Months of inventing, preparing, testing, adjusting, testing again preceded it; and finally on June 4, 2013, the students were allowed to show their inventions. The Innovatiecluster Drachten had organized this competition with the question: invent something that promotes the self-reliance of older or less able people.
And the students did! For example, there was a system that helps to make the bed, a device that helps to push pills from the strip and equipment that ensures that in the event of an emergency a message is immediately sent to emergency personnel. But also a device that simplifies drying the back.
During the afternoon, all teams showed their inventions to an expert jury, consisting of employees of companies from the Innovation Cluster, in the large hall of Schouwburg de Lawei. The day was discussed in a playful way by comedian Ruben van der Meer, who could quickly put the teams at ease with his witticisms.
The award ceremony was done by internet entrepreneur Ben Woldring, together with jury chairman Piet Bosmans. The jury was pleasantly surprised with the level of the inventions. The winning teams of the 2013 Inventor Competition were announced to thunderous applause.
First place: Embrace the day (Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle), a device that helps people with vibrations in their arm to counteract these vibrations. In second place: Nest-in (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen), an invention that enables people to simply put a fitted sheet around the mattress and also pull the cover around the duvet. And finally, thirdly: the Medicator (Stenden Hogeschool Emmen): an automated medicine dispenser that reminds the user that the medicines are being taken and dispenses exactly the medicines that need to be taken. If the medicines are not taken, a care provider is automatically called in via the device.
Around the competition there was an opportunity for networking for companies and the training institutes. Not only the companies of the Innovation Cluster were present, but also many members of the Ondernemersvereniging Drachten (OVD), which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.