we can make goCatch a great success and make all our lives a lot easier when it comes to finding taxis when we need them.
Cleanspray
At the time of competing in JHEC in 2007 Cleanspray was completing its first commercial production run and invoiced its first sales shortly after.
Today Cleanspray has national retail distribution capability via 375 commission based sales team members. Cleanspray is stocked by pharmacies supplied by Australia’s major pharmacy distributors including API, Sigma Pharmaceuticals and Symbion. Additionally Cleanspray supplies Woolworths, Franklins, IGA, Foodworks and SPAR supermarkets nationally.
Cleanspray has licensed its vending business to a specialist vending machine operator, with Cleanspray available in public toilets in many major shopping centres around Australia. Recently, Cleanspray team members attended the Arab Health trade show in Dubai and are currently negotiating with distribution partners in the UAE, Dubai, Russia, South Africa and India. Visit www.cleanspray.com.au for more information.
Zork
The greatest advancement in the wine industry since the treading of grapes University of Adelaide - 2002 Champions
"Winning the 2002 Competition gave us the confidence and focus to kick-start the venture, the credibility to secure the COMET grant and the tools to move forward into capital raising ," said Conor McKenna.
Since the Adelaide University team presented ZORK in 2002, the founders Conor McKenna & John Brooks have been heavily involved with the commercialisation of the venture. Significant effort has been directed to protecting the Intellectual Property with patents developed and lodged internationally. Commercialisation funding was secured through a Comet grant for a $65,000.00 project to prototype tooling and commercialisation with an intensive development and testing program underway. Support from strategic partners has expanded with activity focused on product development and testing as well as work up for commercial battling trails. A direct market effort targeting industry leaders has generated 100% endorsement for ZORK. In the 10 months to November 2003, ZORK raised $3,000,000 in private equity investment, successfully launched the product in the global market place and achieved first sales with production orders exceeding capacity. ZORK has been described by two leading industry figures as "the greatest advancement in the wine industry since the treading of the first grapes" and " the greatest innovation in wine I have seen in the last 25 years".
Profiled on The New Inventors (ABC) 7 September, 2005
Plasvacc awarded top honours by Queensland Government
Media release
Caniplas will be the first product of its type to be approved for sale in the world. Plasvacc is gearing to export its product to the United States : they are currently seeking US regulatory approval to sell the product. The company estimates that, if approved, more than 42 million of the estimated 69 million dogs in the US will use their product in the next five years. Caniplas plasma - produced by removing blood cells from dog blood - was only registered in Australia in May last year. Plasvacc recently signed a ground breaking agreement with CSL's pharmaceutical division to provide horse plasma for snake anti-venom products in human and animal applications. They're raising $5 million to buy the leading plasma supplier in America . Plasvacc's revenues have grown at an average annual rate of more than 30 per cent in the four years to June 30, 2004 . The company currently sells to more than 400 veterinary clinics in Australia and New Zealand . Visit the Plasvacc website.
Profiled on The New Inventors (ABC) Episode 18