SA's top innovators honoured

The names of the winners of The 2004 Innovation & Sustainability Awards were announced at a gala dinner hosted at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, on Tuesday. The highest local accolade bestowed on innovators and innovations in the public and private sectors, this year's winners demonstrated the ingenuity with which South African government, business and charitable organisations are attacking a host of economic, social and environmental challenges.

Entries for the awards this year encompassed a range of innovations - from the creation of new business processes, technologies, products, methodologies and organisational structures, through to new approaches to business, marketing and service delivery.

They also covered entries from organisations of all sizes operating in a range of industry sectors and fields, including high technology, engineering, innovative goods and services for women, social development, education and environmental affairs.

Grand Prix winner

GRAND PRIX WINNER - Intelleca South Africa

The Grand Prix Winner of the 2004 Innovation & Sustainability Award is Intelleca South Africa, which won top honours for the company's English Acoustic Model for Advanced Speech Recognition. A product of collaboration with US-based ScanSoft and the CSIR, Intelleca's English Acoustic Model for Advanced Speech Recognition demonstrates the power of integration of expertise from local and international institutions to produce a world first technology. Intelleca's system has already been deployed in both the public and private sectors. The new model reduces the error rate of the currently used UK speech recognition engines by between 60% and 70%, enabling a broad roll-out of commercial natural speech applications in call centres and other service industries.

Awards for innovation in the private sector

The winners and finalists in each of the categories for the awards for the T-Systems Age of Innovation & Sustainability Awards which celebrates innovation in the private sector are:

SOCIAL - Augmentative and Alternative Communication

ENVIRONMENTAL - Aquasite Manganese Sintered Green Sand

ECONOMIC: ICT - Intelleca South Africa English Acoustic Model for Advanced Speech Recognition

ECONOMIC: NON-ICT - Joint winners, Bumbo Baby Sitter and The Conversion Model (the Customer Equity Company SA)

MOST OUTSTANDING INNOVATION FOR WOMEN - SmoothMove

MOST PROMISING NEW INNOVATION - Sasol Carbo-Tar hybrid coke

Public Sector Innovation Awards

The winners and finalists in each of the categories for the Standard Bank CPSI Public Sector Innovation Awards for government bodies, Section 21 companies as well as for business and individuals working in the public sector are:

PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR: Domestic Violence Response Unit, Sunnyside

Inspectors Heine Meintjes and Adel Botha of the South African Police Service, Sunnyside, were chosen as the Public Sector Innovators of the year for the work they have done in creating a Domestic Violence Response Unit. The Domestic Violence Response Unit was created to help prevent family violence and enforce the law around this category of crime. The Unit seeks to protect and help children, women, elderly people and mentally impaired people who are victims of physical, mental or sexual abuse, endangerment or neglect in the domestic environment.

INNOVATIVE ENHANCEMENTS ON INTERNAL SYSTEMS WITHIN GOVERNMENT - South African Revenue Services and Accenture

INNOVATIVE PARTNERSHIPS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY - Joint winners, National Department of Health; Mindset Network and National Prosecuting Authority

INNOVATIVE SERVICE DELIVERY INSTITUTIONS - Western Cape Department of Education

INNOVATIVE USE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY - Joint winners, South African Post Office; Independant Electoral Commission and Digital Mall and Independent Electoral Commission

INNOVATIVE SERVICE DELIVERY PROJECTS INVOLVING THE SA GOVERNMENT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER SADC - SA Police Services