The award-winning ceremony of the BRAINS Award 2009 took place on Thursday 19 November, within the framework of the Brainport Entrepreneurship Week 2009. At a festive meeting in Dynamo Eindhoven, Alderman Van Merrienboer (Economic Affairs) announced the names of the four winners selected from more than 65 entries. Celine de Waal Malefijt, Rocco Verdult, Jordy Wubbels, and a group comprised of Kati Brock, Ruud Görtz, Rik Hermans, and Josien van Rijswijk were put in the limelight and honoured with great (monetary) prizes. 

 

The winners
Celine de Waal Malefijt won the first prize, the BRAINS Award, a sum of € 6.500. The professional jury decided that her entry, Transit Mantra, was the best one. Transit Mantra provides a solution consisting of light and sound to be applied in dark tunnels such as the Fellenoord tunnel in Eindhoven. "The illuminated tunnel contributes to the sense of security. The concept has already been applied in a city like Amsterdam, for instance, but it is new to Eindhoven. We appreciate the clear and attractive elaboration of the idea. And we expect that the implementation of this idea is relatively easy to achieve," the jury stated in the jury report.

Winner Celine responds enthusiastically: "Really super, I'm going to invest the money I won in further developing my idea and expanding my own design studio".  
 

The Eindhoven city council decided on the two awards for liveability and sustainability.

Jordy Wubbels (Lichtsticker) received the Sustainability Award, a monetary prize of € 5.000. The group comprised of Kati Brock, Ruud Görtz, Rik Hermans, and Josien van Rijswijk (Visualizing Sound), the improvement of hearing) was awarded the Liveability Award and also won € 5.000.

 

Also the audience could vote for the most appealing idea. Over 2200 votes were entered on www.brainseindhoven.nl. With a substantial majority of votes, Rocco Verdult (Tijdelijke Ontmoetingsplekken) carried off the Audience Award, a sum of € 2.500.

 

Click here for an overview of all nominees.

 

Advisory Prize

The four winners awaited another pleasant surprise: an extra Advisory Prize of €2.500. The winners can spend this money on project guidance, knowledge, and support from Incubator 3+ and Brainport Development. In this way, the winners will have even more opportunities to effectively develop and produce their idea and concept.