James Dyson Award 2014 opens for entries

James Dyson challenges young inventors to develop tomorrow’s technology today

James Dyson Award 2014 opens for entries

The prestigious, annual James Dyson Award is now calling for entries in product design and engineering for the 2014 competition.

First run in New Zealand in 2001, the global competition is searching for new and better ways to solve problems. In recent years the competition has discovered and supported inventors with ideas such as an upper-body robotic arm and a more efficient device to capture wave power.

With a prize fund of almost NZD $200,000[i], the world’s brightest young engineers are challenged to design something that solves a problem. Students and recent graduates have until August 7th to enter.

Students from 18 countries around the world will compete for a prize of NZD$60,000[ii] and a further NZD$20,000[iii] for their university. Last year’s international winners, the Titan Arm team, have used the prize money to patent and prototype their idea. Their battery powered upper-body robotic arm augments arm strength, to rehabilitate people with back injuries, rebuild muscle and relearn motor control.

“A bright idea is just the start. Developing and commercialising patentable technology is the hard part. We must encourage and financially support young engineers to solve the problems of today – and tomorrow. I’m looking for people that don’t just have a brilliant idea, but also the burning desire to make it a reality,” James Dyson, the inventor of the world’s first bagless vacuum.

New Zealand designer Jake Evill, was named the 2013 international runner up for his new 3D printed cast system for fractured and broken bones. Developed as a solution to traditional casts which aren’t waterproof; and are heavy, clumsy, itchy and smelly, and unable to be recycled, the Nelson industrial designer created a recyclable lightweight, ergonomic, waterproof and ventilated cast. After 3D scanning the limb, a tight fitting cast is generated, with localised support around the point of fracture.
Jake received over NZD$25,000 from the James Dyson Foundation to invest in the development of the concept. Like Jake, the 2014 national winner will win NZD$4000, a Dyson vacuum, be supported by The Designers Institute, and receive a fee package tailored to their individual needs from the Intellectual Property Office of NZ.
Entries can be uploaded to www.jamesdysonaward.org before 7 August, 2014.

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