These Newfoundland and Labrador Engineers head to Alberta for the Prize not a job....Congratulations
Newfoundland Engineers Win $10,000 Manning Innovation Award for Automated Red-Eye Removal System
CALGARY, Sept. 15 /CNW/ - Newfoundland's Patricia LeFeuvre, Rodney Hale
and John Guzzwell have put their province on the map with their superior
automated technology for fixing red-eye in digital photographs.
The three engineers will share a $10,000 Manning Innovation Award,
sponsored by Xstrata, for inventing Pixfix(TM) Red-Eye software, which is used
in thousands of photo kiosks, consumer photo-printers, photo minilabs and
large central processing labs around the world to analyze billions of photo
images each year.
The software scans digital photos for the vampirish red glow from the
pupils that often occurs with flash photography. The system then automatically
restores red eyes to their natural colour.
PixFix(TM) Red-Eye was one of the first truly automated solutions to
red-eye, and its effectiveness has made the software a favourite among photo
imaging companies. The technology, which is produced by LeFeuvre, Hale and
Guzzwell's company, iSYS - Intelligent System Solutions Corp., has been
licensed to 12 companies in nine countries in North America, Europe and Asia.
Photo kiosk customers may not know why their pictures are turning out so
well, but companies that have licensed PixFix(TM) Red-Eye say the technology
is effective and easy to use.
Hale, Director and Vice President of Product Development at iSYS Corp.,
says it feels great to see what they've created being used by millions of
people.
LeFeuvre, Hale and Guzzwell developed their expertise in image analysis
at their Alma Mater, Memorial University of Newfoundland, where they worked
for a non-profit research organization called C-CORE. In 1999, the three
engineers founded iSYS Corp., with LeFeuvre as President, in order to apply
their skills to real-world problems.
The company decided to tackle the red-eye phenomenon since the solution
would be a product they could develop on their own, with minimal investment.
Within six months of conceiving of an automated red-eye removal system, iSYS
Corp. had a working prototype.
Guzzwell, Director and Vice President of Business Development with iSYS
Corp., says that one reason their software succeeded was because of their
novel approach. While other programs scanned photos for people and faces, the
iSYS software looked for objects - specifically, round, red objects!
"It is very gratifying to be one of the very select few to win this
award," says Hale.
While iSYS Corp. is well known to photo imagers outside of Canada - Sony
Japan, for example, was the first iSYS licensee - few Canadians know of the
little company from The Rock. "I hope this (award) will put us on the map,
locally," says Guzzwell.
LeFeuvre notes, "People are starting to see that you don't have to be
from a big place to make an impact."
The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation
This year, the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation will award a total of
$165,000 in prize money. Four awards, totaling $145,000, will go to leading
Canadian innovators. Another $20,000 will go to Young Innovators with winning
projects at the 2006 Canada-Wide Science Fair.
The winners of the 2006 Manning Innovation Awards will be announced
throughout September. All will be honoured at the annual gala awards dinner,
September 29th, 2006 in Calgary.
The Foundation was established in 1980 in the name of prominent Alberta
statesman, Ernest C. Manning, to promote and support Canadian innovators.
Since 1982, the Foundation has presented over $3.6 million in prize money
through its annual awards program (www.manningawards.ca).
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