From life-saving drugs and new medical techniques to music apps and innovative garden centres, the past winners of The Irish Times Innovation awards have come from a wide and varied range of sectors.

If you would like to join that list, entries are now open for the 2016 awards.

Previous category winners have varied widely from small family operations to multinationals, recognising innovations that arose from eureka moments on the couch through to high-level projects instigated by senior management in Ireland.

The products and services attest to the wide and varied range of innovative ideas that originate on the island of Ireland.

Last year’s category winners included Ocean Harvest Technology, BFree Foods, Dr Coy’s Health Foods, Embo Medical, WholeWorldBand, RedT Energy and Nautilus Technologies.

Past overall winners range from Sigmoid Pharma for its innovation oral drug delivery systems to PanelDuct for its flatpack ventilation systems and Gabriel Scientific for its SleepAngel range of bedding that radically lowers the risk of patients contracting hospital-acquired infections.

This year there are eight categories covering: agri-food; creative industries and design; energy and the environment; fintech; IT and Telco; life science and healthcare; manufacturing; and new frontiers, which is for those who do not believe that their innovation falls into the other categories.

It is an all-encompassing list aimed at recognising and rewarding innovation on this island.

Entries should be based on an operational, service or product innovation.

The closing date for entries is April 4th, 2016 with the shortlisted firms chosen by a panel of judges and announced in early June.

These innovators will then be invited to present their innovations to a final judging panel later in June.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October. For more information on the awards, a look at previous winners and more details on what it is all about go to irish times.com/innovationawards