The highly regarded Fieldays Innovation Competition is back after another groundbreaking year which saw previous entrants find fame and fortune.

Ayla Hutchinson was named the 2013 Fieldays Young Inventor of the Year and also won the James & Wells IP Service Award with her Kindling Cracker innovation.

The competition celebrates New Zealand ingenuity by showcasing the latest innovations, backyard inventions and commercial improvements to thousands of Fieldays visitors.

In 2013 the competition had 75 entrants, with many taking the opportunity to enter and pitch to investors in the inaugural Fieldays Innovation Den, powered by SODA Inc.

Winning innovators included:

• Patrick Roskam who, at age 12, won several awards for his Gudgeon Pro fencing system, plus a personal invitation from Sir William Gallagher for an internship at Gallagher's Research and Development department.

• Droidworx (now called Aeronavics) won the Most Viable Business award for their aerial robot that is now receiving expressions of interest worldwide.

• And at just 13 years old, Ayla Hutchinson was named Fieldays Young Inventor of the Year and also won the James & Wells IP Service Award with her Kindling Cracker innovation. Ayla has since taken her product to market and gone on to win other awards including ‘Most Inspiring Individual' at the NZ Innovator's Awards and the ‘Rising Star Award' at the BUY NZ Made People's Choice Awards.

After the competition's huge success in 2013, the centrally-located Innovation Centre has grown in size and organisers are anticipating an increased number of entries this year.

With a range of categories to enter and a competition structure that supports Kiwi ingenuity at all levels, the Fieldays Innovation Centre incorporates commercial innovations and backyard creations and is the perfect place for new innovations to be launched.

Fieldays event manager Vanessa Richmond says offering help and assistance for entrants is a major part of Fieldays Innovations.

'We are bringing partners on board to help nurture relationships with entrants while fostering entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.

'Entrants also receive invaluable feedback from prospective customers visiting the Innovation Centre, and the potential to gain priceless media exposure of their innovation.

'It is then no wonder that the amount and standard of entries strengthens year after year,” says Vanessa.

New to the Innovation Centre for 2014 is THE LAB - powered by Locus Research. THE LAB is an ideas booth where confirmed entrants can access knowledge from the Locus Research Team and other Innovations Partners on how to progress their innovation.