CEATEC 2013 Innovation Awards Winners’ List

[CEATEC 2013] We are halfway through CEATEC 2013, and have just seen the conclusion of the CEATEC Innovation Awards that were picked out by a panel of journalists who thought that the winners deserved their respective gongs. Ubergizmo’s co-founder, Hubert Nguyen, is part of the journalist panel. Without much further ado, these are the 2013 winners.

The CEATEC Innovation Awards Grand Prix falls into the driver’s seat of the Nissan Autonomous Drive, which also happened to have its predecessor star in last year’s CEATEC as the NSC-2015, picking up the gong in the Transportation category then. We did take the Nissan Autonomous Drive for a spin – or should we say, it was the other way around, as we sat back with the car chauffeuring us around instead.

In the Home Entertainment category, Toshiba’s REGZA TimeOn service proved to be the winner, as you get to interact with other viewers of the same show over on Twitter, not to mention being able to check out what other shows has the particular celebrity appeared on via a search of the metadata, letting you switch channels according to the search results.

As for the Electronic Components category, the Sharp MEMS/IGZO Display is the runaway winner here. This is one of those cases where you will need to see it to believe it, as superlatives alone are not enough to convey the realism and dynamic colors that greet your eyes.

On the Software front, Sony’s Social Eye is the prime pick, but it is an idea that remains to be proven on a wide scale basis. Will it eventually catch on, so that everyone who wants to offer their viewpoints on photos taken by others will be able to do so without second thoughts? Perhaps, only time will tell.

Under the Computing and Networking category, we might see what MURATA and Elliptic Labs’ Ultrasound Gesture Control could deliver in the future – a new way of interacting with a display as well as operating system. No longer do you need to touch the display, just simple gestures would do.

The Kyocera Torque has taken first place in the Mobile Technology category, and if you’re looking for a tough-as-nails Android-powered device, look no further.

Hubert’s pick for the Digital Imaging segment happens to be the Mastor Tech Steadicam, where blurry photos as well as shaky videos snapped or recorded using your mobile device will be a thing of the past.

Want some low potassium lettuce that does not require any pesticides to grow into a leafy vegetable that is safe to consume by humans? Look no further than Fujitsu’s Akisai system which leads the Smart Community race.

Crimefighters and local law enforcement agencies would probably jump at the first change to get hold of the NEC Portable DNA Analyzer as it took top spot under the Health & Household category. Long waiting times for a single DNA sample analysis will be a thing of the past, as NEC hopes to cut down the analysis and matching time from one hour at the moment to 30 minutes in the future.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but none on the CEATEC showfloor could compare with Sharp’s Frameless TV as it picked up the Industrial Design award for obvious reasons.

Want to get around in a safe manner without having to worry about driving? This is why Nissan’s Autonomous Drive Vehicle won the Smart Mobility award, making Nissan a double winner this time around.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: CEATEC, ceatec 2013