Two wins in row for young inventor

Young inventor Patrick Roskam is going from strength to strength, winning Fieldays Young Inventor of the Year award for his invention The Gudgeon Pro 5 in 1 Gate Hanger. But you wouldn’t know the 13-year-old boy had been sick since the early hours of the morning with a tummy bug when he stood in front of a panel of judges at the Innovations Den and won the award.“Oh, it’s been a long day,” said Patrick’s mum Angela.

“On the way in this morning we had to pull over when Patrick was sick and this was before the innovations breakfast,” she explained.

Despite being in the sickbay for most of the day, he returned this year with The Gudgeon Pro 5 in 1 as marketing product and presented to a panel of judges for the second time. Last year, he won best innovations pitch with the same product.

“I’m just so proud of him. Being sick like that, other people would have pulled out, he also hasn’t been able to eat anything but he got up there and did his pitch and no one would have ever known,” said Angela.

“He’s still quite green still, but we’re on our way home.”

Rural marketing manager for Vodafone Darren Hooper presented the young inventor award, saying the New Zealand agricultural sector is the envy of the world.

The winner of the Launch NZ Innovation Award was Plant Detection Systems Ltd with Andweeder, who were awarded $5000 cash and a $5000 advertising package with Fairfax’s NZ Farmer.

Te Pari Products won the Grassroots Innovation Award for the Electric Drench Gun.