Prime Minister’s Awards for Innovation and Invention

First launched in 2000, this awards scheme seeks to encourage technological creativity by recognising and rewarding outstanding achievements in the areas of Innovation and Invention. At stake are prizes totalling $1,000,000 that are distributed on a competitive basis.

Related Links Overview 2008 Prize-giving Ceremony 2004 Competition 2002 Competition 2000 Winners' List

Initially the competition for distributing the awards was divided into three categories – Individual (Seniors and Juniors), Company (Small, Medium and Large) and Lifetime Achievement. In 2002, another dimension was added with the introduction of the Bright Solutions Competition, which was exclusive to junior entrants. This new competition required entrants to develop feasible, theoretical solutions to everyday problems in Trinidad & Tobago, premised on scientific and technological principles. This aspect of the contest thus attempted to combine the entrants’ imagination with science and technology to engage in community problem-solving.

In the 2004 competition, the Bright Solutions Competition was expanded to include an adult category and in 2006, the scheme evolved further and a Design Challenge replaced the Bright Solutions Competition. In this new contest, entrants were required to design the solution to a community problem, taking into consideration the needs of “users” while harmonising with the environment and the norms of society. A working prototype of the solution was not required. In 2006, there was also a focus on the Individual Category and no awards were presented in the Company and Lifetime Achievement categories.

This awards scheme serves as a catalyst for creativity and exploration and promotes a paradigm shift from an economy founded on predetermined natural resources to one that takes full advantage of the inexhaustible opportunities of the human mind. Albert Einstein stated that, “Knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world. Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Through this focus, the Prime Minister’s Awards for Innovation and Invention contributes to the Government’s vision of diversifying Trinidad & Tobago's economy from its dependence on oil and gas into a globally competitive, diversified knowledge-based economy that can sustain a high quality of life for all citizens as well as our natural environment for the enjoyment of future generations.

True inventiveness, it has been said, is not measured by the size or complexity of the innovation, but rather by the practicality and ingenuity of the device. The scope and quality of entries, received for these competitions, has led NIHERST to believe that this is a justifiable premise.

“Man’s mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.”
(Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Come and unleash your Creative Minds!

Updated: August 2010