ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JANUARY 22, 2007

Marketplace for Entrepreneurs

Concrete leveling device wins invention award

FARGO – A device that helps contractors level and even circular and wide concrete pours was judged the best innovation at the annual Northern Plains Inventors Congress (NPIC) Invention Contest, held Jan. 17, during the 2007 Marketplace for Entrepreneurs in Fargo.

Dennis Lura of Lura Enterprises, West Fargo, accepted the $2,500 first place award for the Lightning Strike Roller Screed, a device with a patented couple system that can be adapted to almost any flatwork concert pour.

”This annual gathering, now in its seventh year, has become the place for inventors to find encouragement, information, advice and assistance they need to bring their inventions into the hand of customers,” said U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad and Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, the organizing sponsors of Marketplace for Entrepreneurs. “The Inventors Congress helps people fund, promote, patent, prototype and market their inventions and ideas."

Al Sing of Aurora, CO, took second place and $1,000 with the Handy Scrub Glove, a glove with 3M™ scrub pads on each finger and the palm. Sing also has gloves with a brush on the fingers and palm for grooming animals.

Third place and $500.00 was won by Bob Steers and Kim Wilson of Grand Forks for the Face Cradle Insert, which offers additional comfort to a client or patient who must lie face down on a therapy table.

The Energy Conservation Award and $500 was presented to Shawn Oehlke, Crosby, for his invention, the Light Engine, an active illumination system employing solid state lighting.

Nathanael Saye of West Fargo won the Youth Innovator Award and $500 for the Saire Wheel, a device that heats or cools the steering wheel of a car using the heating or cooling vents.

The NPIC provides inventors and entrepreneurs with the information necessary to effectively commercialize new ideas. NPIC also encourages innovation and economic development in the United States by exchanging ideas between inventors, entrepreneurs and professionals.

Competition prizes were provided by NAVTEQ, a major provider of digital maps, headquartered in Chicago with production facilities in Fargo.

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MEDIA: For more information and pictures of the winners, please contact Marilyn Kipp or Renee Kipp at (701) 663-0150.