Billabong’s lightweight SGX wetsuit along with a reusable coffee cup, portable ultrasound device, playground swing equipment, luxury vehicle trailer, roof guttering system and a pair of new-age skates are amongst more than 170 professionally-designed products chosen to progress to the next judging round of the 2010 Australian International Design Awards. Presented by Standards Australia, the Australian International Design Awards is Australia’s premier design assessment program, recognising Australian and international design and innovation excellence. From a record entry field of 202, 177 products have made the First Round Shortlist and will progress to the Final Round Assessment stage of the prestigious awards program. “Products from the likes of Samsung, Whirlpool, Siemens, Nissan, Land Rover, LG Electronics, Billabong, Sunbeam and Breville are going head-to-head against ground-breaking world-first innovations including a portable ultrasound device, futuristic gaming headset that reads brain signals and a new generation cochlear implant for international design recognition,” said Stephanie Pemberton, Program Director of the Australian International Design Awards. According to Billabong the objective was to build a wetsuit that was not only light when dry but light when used in its intended environment – the water. “Unnecessary weight in a wetsuit can add to fatigue and shorten the time spent surfing. By developing a material with a high grade, yarn-coated water repellency, along with a specially-knitted carbon-infused jersey, the SGX soaks 52% less water than conventional wetsuit materials. By design, is much faster drying, more important, the SGX is 25% lighter than current wetsuits.” Three surf products are amongst a myriad of finalists in the 2010 Awards. They are the Billabong SGX wetsuit, a solid surfboard rack – to store surfboards and the Thomas Meyerhoffer longboard by GSI. Past winners include FCS H2 fin (2005) and the Rip Curl H-bomb (2009) All shortlisted products now face scrutiny from a multidisciplinary panel of Australian and international judges who will gather in Sydney to give each entry a thorough assessment as they inspect, test, interact and pull apart each of the entries. During the two-week assessment period, judges will assess each product against a common set of criteria including innovation, visual and emotional appeal, functionality, quality of manufacturing, human factors (ergonomics, semantics and safety) and environmental sustainability. The winners of the 2010 Australian International Design Awards, including the 2010 Australian International Design Award of the Year, will be announced on Friday 4 June in Sydney. www.designawards.com.au,