FOUR-ALARM IDEA. Jeff Dykes, an Eau Claire firefighter, won the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp.’s Idea Challege with his life-saving concept.

For years, Jeff Dykes has had an idea – an idea he shared with numerous fellow firefighters in casual conversations, an idea he was frequently told was a good one. But despite its relative simplicity and enormous life-saving potential, the idea never went anywhere.

Then Dykes saw an ad for the Idea Challenge, an annual competition sponsored by the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp. and Northwestern Bank, which helps identify and promote new product and service ideas in the Chippewa Valley. With the EDC’s help, Dykes’ idea is on its way to reality – and now he has a $5,000 prize to help continue to develop and promote it.

“I’m just a schmo from the firehouse down the street,” Dykes quipped Dec. 11 after his concept – dubbed Northern Star – was selected from among five finalists as the 2014 Idea Challenge’s grand prize winner. “Without the Idea Challenge, I would not have had this opportunity,” he added.

“Without the Idea Challenge, I would not have had this opportunity.” – Jeff Dykes, whose invention, a breathing-mask mounted compass for firefighters, won the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp.’s 2014 Idea Challenge

Northern Star grew out of a need Dykes recognized through his 18 years battling blazes: In a dangerous, smoke-filled environment, firefighters can potentially become disoriented and unable to find their way to safety or to follow instructions relayed to them from others outside a burning structure. As Dykes envisions it, Northern Star will be a small compass with an attached LCD display inside a firefighter’s mask that would tell him or her which direction he or she is facing. The invention’s lifesaving potential is clear: About 100 firefighters die in the line of duty annually in the United States, and nearly all firefighters wear the kind of mask (or, more precisely, the self-contained breathing apparatus) that Northern Star would be built to fit into. The device would be designed to turn on automatically when a firefighter put on the mask, a feature that would both provide safety and preserve its battery.

Dykes, a lieutenant paramedic who works out of Eau Claire Fire Department station No. 8 on Starr Avenue, has been kicking around the idea for Northern Star for at least five years. “I just have had this conversation with the guys in the firehouse, when I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if …’ ” he recalled. Firefighters typically have responded positively to the idea, as did the staff at the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp. when Dykes became one of nearly 100 people to apply for the Idea Challenge this year. A business consultant met with Dykes to help him prepare a business plan, and the EDC also connected him with an engineering firm and a patent lawyer. The $5,000 grand prize is reimbursable toward expenses Dykes may incur bringing the product to market, and he hopes to spend it on creating a prototype as early as February. After an initial prototype is ready, Dykes can gather feedback, create a product-ready prototype, and get the device into production. With more than 1 million firefighters in the United States and no similar product on the market, the invention has plenty of potential, he believes.

Luke Hanson, the EDC’s new executive director, says the annual challenge began in 2007 as a business plan contest. Over the years, it has evolved to be focused specifically on bright ideas, even if those who’ve thought them up don’t have a business plan or even a business background. “Basically, they can come in with a bar napkin and say, ‘This is a great idea,’ ” Hanson said. “We’re here to help them move forward with the process.”

Ideas are submitted to the challenge throughout the year and are evaluated for their potential. Those that are deemed viable by the Idea Challenge Partners – a group of technical assistance providers – move on in the competition and are given additional technical help. This year’s other finalists – Tony Olson, Zacharious and Jamie Pappas, James Sullivan, and Matt Unser – all received $500 in cash in the first phase of the challenge. All five finalists gave presentations Dec. 11, and a panel of judges deliberated several hours before selecting a winner. (In fact, picking a winner was so difficult that deliberations ran long, delaying the press conference announcing the grand prize.)

The EDC’s Hanson is quick to note that six companies have grown out of the Idea Challenge in recent years, and not all of them have been grand prize winners. “Each finalist of the Idea Challenge is considered a winner,” he said. “All finalists are going to continue to advance their ideas and products forward with the assistance of the Eau Claire Area EDC.”

To learn more about how you can submit your brainstorm to the Idea Challenge, visit theideachallenge.com or call the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp. at (715) 834-0070.