LINDON -- In the noble tradition of Philo T. Farnsworth, Utah-born inventor of the television, five local entrepreneurs showed off their concepts Thursday for everything from directional teleprompters to little plastic gadgets that ball up trout bait.

Adams said if the tube were used in the more than 8 million insertions worldwide each year, it could save thousands of lives and millions of dollars a year. He claimed if hospitals adopt the technology as Veritract hopes, growing market share a little each year, the company could be bringing in more than $50 million in revenue within five years and be positioned for a strategic buyout by a large corporation like Johnson & Johnson.

"We're going to reduce health care costs, and most importantly, we're going to improve patient care," Adams said.

Second place went to Ogwa, a group developing a pressurized "personal hydration reservoir" -- a device similar to popular Camelbak water pouches, but with a hand pump to inflate a sleeve that surrounds the water and force it out of a nozzle on demand. Toby Hazelbaker, the company's vice president of business development, said the product makes sense not just for cyclists and dog walkers, but U.S. troops who are currently finding their Camelbak-like devices don't work with necessary filters because the water pressure drops too low.

"They can't find a good way for a moving troop to get water right now," he said. "I can put dirty water in, nuclear irradiated water, salinated water."

Hazelbaker won nearly $22,000 in services for his presentation.

Third place went to brothers James and Brian Boden, who pitched their concept for a "cap syringe," a new way of delivering oral medication to children. The device, which pulls liquid from a small container at measured levels, will help parents and doctors administer medicine with less fuss and greater precision, Brian said.

"Even a small amount can make the difference between an accurate dose and overdosing or underdosing your child," he said.

The Bodens won about $17,000 in services.

The finalists were whittled down from an initial field of 105 applicants, said Michael Horito, director of Provo-based Rocketship, which hosts the annual contest. He said the number of submissions jumped 15 percent over the first competition last year, and attendance at the finalists' presentations nearly doubled. Members of UVEF voted on the winners.

Other members of the contest's top 15 were present with demonstrations of their products, though they didn't present to the crowd at large. One entrepreneur touted the "halo," a pair of semicircular urethane pieces connected at each end by elastic strands that can be clipped onto a snowboard to protect its ends. Another had developed a luggage handle that bent at a 45-degree angle to make it easier and more comfortable to pull suitcases along the ground.

"It's stuff you sit around the table thinking about, and you never do anything until someone calls you up and says we've got this 'Invented in Utah' thing," said Aaron Drumright, a firefighter who brought an idea for LED inserts that illuminate ladder rungs.

• Ace Stryker can be reached at astryker@heraldextra.com.