Design Contest Winner Gives New Hope to Millions of Chronic Heart Failure Patients

NEW YORK, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Procyrion, Inc. of Houston, TX. developer of the first catheter-deployed heart pump intended for long-term treatment of chronic heart failure, has been awarded the grand prize of $20,000 in the 2015 "Create the Future" Design Contest. The Aortix^TM device -- thinner than a #2 pencil and only 6 cm long -- features a powerful micro-pump designed to rest and heal the heart without surgery and with minimal risk.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150928/271431

Aortix was among the record 1,159 new product ideas submitted in the 13th annual design contest, which was established in 2002 to recognize and reward engineering innovations that benefit humanity, the environment, and the economy. This year's design contest was co-sponsored by COMSOL (www.comsol.com) and Mouser Electronics (www.mouser.com). Analog Devices and Intel were supporting sponsors.

"Procyrion is honored to be selected as this year's Grand Prize winner of the Create the Future Design Contest. When we look at the other entrants in the contest, we are extremely impressed by the breadth of opportunities being pursued and the novelty and ingenuity of those approaches. We feel that being selected from among so many strong competitors is attributable to the global impact of heart failure and the potential of the Aortix^TM system to benefit millions of patients worldwide," said Ben Hertzog, CEO of Procyrion.

"Innovation is front and center in the development of new and competitive products," said Bernt Nilsson, Senior VP of Marketing with COMSOL, Inc. "The Create the Future Design Contest is doing a wonderful job in recognizing many great product ideas and helping innovators bring them to market. As a returning sponsor, we are delighted by the record number of submissions and the amazing entries from this year's winners."

"We congratulate all of the winners for their ingenuity, and commend all of the entrants for taking part in this exciting program that fosters technological innovation," said Kevin Hess, Vice President of Technical Marketing at Mouser Electronics. "As a distributor of leading technologies, 'Creating the Future' is very much at the heart of what we support here at Mouser, and we are excited to help design engineers and want to thank them for their important contributions. Engineers really deserve the credit for the amazing ingenuity we are seeing today in electronic design."

In addition to the grand prize of $20,000, first-place winners (of Hewlett-Packard workstations) were named in seven categories:

Automotive/Transportation – sponsored by KAMAN Precision Products (www.kamansensors.com)
Smart Coating for Corrosion Detection and Prevention
Luz Marina Calle
An environmentally friendly coating system for early detection and inhibition of corrosion and self-healing of mechanical damage.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/automotive-transportation/5744

Electronics – sponsored by Imagineering, Inc. (www.pcbnet.com)
Real-Time Fiber Optic Sensing System 
Lance Richards (Team Leader)
Game-changing technology deploys thousands of sensors on a single fiber to monitor the structural health of aircraft, buildings, and dams in real time.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/electronics/6150

Machinery/Automation/Robotics  – sponsored by Maplesoft (www.maplesoft.com)
Compact Long-Reach Robotic Arm  
William R. Doggett
A long-reach robotic arm with lightweight joints that provide a wide range of motion.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/machinery-automation-robotics/5679

Aerospace & Defense
The N5 FILO: An Ultra-Small, Low-Cost Hazardous Gas Detector Using Novel Chip-Scale Chemical Sensor Technology 
Nichole Sullivan (Team Leader)
Will enable industrial workers, first responders, and soldiers to quickly detect multiple types of dangerous gases using a mobile device.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/aerospace-and-defense/5156

Consumer Products
Modular Jet Ski; No Trailer; Affordable; High Performance 
Anders Stubkjaer (Team Leader)
High performance jet board/jet ski transportable in the back of a car.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/consumer-products/5813

Medical
Smart X-ray Source 
Mark Eaton (Team Leader)
Combines flat panel technology with classic x-ray physics to provide portable, inexpensive CT systems using open software sources to underserved populations around the world. http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/medical/6206

Sustainable Technologies
ECHY: Solar Lighting with Fiber Optics 
Stephanie Le Beuze (Team Leader)
High-quality, low-cost lighting technology that captures, transports, and diffuses daylight for indoor use.
http://contest.techbriefs.com/2015/entries/sustainable-technologies/5885

Finalists were selected by senior editors at Tech Briefs Media Group and judged by an independent panel of design engineers. Visitors to the contest Web site could vote on entries, with the 10 most popular designs awarded an Ollie robotic gaming device provided by Sphero (www.sphero.com). For more information, visit www.createthefuturecontest.com.

About COMSOL
COMSOL provides simulation software for product design and research to technical enterprises, research labs, and universities through 22 offices and a distributor network throughout the world. Its flagship product, COMSOL Multiphysics®, is a software environment for modeling and simulating any physics-based system and building specialized applications. A particular strength is its ability to account for coupled or multiphysics phenomena. Add-on products expand the simulation platform for electrical, mechanical, fluid flow, and chemical applications. Interfacing tools enable the integration of COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation with all major technical computing and CAD tools on the CAE market. For more information, visit www.comsol.com.

About Mouser Electronics
Mouser Electronics, a subsidiary of TTI, Inc., is part of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway family of companies. Mouser is an award-winning, authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor, focused on the rapid introduction of new products and technologies to electronic design engineers and buyers. Mouser.com features more than 4 million products online from more than 500 manufacturers. Mouser publishes multiple catalogs per year providing designers with up-to-date data on the components now available for the next generation of electronic devices.  Mouser ships globally to over 500,000 customers in 170 countries from its 492,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility south of Dallas, Texas.  For more information, visit www.mouser.com.

For Information Contact:
Debbie Rothwell
Director of Marketing
Tech Briefs Media Group
212-490-3999, ext. 5520
Email
www.createthefuturecontest.com

SOURCE Tech Briefs Media Group