The winners of the 14th Technological Innovation Prize – 2011 included representatives from all of Brazil’s regions. The award in the “Major Company” category went to Braskem, from São Paulo, for its research into and development of biopolymers focused on polyethylene made out of sugarcane (see Pesquisa FAPESP issues 142 and 177). The “Small Company” winner was Reason, from Santa Catarina. The firm develops solutions for power transmission networks and industrial electrical equipment. The “Medium-sized Company” laureate was Scitech, from Goiás. It specializes in making medical devices and components, such as the first Brazilian-made stent. This is a metal device that corrects and treats the narrowing of arteries (see Pesquisa FAPESP issue 173). In the “Scientific and Technological Institutions” category, the winner was the IT Center of the Federal University of Pernambuco for its research into several areas of computer science, in partnership with other institutions and companies. The “Social Technology” trophy was awarded to the Association of the Agricultural Extraction Workers on the Island of Cinzas, in Amapá. They developed a trap that only catches large shrimp while releasing the smaller ones, thus helping to keep up the natural inventory of these crustaceans. The last category concerned “Innovative Inventors.! Here, the prize went to the physicist Vladimir Jesus Trava Airoldi, a researcher at Inpe (the National Institute of Space Research) in São José dos Campos (state of São Paulo), for his development of a synthetic diamond tip for dental drills.
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