Junior Inventor 2009 competition launched
The Irish Patents Office announced details of their new Junior Inventor 2009 competition today (2nd March). The Junior Inventor competition is aimed at Primary School students and is being launched by the Office to mark World Intellectual Property Day, which falls on 26th April every year.
This year the theme for World Intellectual Property Day is the promotion of green innovation as the key to a secure future.
Students can enter any idea or invention concerned with improving the environment; an idea for a new ‘green’ environmentally friendly product, an improvement for an existing product, a new “green” procedure, ideas for new environmentally friendly ways of creating or saving energy or any idea that uses green technology, solves an environmental problem or makes life better and more eco friendly. This can simply be an idea that can be described and drawn or illustrated.
Competition categories
The Competition is divided into three categories with one overall winner who will be presented with the Junior Inventor 2009 award. The categories are:
- Junior Infants to Senior Infants
- First Class to Third Class.
- Fourth Class to Sixth Class.
Prizes will be awarded in each category and the 1st place winners in each category will also receive a prize of an e-microscope for their schools.
Mr. Eamonn Laird, Controller of Patents at the Patents Office, said, ‘This is the first year of our Junior Inventor Competition and the theme this year is ‘Green Innovation’. The idea is to try and encourage primary school children to innovate, to come up with ideas and inventions with an eco-friendly emphasis, thus sowing the seeds of interest in science and engineering as well as exploring possibilities for improving the environment’.
Peter Brabazon, Discover Science & Engineering, commented, “I congratulate the Patent Office on launching this initiative which helps us all to be aware of the importance of innovation and invention during these difficult times. It is particularly important for Ireland that we realise the benefits of our ideas and innovation by encouraging our junior innovators through competitions such as this.”
Closing date
The closing date for entries is Wednesday 8th April at 5.30pm and the address to send entries is: Junior Inventor 2009, Patents Office, Hebron Road, Kilkenny. The winners will be announced at a presentation ceremony in the Patents Office, as part of their Open Day celebrating World Intellectual Property Day.
The Patents Office would like to acknowledge the help and support of Discover Science & Engineering in developing and launching the Junior Inventor Competition.
All Primary Schools will receive notification of the competition and details are also available on the Patents Office website at www.patentsoffice.ie Further information on World Intellectual Property Day can be accessed at www.wipo.int
Photo: Conor Kelly (7), Cian Cassidy (10) and Megan Kelly (11) all from Kilkenny, pictured at the launch of the Junior Inventor 2009 Competition
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