With the bi-annual National Infocomm Awards (NIA) just around the corner in October (10th), we take a look at how winning the awards in 2004 have made a difference to some of the past winners.

Global command centre keeps an eye out for threats

While there are many awards focusing on innovation across various industries, the NIA that is jointly organised by IDA and The Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), serves to specifically recognise innovations in infocomm technology locally and at the national level. This endorsement helps open doors to greater business opportunities, here and overseas.

Security solutions specialist e-COP was contacted by Sri Lankan company Keells Business Systems Limited who saw the 2004 Awards on television. "The very next day they got in touch with us and we formed a successful partnership that has lasted till today," says Mr Eddie Chau, President and Group CEO.

Access to patients' images and information during surgeries

According to Mr Chau, it is important that winners do not rest on their laurels but constantly upgrade their award-winning technology to stay ahead of their rivals-something that all the winners have taken to heart.

Singapore Health Services' (SingHealth) win was for Electronic Medical Records (EMR), which makes patients' medical information available online to caregivers within its cluster of institutions. It will now further focus on patient safety and improving patient care by enabling information exchange between the two public health clusters (SingHealth and National Healthcare Group).

Jurong Town Council's eCREAM (Customer, Real Estate and Marketing system) is a fully integrated enterprise resource planning system that achieves faster turnaround time for customers and provides greater convenience at lower costs. eCREAM has undergone some enhancements like providing direct interfaces with the Legal System and Web-Based Geographical Information System (WGIS) system.

An easier way to find the right property you need

To increase collaboration with partners, 2004 award-winner Sembawang Shipyard undertook a major review of all functional modules of its integral collaborative tool, the Alliance e-Collaboration Portal in January this year. The focus was to enhance each module to better streamline the flow of information for closer alignment with the client's own systems.

When asked for advice he would give to companies looking to develop future award-winning technology, Dr James Yip said that the simplest of ideas could breed innovation.

According to Dr Yip, he came up with the concept of the Cardiology Information System (CIS) when he was still a student and was looking for something that could aggregate information for him to make his thesis easier. As more and more features were added, he realised that he had a viable product that could make the lives of surgeons easier. And as word has spread of the availability of this technology, he has been receiving enquiries from interested hospitals all over the world.

Demonstrating the power of the Cardiology Information System

As part of the awards, Channel News Asia will be running a special two part series on the NIA on October 12th and 19th. This post award special TV series amplify how the NIA 2006 winners have harnessed innovation to drive and transform their business or organisation. It features the winners with their winning innovative products and services. It will also feature how both the public and private sectors have competed for the innovation crown. Viewers will be able to take a rare 'behind the scene' look at the evaluation/judging process to determine the companies and organisations that have truly captured the spirit of innovation.