innovation and originality grant

WOMbeat!, an online source of recommendations for local businesses from people you know and trust, and an enterprise sparked by a dream, is the winner of the latest Idea Cafe grant. Congratulations! WOMbeat! submitted their nomination in November, and during the month-long voting phase of the grant they emerged as the leader, with 25.66% of the votes. They are followed by another exceptional business, PALS with PAWZ, who got 20.86% of the votes.

The poll for deciding the winner of the Idea Cafe Innovation and Originality Grant has been online for almost a month now, and we have received a significant number of votes. Below you can see the current distribution of votes. Trends are starting to appear, with one company pulling ahead as the strongest candidate for winning the grant, but there is time until January the 15^th for the overall picture to change. See the preliminary results below.

Just in case you missed it, the voting page for choosing the grant finalist is now open (you need to register with Idea Cafe in order to vote). From here, you will be able to choose your favorite finalist. We've presented almost all the contestants on this blog, so that you can browse an exclusive selection of business ideas.

Votes are already being submitted. The campaign will continue into the new year, and we will announce the winner in the second half of January 2009.

I also would like to say a big and sincere "Thank you" to all the finalists who took the time to answer our questions.

The Playground Guide publishes directories of playgrounds for busy parents and caretakers. Their books are professionally designed, with included hundreds of photos and they tell parents everything they need to know to plan healthy, wholesome, low-cost outdoor activities with their kids. The books include directions, insight on bathrooms, parking, picknicking, equipment, ground cover and more. The books also tell you about cool places to visit like museums, art studios and kid-friendly restaurants and shops.

Safelyfe provides a free service that allows individuals to contact family, friends or neighbors in case of an emergency by just pressing a single button on their cell phones.

Luhrs Media Co. creates the easy-to-use, fun ColorCode Mode^TM Journals to help people of all fitness levels color their way to healthier habits.

I Go Coo creates products that engage infants and toddlers in developmental thinking and activities. Their products inspire learning through intuitive play and innovative design. Their first product to market will be an accordion-style book, designed to unfold and stand on its own so babies can enjoy it during tummy time.

This finalist offers branding and design of companies & software applications, with an emphasis on the overall user experience. Fresh ID will try to provide many other people--from work- at-home mom's with some graphic ability, to already successful freelancers, with a source of work and a community to belong to.

Transformation Underground is a mother and daughter collaborative effort to bring about positive change, following a "pay it forward" concept. They have created PASS IT ON CARDS-- a set of 5 cards that come in a deck. Each card embodies a positive quality, such as generosity, compassion, or kindness.

This finalist makes cards and mails them out automatically on dates specified. The service is great for those that are deployed in the Military; all they need to do is pick out cards they want mailed, give Fairy Tale Memories the addresses and dates for them to be sent and the company will mail them to the people they want.