A collection of inventions by some of the country’s leading female innovators is to go on display at the annual Female Inventors and Innovators' Exhibition, Conference and Awards in Greenwich.

The exhibition, which is organised by the Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network (GWIIN), will showcase an eclectic mix of inventions, ranging from a pushchair that folds into a backpack to boxer shorts that incorporate Nasa-developed technology.

Fifty finalists in various categories will exhibit their ideas.

Other inventions to go on display include an inflatable travel cot, an aphrodisiac skin patch, a necklace badge-holder and a make-up and garment protection mask.

Bola Olabisi, the managing director of GWIIN, said women are the world's natural innovators. "Women tend to solve problems they find, rather than find problems to solve. We hope that this year's event will build on the success of previous years and bring a new surge of commercially viable ideas to market."

Previous winners of the awards include Mandy Haberman, the inventor of the Haberman Feeder and the Anywayup Cup, and Tish Fearn, who has signed a distribution deal with B&Q for her Lite-Lift equine and gardening tools.

Baroness Tessa Blackstone, the vice-chancellor of the University of Greenwich, which is hosting the event in the Painted Hall of the Royal Naval College, said: "Education, innovation and enterprise go together. Universities have a great deal of expertise and excellent facilities to help inventors develop their ideas.

"I hope that together we can make the most of women's ingenuity and talents, and contribute to the success of our economy."

The exhibition will be open from 11am to 5pm on Wednesday February 16.

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