Trex Aviation Systems Honored at CONNECT’S 23rd Annual Most Innovative New Product Awards

Trex Aviation Systems Honored at CONNECT’S 23rd Annual Most Innovative New Product Awards Product Name Honored for Excellence in Innovation SAN DIEGO, Dec. 10, 2010 – Trex Aviation System’s FOD Finder™ was honored with the 2010 Most Innovative New Product (MIP) Award in the category of Aerospace and Security at CONNECT’s 23rd Annual MIP Awards on Dec. 10. For the past 23 years, CONNECT’s MIP Awards has honored new products created and launched in San Diego with the potential to make a worldwide impact on society.

The FOD Finder™ system detects, cataloges and removes foreign object debris (FOD) on all airport surfaces (runways, ramps, and taxi areas). A simple moving map display with red dots marking the FOD locations allows the operator to rapidly make the airport safer to avoid accidents like the Concorde crash in Paris. "Dr. John Lovberg and the Trex team have evolved millimeter-wave technology solutions throughout our enterprise into innovative products that solve customers challanges in the aviation, security, and communications markets,” said Grant Bishop, Chief Operating Officer.

The MIP Award winners were selected from more than 100 entries – a record setting number. The competition has eight categories: action and sport technologies, aerospace and security technologies, clean technology, diagnostics and research tools, medical products, software, hardware and general technology and communications and IT. The winners were announced December 10th at the Hilton Torrey Pines Hotel to a sold-out audience of over 800 of San Diego's top executives, entrepreneurs, service providers and academics. "At CONNECT we believe a real benchmark for evaluating the success of San Diego’s innovation economy is the number of innovations that are successfully commercialized and deliver a major benefit to society. Our Most Innovative New Product Awards recognizes a new crop of leap-frog innovation in new products. Trex Aviation Systems joins an impressive roster of previous winners and exhibits the best qualities of the entrepreneurial spirit that have established San Diego’s global reputation as a leader in innovation,” said Duane Roth, chief executive officer of CONNECT. The CONNECT MIP Awards program has been an indicator of the industries and technologies that have stimulated the San Diego economy, from early stage biotechnology companies to the first products generated by the region’s telecommunications boom.

About CONNECT CONNECT is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining the growth of innovative technology and life science businesses in San Diego. Since 1985, CONNECT has assisted in the formation and development of over 2,000 companies and is widely regarded as the world's most successful regional program linking inventors and entrepreneurs with the resources they need for success. CONNECT focuses on research institution support, business creation and development, entrepreneurial learning, access to capital, public policy advocacy, awards, recognition and networking. There are more than 40 organizations in 18 countries that have adopted the CONNECT model, including New York City, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia and India.