Geneva - What to do if you live next door to a veterinarian whose clients' dogs always leave behind litter you'd rather not see or smell? If you are Philippe Glimes from Spain, who works as a cleaner using pressurized water, you might go to the gym to run on the treadmill and work off the stress.

Which, if things turn out well for him, could have been his most important decision.

By combining his cleaning profession, his urgent need to solve the neighborhood dilemma and a love of the treadmill, Glimes came up with the dog toilet, a device which rolls like a running machine, is cleaned by pressurized water and connects directly to the sewage system.

"It took me about three months to turn the idea into reality," Glimes said, as an automatic sprinkler washed down the turning treadmill.

This was one of 710 devices on display at the annual International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva that opened on Wednesday. Organizers said about 70,000 visitors were expected to attend the five-day event which brought together innovators from 45 countries.

A quarter of the exhibitors were small private individuals like Glimes who came up with an idea and pushed ahead, trying to market and sell their concepts.

Cor Born, a Dutchman who proclaims his profession as "inventor," was promoting his idea of the knot-less balloon.

"Not everybody can tie a balloon and after tying many of them it can hurt your fingers," Born said, explaining why he felt the need to reinvent something that has not been significantly changed in years.

By placing a little bit of extra plastic inside the balloon to serve as a valve, Born eliminated the need to knot. As an added advantage, the balloon will remain fully inflated for up to 10 days, he claimed, all for just about one cent more per item.

The stalls promoted the low-tech, including a "drink manager," a tiny hand-rotated device which allows patients to keep track of how much water they drink during a day and a neatly hooked cheese knife, which enables hungry cocktail guests to cut the brie or camembert without having to do contortionist acts with their wrist.

The middle range, which combined existing technology with a small twist, featured concepts like a text message service from the United Arab Emirates that sends traffic updates to a GPS system by measuring the amount of mobile phones on the road, faster than any radio station or Website could report.

And of course, there was the ultra high tech, such as Alain Bouchain's retractable house which sinks under water so you can rest assured even if doomsday is approaching.

"When war comes people go underground, to bunkers," his son said, sourcing his father's inspiration.

While innovation did not seem hard-hit by the economic crisis, getting financial backing, never easy for the garage genius, may have gotten tougher, though ever confident inventors felt they would break through no matter the climate.

In line with the times, signs at many stalls claimed to save energy, conserve water, pollute less or have an organic element to the inventions.

Medical inventions we may yet see at hospitals and doctors' offices were in abundance, particularly from Malaysian scientists, including an idea thought up by a group of academics after one of them went to get his car's exhaust fixed at a mechanic shop.

"He had a device which would listen to the sound of the car and he could figure out what was wrong," said M. Hariharan.

This led them to invent a similar device for humans. By simply opening wide and saying "ahhh"- a sound made in nearly all languages- the machine could detect throat illnesses and voice problems.

While many of the impractical or bizarre innovations - and there were many - may not bring success or fame to the hard working inventors, at least visitors to the exhibition can enjoy the ride.