Supply Chain Reaction

Here at the Electronic Design Show in Vegas’ Paris hotel, the casino is full of people looking to win big. The slots, craps, roulette  -- these are all games of chance, despite what anyone on the floor seems to think. But if you are looking for a chance to win big based on skill, check out what Premier Farnell is doing.

The global distributor, known by the Newark brand here in the United States, today announced an international competition that is offering a prize worth $100,000 for a design that uses components and has a positive impact on the environment.

The competition has been dubbed Live Edge with “Edge” standing for “Electronic Design for the Global Environment.” The winner will score a prize package worth $100,000, which breaks out to a $50,000 cash award and an estimated $50,000-worth of support to move the design toward production, including the services of an electronic design consultancy that will develop the design to prototype stage, assistance with legal matters and IP registration, marketing and publicity, as well as Premier Farnell's help in securing investment funding. Five $5,000 awards will go to honorable mention designs.

Anyone over the age of 18 can apply, except, of course for employees of Premier Farnell, and applicants do not need to submit a working prototype to win, just the entry form and supporting documents.

Best of all, the designs will be owned by the applicants, meaning Premier Farnell will not obtain the intellectual property rights, even of the winning design.

The competition has two legs to it: One, to promote Premier Farnell in the electronic design space; and two, to promote innovation that betters our environment. Environmental action isn’t anything new at Premier Farnell. The company has been one of the leaders in environmental regulation compliance for the last two years, helping the electronics supply chain rid hazardous materials from its products. Heck, the company even went so far as to name a "green" CEO, Harriet Green. (I’m kidding folks, Green has a very impressive resume, including positions as Arrow’s Asia Pacific president and managing director of the Macro Group -- a position she landed at age 29, no less. See this old, but informative, Woman Working article on Green for more).

So what does the company mean by a design that has a positive impact on the environment? When I asked Dewight Wallace, Newark’s president, he exampled a design that could help reduce a carbon footprint. Newark also exampled in its release this morning a design that increases energy efficiency or one that reduces carbon emissions.

A panel of judges from around the world will be announced shortly, Newark said, and will feature a mix of innovators, engineers, entrepreneurs, academics, industry leaders and environmental campaigners. Live Edge will be largely Web-based to avoid international travel and transportation.

The closing date for registration is October 31; entries must be submitted by November 30; and the winner will be announced in January 2008.

For more details on the international competition, see the Live Edge Web site.