Physical Activity Innovations named ‘Bluetooth Innovator of the Year’ for 2009

The Bluetooth SIG has awarded Edward Sazonov, Physical Activity Innovations LLC, the title of Bluetooth Innovator of the Year for 2009. Sazonov received this recognition at the official award ceremony held in-line with the Wearable Technologies Show at ispo 2010, the world’s largest trade show for sporting goods. The award includes a cash prize of €5,000 and a Bluetooth Qualification Program voucher (QDID) valued at up to US$ 10,000.

“Bluetooth low energy technology will open up new market opportunities and also enhance many existing areas of Bluetooth development including home health care and sports and fitness.”

The Innovation World Cup 2009 drew more than 250 entries illustrating the abundance of opportunities for product development with the new Bluetooth low energy wireless technology. “The interest in the Innovation World Cup echoes the great amount of excitement we have seen in response to the announcement of Bluetooth low energy wireless technology,” said Michael Foley, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Bluetooth SIG. “Bluetooth low energy technology will open up new market opportunities and also enhance many existing areas of Bluetooth development including home health care and sports and fitness.”

Sazonov’s winning idea, The Fit Companion, is a small, unobtrusive sensor that when clipped-on to a user’s clothing or integrated into a shoe, provides feedback about their physical activity. The data, transmitted via Bluetooth low energy technology, can help individuals to lose weight and achieve optimal physical activity. Intended for use in both training and daily activities like walking or performing chores, this simple, measuring device may offer a solution for reducing obesity.

As part of the competition the Bluetooth SIG also choose three finalists, whose well elaborated and original ideas were recognized at the awards ceremony by Robbert de Kock, Secretary General of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI). The Flare Snowsport invented by Patrick Coulbourne from Antware, is a fitness monitoring solution specifically created for winter snow sports that transmits data such as track and heart rate via Bluetooth low energy nodes located at the head and end of trails to a USB port worn on the body. Pool-Mate, created by Lisa Durlam from Swimovate and her team, is a Bluetooth enabled wrist watch designed for swimmers. The watch measures distance, strokes, calories burned and other performance data and transmits it to the Internet via a mobile phone enabled with Bluetooth low energy wireless technology.

The Fertility Manager and Body Monitor developed by Michael Köhler, Edumotion, was recognized as a finalist for the device’s applicability for future opportunities in telehealth. This innovative device is a small, coin cell based, digital thermometer that can transmit temperature data to a mobile phone via Bluetooth low energy technology for processing with fertility management software.

The Bluetooth Innovation World Cup 2009 was sponsored by Nokia, Freescale Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, Nordic Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics and Brunel. The Bluetooth Innovation World Cup 2010 competition will be opened for entries on June 1, 2010.