Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas

NEW YORK, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The final contenders to win the
fourth Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas were announced
today http://www.saatchi.com/innovation. The global award, formerly
known as the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for Innovation in Communication,
is made biennially by the Ideas Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. The Award
attracts an incredibly broad range of entries, as reflected in the
line up of finalists for this year's prize.

The eleven finalists are:

BIO-SOLAR ENERGY NANODEVICES (MIT, Cambridge, USA) -- Minute solar cells

that use spinach to convert sunlight into electrical energy.

CONCRETE CANVAS (Royal College of Art, London, UK) -- Rapidly deployable

hardened shelters for victims of natural or man-made disasters.

FROZEN ARK PROJECT (Nottingham University, UK) -- Plan to save the DNA of

all Earth's endangered species.

JOT-A-DOT (Rydalmere, New South Wales, Australia) -- The first real

innovation in Braille writing in 50 years.

LENS-FREE OPHTHALMOSCOPE (Cambridge, UK) -- Simpler, much less expensive

than traditional models, for carrying out accurate, highly revealing

retinal examinations.

OPTICAL STRETCHER (Leipzig University, Germany) -- Uses laser beams to

detect cancer cells, and can also isolate adult stem cells for medical

research.

PHOTO-FORM TACTILE GRAPHICS (Scottsdale, Arizona, USA) -- Creates bas

relief tiles of 2 dimensional images, so 'pictures' can be 'seen' by a

blind person's touch.

PLANTIC (Laverton North, Victoria, Australia) -- Substitute plastic

packaging, 90% made from renewable cornstarch. Dissolves in water.

SPLASHPOWER (Cambridge, UK) -- Recharges cell phones etc wirelessly when

placed on mouse mat-sized pad.

SUBVOCAL SPEECH RECOGNITION (NASA, California, USA) -- Interprets tiny

neural impulses sent from brain to vocal tract to communicate, rather than

sounds.

WIKIPEDIA (Florida, USA) -- Free-content, on-line encyclopedia, written

collaboratively by volunteers worldwide.

The judging panel for the 2005 Award includes TED Conference's Chris
Anderson, pioneer of lateral thinking, Edward de Bono, composer Philip
Glass, film director Baz Luhrmann, musician, Lou Reed, primate
communications expert, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and photographer, Oliviero
Toscani.

Bob Isherwood, Saatchi & Saatchi's Worldwide Creative Director and
creator of the Award said, "The diversity of the finalists indicates
how wide ranging the issues are that need to be addressed -- and their
ingenuity demonstrates the focus of innovators to try and effect the
necessary changes."

The winner will be announced at a high profile ceremony in New York on
Thursday 26th January 2006, where work and prototypes by the eleven
finalists will be exhibited.

At the same ceremony, Edward de Bono will present his Medal For
Thinking to a finalist he considers "simple, practical, effective and
in use."

Saatchi & Saatchi established The Award to recognize, celebrate and
promote ideas that have the potential to change the world by making
possible, improving or revolutionizing communication. The US $100,000
prize is made up of US$50,000 cash and the equivalent of US$50,000 in
Saatchi & Saatchi marketing consultancy.

For more information visit http://www.saatchi.com/innovation or
contact Samantha DiGennaro. SOURCE Saatchi & Saatchi