Emerson Climate Technologies The company is a leading provider of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions for residential, industrial and commercial applications. The judges said: 'Emerson's digital scroll technology solution is a good application of existing technologies, and its products are well positioned in terms of price and/or reliability. The technology is extremely practical. It is used widely in the air-conditioning industry and has a competitive edge over traditional inverter technology.'
Outblaze A major provider of white label hosted messaging solutions, it delivers services to more than 40 million users across 400,000 domains in 22 languages. The company's primary focus is the provision and operation of e-mail services and related solutions. The judges said: 'Good application and integration of available technology. The scaling technology is highly appreciated. As a Hong Kong-based company, Outblaze works well on a global platform and is staying ahead in the region.'
SAE Magnetics (HK) The company is a leading independent manufacturer of magnetic recording heads, head gimbals assemblies and head stack assemblies for computer disk drivers. It also supplies high performance recording heads for video tape recorders. The judges said: 'SAE Magnetic is a market leader in the precision engineering industry, with world-class experts in hard disk head design, testing and fabrication. The company is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, which helped enhance its strong development and production capability.'
WE3 Technology focuses on the design, development and integration of advanced wireless technologies and devices, and specialises in creating new mobile multimedia applications and implementing them into attractive and cost-effective products. The judges said: 'WE3 has developed a focused technology for wireless communications that originated totally in Hong Kong. With the innovative sound box design that can be used for other consumer electronics products, the market potential is great. The company also has a good road map.'
Zensis A spin-off company of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, it provides state-of-the-art digital imaging and multimedia technology solutions and products to corporations and end users. The judges said: 'Zensis has placed great R&D efforts in producing algorithms to enhance the visual quality of digital images in a fully automated process. It is very impressive that this technology is 100 per cent developed in Hong Kong by such a small team of young people.'
Certificate of Merit winners
AppoTech The company specialises in designing, developing and marketing high performance, high reliability, low EMI, low EMC and cost-effective microcontrollers. The judges said: 'With a good sense of market needs and a willingness to invest in the design of chips, AppoTech is able to provide competitive 8-bit processors as a low-cost alternative to more expensive 16/32-bit processors.' AvantWave The firm is a global leader in developing and supplying cutting-edge Bluetooth solutions to manufacturers and system integrators. The judges said: '