Invention by local man keeps hips fit
Local man Sean O'Connor has been rewarded for his hip protection invention.
Mr O'Connor and his business partner, Terry Vickers, with Locus Research, were given the bronze award for the Delloch HipFit in the Best Awards Non Consumer category.
The team invented, designed and tested the HipFit hip protector, as a way of decreasing the thousands of hip fractures in New Zealand each year and to provide extra support for people with osteoporosis or those unsteady on their feet. At the awards, Mount Maunganui-based Locus Research, along with local company International Merchants Limited, also won a bronze award in the Best Effect category.
They received the prize for GetSorted- a modular wardrobe and storage system for the home. The Best Effect award measured the return on the design investment and the impact of that return on the organisation's overall performance.
