Three Cairns inventors are celebrating a cool win on ABC television’s The New Inventors.

Dr Glen Deakin, Robert Ennis-Thomas and William Armstrong, all from James Cook University in Cairns, won last the episode (Wednesday 12 May) with their CoolMe^TM Vest, which helps fire fighters and emergency workers keep their cool. (image ABC)

The three colleagues are now contenders for this year’s final, as well as the People’s Choice Award.

The CoolMe^TM Vest significantly reduces heat stress and recovery times for workers in extreme heat conditions.

The project grew out of a wellness program developed for the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service by Dr Deakin, a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at JCU in Cairns.

“A fire fighter wearing a protective suit in a hot and humid environment can experience temperatures up to 50ºC and lose up to two litres of fluid in just 30 minutes,” Dr Deakin said.

“It can take up to two hours for that worker to recover and be ready for redeployment. We’ve been able to reduce that recovery period to 30 minutes, as well as significantly reducing fluid loss, core temperature and thermal discomfort.” 

Presenting their work on The New Inventors could help the team progress towards manufacturing and marketing their innovation.

The CoolMe^TM Vest was JCU’s winner in the 2009 UniQuest Trailblazer competition.

The team also won The University of Queensland Business School's Enterprize competition, putting their $100,000 prize towards commercialising their invention.

They have formed GRW Industries to work with JCU’s research commercialisation partner, UniQuest, and are now seeking investment to launch the vest onto the market.

“It’s been a long road, working through many trials and refinements and now preparing for manufacture,” Robert Ennis-Thomas said. “Appearing on The New Inventors has been an excellent opportunity to meet others who are going through that same process.”

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