The Polytechnical School of Engineering of Gijón hosted this morning the presentation of prizes of the Diseño y Discapacidad INVENTA 2012 contest, in its eighth edition. 20 proposals made by around 30 students received a certificate and a money prize sponsored by institutions and companies.

The Rector, Vicente Gotor, chaired the prize awarding accompanied by the Councilman of Economic Promotion and Employment of Gijón City Council, Fernando Couto: the Councilwoman of Social Welfare of Avilés City Council, Yolanda Alonso; the Deputy Director of Universal Accesibility of ONCE Foundation, María Josefa Álvarez, and the School Headmaster, Hilario López. All of them agreed in the need of supporting creativity and joint effort in these harsh times.

The prelude and presentation of the devices which have taken part in the contest was made by Professor Javier Suárez Quirós, member of the I3G research team of the University of Oviedo, consisting of lecturers of the Area of Graphic Expression in Engineering and in charge of announcing annually these awards.

The goal of the contest is to confront the design of any kind of invent, original and unprecedented, to improve the life quality of disabled people, looking for the best technical solutions which would solve mobility, accesibility, communication and leisure time problems.

The different sponsors of the contest presented the winners the awards. The list of inventors and devices awarded in the 2012 INVENTA contest are the following:

• Rueda Estabilizadora de Motos: Pedro Cubas Rodríguez.
• TIR: Rocío Bouzas Castellano and Diego Fernández Sánchez.
• Hogares accesibles: Marta Guardado Valle.
• Easy aguja: Cristina Álvarez Fontán and Jennifer Calleja Sánchez.
• Termoconformado para la ilusión: Eduardo Rodríguez Valdés.
• De 2d a 3d: Marcos Acebes Ramos.
• SWIM-DOT: Rocío Bouzas Castellano, Diego Fernández Sánchez.
• Pinza recogedora: Félix Carujo Reguera.
• Pulsera ‘Everybody: Kamil Gluszek.
• Footbolin: Sarai Allende.
• Easyviv: Xana Toyos.
• Mesa de billar universal: Paula Cereceda, Eduardo Ávalos y Fernando Castro.
• Protector de lluvia SNEILA: Gonzalo González Fernández.
• WC-Clip: Diego Valdés.
• Doctor Cheff: Jennifer Judith Calleja.
• Siempre a tiempo: Silvia Palicio and Helena Gómez.
• Silla off-road: Raquel García, Rocío García and Laura Fernández.
• Medidor parálisis radial: Nuria Rodríguez and Elena Pérez.
• Helpful Hand: María Gallardo, José Jaime Padial.
• UNO al alcance de más: Sandra González.

The INVENTA contest counts on the sponsorship and collaboration of companies and Asturian institutions which attended the prize-awarding ceremony to acknowledge the work carried out by the young designers. The firms and entities in collaboration with INVENTA are APSA, Gijón Port Authority, Avilés City Council, Gijón City Council, Cajastur, Centro de Estudios Arsenio Toral , COCEMFE, The Official Association of Industrial Engineers, Electrónica Edimar, Eolo Innova, High School of Art in Avilés, ONCE Foundation, Prodintec Foundation, Ideas en Metal, IKEA, Restaurante el Palacio, Shortes España S.A., Socinser, VIR Soluciones de Cartón, Triciclo Gestión y Diseño.