Owens Corning announced the names of the 40 semi-finalists at China Composites Expo in Beijing last week. The winners will be announced in February 2011, at the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) trade show in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
The competition was launched in April and is offering US$250 000 in awards.
The entry phase of the competition closed in August. Entrants were asked to submit applications and ideas in four categories – infrastructure durability, fuel efficiency, renewable energy, and protection from harm. The semi-finalists must now provide additional information for a second review at the end of November. Judges will be looking at the content of the idea, the potential market opportunity, the time needed to commercialise the application, the business case, technical feasibility, and the contestant’s ability to commercialise the application or solution.
Finalists will be invited to present their ideas to a panel of judges who will base their decisions on the likelihood of scalability and long-term success.
“We are extremely pleased with the number and quality of the entries in our first global competition seeking new applications for composite materials,” says Ashish Diwanji, vice president of innovation for the Owens Corning Composite Solutions Business. “We received submissions from 30 countries around the world. They are thought-provoking and reflect a great deal of interest in using modern materials to address some of society’s pressing issues.”
A list of the semi-finalists is available on the Composite App Challenge website.
Owens Corning, headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, USA, is a global producer of glass fibre reinforcements and engineered materials for composite systems and residential and commercial building materials.