Media Stories
26.06.09
The Weekend Australian
Masters of Invention Australian inventors are mixing it with the world's best minds, writes Sue Milne
WHEN Dean Cameron's six- year-old son Ziggy presented him with a prototype nose muff, the environmental scientist turned inventor knew for sure the condition was genetic.
"My family are all problem solvers," says Cameron, who lives in Maleny, Queensland, with his partner Jenny Allen and their two children. "I didn't have a choice, really, about becoming an inventor. We must be genetically coded with the creativity and determination needed."
That determination, "probably to the point of obsession, but with a vital understanding of scientific methods", has led to Cameron's pre-eminence in the sometimes arcane world of inventing.
With his latest product, Joinlox, a joining system that replaces nuts, bolts, welding and glue, Cameron is among 25 finalists in the INNOVIC International Next Big Thing Award, the winners of which will be announced next Thursday.
The award showcases the best in Australian and international innovation. Products Joinlox will be pitted against include a paper water bottle, a musical robot, a biodegradable fishing sinker and a moveable power point. In 2006 Cameron was an International Next Big Thing finalist with the Biolytix retrofit septic tank. The Biolytix sewage system subsequently won a swag of awards, including the Asian Innovation Award from a field of 260 companies from 16 countries, and Cameron will be in New York on July 16 as a strong contender for the World Technology Award for the Environment.
The former earthmover, horticulturalist and apparatus designer for the University of Melbourne is mixing it with the world's most creative minds.
It was at Melbourne University that he came up with one of his first inventions: the LED bicycle light. "I made up a few of them for people at the university and one said I should patent it," Cameron says. "I didn't and history has taught me a valuable lesson about the value of intellectual property."
Later, applying his observations of how nature breaks down waste in moist soil, he invented Biolytix, which has the potential to provide an ultra low-cost sewage system to billions of people worldwide who do not have access to safe sanitation. Biomimicry, copying nature, also helped him design Joinlox: the hooks that join and lock parts emulate the attachment principle used by clams to secure a foothold on rocks in the surf.
"When I learned how they bond I knew I was on the right track," he says. Cameron is driven by his passion for his work and belief in his products.
"I often work 16 hours a day. Fortunately I can survive on about four hours' sleep so I can also have quality time with my family," he says. "For me, early morning is the best time to do speculative work and it is the time the creative juices are flowing." Asked why he invents, Cameron replies: "The same reason people do crossword puzzles: curiosity and the pleasure of getting it right. I see better ways of doing things and don't stop until I have improved them significantly." While he admits he's a visionary, "at the same time I must know when to let my invention go off to school without me".
"This is usually at the early stages of commercialisation, when the invention is a business in its own right and a CEO can run it better than me," he says.
The transition from brilliant idea to commercial reality is where INNOVIC can help. The Melbourne-based, not-for-profit organisation, established more than 20 years ago, provides a range of practical services to inventors, innovators and small businesses, turning viable ideas into sustainable businesses. Since 1987 INNOVIC chief executive Joss Evans has helped evaluate 30,000 new ideas, from ones she describes as "off-the- wall" including cheese-flavoured cigarettes and pet umbrellas to those that provide real solutions in clever and cost-effective ways. "It is dangerous to dismiss ideas out of hand; who would have thought pet rocks or Rubik's cube would have been successful, and why are we all paying for bottled water?" Evans says.
In her experience inventors come from a diverse range of backgrounds scientists, housewives, students, white and blue-collar workers and while mainly in the 30-55 age range, she has worked with inventors in their 80s and 90s.
"People [who] live in country areas tend to be resourceful and innovative. They come up with novel ways of doing things, from picking and sorting fruit to securing fences or saving water," Evans says. "But whatever their background, inventors seem to share common traits: curiosity, imagination and persistence."
Sadly, if an inventor's prime motivations are money and fame, they are probably doomed to disappointment. Only about 3 per cent to 4 per cent are likely to go on to start successful new enterprises or to make money from their
new ideas," she says.
But there are success stories. "Clients INNOVIC has helped, and finalists in the International Next Big Thing Award, generate more than $139 million in sales a year and export to 42 countries," Evans says.
They may not all be rich and famous but they are ordinary Australians who have successfully pursued their good ideas."
In the blood: Dean Cameron says he and his family seem genetically coded with the creativity needed
01.05.09
Business Acumen Queensland
Joinlox bonds with e3k
Dean Cameron beat some very strong competition to win the 2008 ABC The New Inventors Invention of the Year with his Joinlox technology (see Business Acumen issue 54).
Joinlox is a good example of the collaborative engineering work of another leading Queensland company, e3k, the specialist innovation arm of Filmore Engineers based at Brisbane Technology Park.
Joinlox is a rapid, reliable and cost-effective method of joining and locking assemblies together. It is a simple alternative to traditional joining methods such as nuts, bolts, screws, rivets, welding or gluing.
From electrical boxes and crates to huge pipes and bridges, Joinlox brings versatile joining solutions that surprise seasoned designers.
The first application for Joinlox was in creating segmented tanks for Mr Cameron's other award-winning invention, the Biolytix wastewater treatment system, which could be stacked into a compact form for shipping , and then assembled quickly and easily on site.
Engineering consultancy e3k performed calculations and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations on the proposed design under various loading scenarios, including internal and external pressures, and lifting loads to examine material stress.
This specialised computer analysis performed by e3k helped optimise the Joinlox shape and size to meet the requirements of Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 1546.1:1998 'On-site domestic wastewater treatment units'.
BRAINS TRUST UTILISED
Ray Hope, vice president of e3k, said, "Dean invited us to a meeting of industry experts to discuss and help improve his innovative idea. many of the experts were sceptical about its chances of creating a water tight seal, but Dean was confident and e3k enjoyed tackling a challenging problem to create a solution that worked."
Mr Cameron said, "The Joinlox technology was inspired bynature and in particular the ocean clam. Clams and other shellfish wedge onto rocks with incredible force, locking many tiny 'hooks' on the end of byssus threads under small overhangs and crevices. This locking converts the shear forces into tensile and flexural forces. The Joinlox castellations copy these hooks."
Duncan Gilmore, director and president of e3k said, "The Joinlox technology is innovative and has significant advantages over more conventional joining methods.
"Immediate commercial potential will be with plastic and fibre reinforced plastic components particularly with those requiring repeated joining, disassembly and rejoining."
www.e3k.com
The Joinlox enabled storage tank - designed to be assembled on-site in minutes and built to last years.
01.02.09
'Water' Magazine
Biomimicry Leads to Award-winning `Industrial Velcro'
The humble clam, and the way it attaches itself to rocks with incredible force, was the inspiration for the invention that won the 2008 Grand Final of the ABC's New Inventors.
Queenslander Dean Cameron won the Grand Final for his invention Joinlox, which is an alternative to traditional joining methods such as nuts, bolts, screws, welding or gluing that has been compared to "industrial velcro". The new technology can be used for a wide range of applications, from the construction of tanks and boxes to electrical enclosures, large pipes, bridges, and even mission-critical aerospace projects.
"Clams and other shellfish can attach to rocks with incredible force. The way they do this is by locking many tiny "hooks" on the ends of byssus threads under tiny overhangs and crevices in the rocks they attach to. They literally wedge themselves onto the rocks and you have to break the rock to
get them off. This converts the shear forces into tensile and flexural forces just like in the small hooks on the JoinloxTM castellations.
"The technology saves a lot of materials and energy for mechanical assembly, and dramatically saves time. It also saves transport costs because it means that products, like water tanks, can be stacked and transported, then assembled on site without the need for specialist equipment or expertise," said Cameron.
Dean Cameron had previously been recognised on ABC's New Inventors for his Biolytix® Sewage System, which uses worms and natural decomposition in large plastic tanks to cleanse waste, which also uses 90% less energy than high- energy aerators. Biolytix® went on to win the Asian Innovation
Award in 2007.
Dean Cameron with host James O'Loghlin receiving the trophy for the 2008 ABC TV's The New Inventors Grand Final