Design innovation, coupled with the effective use of design technology, is an important wealth creator, as demonstrated by the first winners of the Autodesk Award for the most effective use of design technology. The new award forms part of the annual Technology Top 100 awards programme.

Mechanical design consultant, MS Hunt Consultants, won the manufacturing category, while SRK consulting engineers and scientists took the award in the built environment category. The awards were presented recently by Alec Erwin, Minister of Trade and Industry, Brigitte Mabandla, Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, and Errol Ashwell, Managing Director of the sponsoring company, Autodesk Africa.

MS Hunt Consultants was responsible for the mechanical and structural design of a multimillion rand exploration rig manufactured by Smith Capital Equipment for Sasol Coal. A world first, it can drill up to 2 km into a coal seam analysing ore samples. Not only have two of the rigs been built in South Africa, creating valuable employment, with further production planned but Sasol Coal has also created a special division to export exploration technology and expertise to other countries.

SRK, which designed the first earthquake resistant freshwater dam, uses design technology to collaborate with SRK offices around the world on major civil engineering projects, such as the Tarkwa Mine project in Ghana. About 15% of the work sourced by offices in the SRK network is done in South Africa.

Entrants had to demonstrate that the successful implementation and use of CAD technology had led to at least four of the following: South African innovation, design excellence, competitive advantage, the creation of South African intellectual property value, increased productivity, reduced costs, increasing quality and export opportunity for products or services.

Ashwell said the winners stood out above other entrants because they do not only use design technology to speed up the design process. "They make full use of the functionality of their design technology to achieve design excellence that gives them a competitive advantage over rivals in local and international markets.

"Their innovations also create considerable intellectual capital for the country," said Ashwell. "It is much more profitable to create and manufacture your own designs, than simply to manufacture someone else's designs."

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