FAIRBANKS — When Ping Lan put out a call for marketable new invention ideas last summer, the University of Alaska Fairbanks business professor expected to get 20 or 30 responses.

To his shock, more than 100 applications arrived for the inaugural Arctic Innovation Competition last month, hawking new designs for batteries, window shades and even restaurant tabletops, among other items.

The response was so overwhelming that Lan quickly prepared a fistful of postcards proclaiming the date of the next Arctic Innovation Competition — Oct. 22, 2010. The goal of the event is to collect innovative new ideas, which UAF business leaders will try to introduce to the marketplace.

“We want to have a dream factory,” Lan said.

Lan said the driving force behind the competition is a desire to diversify Alaska’s economy through “bold ideas” beyond the oil industry and government jobs. The inventions need to be something that isn’t being marketed.

It didn’t hurt that UAF was able to offer a nice incentive to entrants, thanks to sponsorships from a handful of local businesses, UAF and the Fairbanks North Star Borough. A $10,000 prize went to the winner, with a total purse of $20,000 for the top 20 ideas. The entries were reviewed by a panel of judges on their novelty, utility, feasability and value.

The winning entry and $10,000 prize was offered by Chris Hunter, a Wasilla resident who offered an energy-saving design for fueling a bank of batteries.

“Chris is quite an inventor,” said Sid Coy, a friend who accompanied Hunter to the competition. “He’s not going to only help Alaska, but help a lot of people who rely on power.”

The second-place idea, worth $5,000, involved a more efficient refrigeration technique. Palmer resident Bruce Kraft said he’s worked for years as a lab tech at Mat-Su College while refining his concept.

Lan said Kraft is specifically the type of inventor UAF officials are hoping to attract. There was no shortage of innovation at the competition, just an inability by the inventors to market their products.

“Most of the people who come to the competition, they’re not entrepreneurs, they’re laymen,” he said.

The next step is to prepare a prototype of the products to make sure they’re feasible, and the creation of a business model for promoting the ideas. Winners still own their ideas, but UAF plans to offer marketing expertise.

Not all of the ideas involved high-tech gadgets. The $2,500 third-place design came from Lavelle’s Bistro in Fairbanks, which uses a tabletop “bridge” that can create more space by fusing together two smaller round tables.

The idea came about because the restaurant wanted to expand its seating capacity, and can do so by creating longer, oval-shaped tables with the bridges. The brushed-steel tabletops are used as wall art when they aren’t in use.

“I think it won because it had no moving parts and didn’t confuse anyone,” said Frank Eagle, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife Kathy Lavelle.

A $500 fourth-place prize went to Jared Post, a seventh-grade student at Barnette Elementary. He invented a device for locking away electric cords for items that should be off-limits. Post lives in a family with six children and said he was inspired by TV bans that occasionally happen at his house.

“I can’t wait for a prototype so I can use it,” said his mother, Ruth Post.

Lan said he can’t wait to see what shows up for the 2010 innovation competition. He said the biggest challenge for the UAF School of Management will be coming up with a marketing plan that can match the inventors’ ideas.

“We feel the pressure, but it’s good,” he said.

For more information about to competition, go to www.arcticinno.com.