MPower Solar Systems has won the $50,000 first prize for developing a low-cost energy generation management unit which can be fitted to most renewable energy inverters. [ + ]

Elevare Energy is among the top eight finalists for the 2013 Australian Cleantech Competition. Elevare is using its technology to make energy storage with batteries commercially viable, reducing GHGs and rising power prices. [ + ]

Hong Kong Polytechnic University researchers have developed a new LED driver that powers LED light bulbs with an innovative approach called multilevel PWM. The PWM is said to deliver remarkable improvements in terms of light quality and energy efficiency, when compared to pulse-width modulation and linear driver approaches currently used in LED products. [ + ]

Singapore-based microelectric engineers have developed a light-based sensor that can detect and measure the chemical signature of bladder cancer. [ + ]

Australia will host the International Conference on Radar 2013: Beyond Orthodoxy: New Paradigms in Radar, in Adelaide from 9-12 September. [ + ]

A team of researchers has discovered how efficient wireless power transfer can be achieved in the presence of complex electromagnetic environments, such as metal plates. [ + ]

Electronics design software company Altium is creating opportunities for third-party developers to build applications that extend the capabilities of the 3D PCB design solution, Altium Designer. [ + ]

Researchers at The Ohio State University have offered an explanation for strange magnetic behaviour at semiconductor interfaces. The discovery is expected to lead to electronic materials that provide both computation and data storage. [ + ]

Panasonic will provide technological support to the Tokai University Solar Car Team as it competes in the World Solar Challenge (WSR), held in Australia from 6 to 13 October 2013. The company will be supplying high-efficiency HIT solar cells with high electricity output and high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. [ + ]

The Multicore Association, a global non-profit organisation focused on developing standards that help speed time to market for products that involve multicore implementations, has announced that Renesas Electronics Corporation has joined the consortium as an executive board member. [ + ]

Michigan Technological University scientists have developed 3D graphene, an inexpensive material that could replace the platinum in solar cells without degrading their efficiency. [ + ]

MIT researchers have developed a palm-sized rechargeable flow battery prototype that generates three times as much power per square centimetre as other membraneless systems. [ + ]

EMC Technologies has commissioned a new semi-anechoic chamber (SAC) in Sydney at its Seven Hills laboratories. [ + ]

Olympus, a manufacturer and distributor of optical, electronic and precision engineering products, for scientific, medical and industrial applications, has launched a new online store. [ + ]

Applied Materials has appointed Gary E Dickerson as president and chief executive officer and Michael Splinter as executive chairman of the board of directors, effective 1 September 2013.  [ + ]