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Entries open for invention by young minds that solves a problem
- For budding inventors, get ideas off the ground – submit to the James Dyson Award
- Global winner’s prize money up to £30,000 (approx. INR 30 lakh) and National winners will now receive £5,000 (approx. INR 5 lakh)
- Visit www.jamesdysonaward.org to find out more and apply
- Hear from founder James Dyson and successful past winners in the Award’s new launch video
NEW DELHI, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The James Dyson Award, an annual student design competition run by Dyson’s charity, is now open and accepting submissions from young inventors. After receiving an impressive array of entries in recent years, the Award is increasing its prize money to support the crucial first steps of entrepreneurship. This year’s National winners, to be announced in September, will receive £5,000 (approx. INR 5 lakh) towards developing their invention. To date the competition has awarded more than 285 inventions with prize money.
Since 2005, the James Dyson Award has challenged entrepreneurial undergraduates and recent graduates of engineering and design, to ‘Design something that solves a problem‘. Purposely broad and open-ended, the brief tasks students to take on big global problems. Past winners have found solutions to plastic recycling accessibility, excessive blood loss from knife wounds, and improving at-home medical diagnostics. Sir James Dyson chooses the competition’s global winners; they receive vital funding and high-profile recognition – key first steps to take their ideas into real life practical application.
Sir James Dyson, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson, said, “For me the importance of the James Dyson Award is to solve a problem intelligently – for young inventors to question things, challenge things. I truly believe young people want to change the world and in that they should be encouraged. The future is their world. The Award gives them the confidence and a platform to pursue their solutions. In fact, 70% of our past international winners are following up and commercialising their inventions. To future entrants, I look forward to reviewing your radical and game-changing ideas. Good luck.“
This year, there will be global prizes available. But first, each participating country and region will award a National winner (£5,000) and two National runners-up. The National winners are chosen by an external panel in collaboration with a Dyson engineer. Those that win a National accolade proceed to the International shortlist and awarding stages, where James Dyson selects global winners.
What makes a good entry?
The best inventions are often the simplest, providing clear and intelligent solutions to real-world problems. Last year’s National winner from India was Deval Karia, the inventor of LifeBox. The project LifeBox was developed with a vision to explore drones as a transport channel for organs. Conceptually, multiple ideas were brainstormed, leading to development of several prototypes and a novel cooling system that allows for significant reduction in weight and power requirement. Fluid delivery and cooling sub-systems were iteratively improved via experiments.
Deval Karia, the inventor of LifeBox, said:
“India has an abysmal rate of 200 heart transplants annually, despite a staggering 50,000 people in need. Institutional factors aside, the inability to move hearts from a donor to the recipient is a major hindrance to bridging this gap.”
“The project has its genesis in a course taught by Prof. B. Gurumoorthy, Prof. A. Ghosal at CPDM, with a vision to explore drones for organ transportation. However, we soon realized that without active preservation techniques, drones will not do much to improve the rate of heart transplants in India. This led to a shift in focus: A portable system that can extend the out-of-body viable time of the heart.”
Get to know what Dyson engineers are looking for in a James Dyson Award submission. Hear from long standing James Dyson Award judge, Peter Gammack, VP of New Product Innovation at Dyson, on the Dyson Newsroom here.
Stay up to date with the James Dyson Award.
Website: https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/
Instagram: @jamesdysonaward
Newsroom:https://www.dyson.co.uk/newsroom/overview/news/march-2022/2022-james-dyson-award-open-for-entries
Notes to editors
The James Dyson Foundation
The James Dyson Award forms part of a wider commitment by Sir James Dyson, to demonstrate the power of engineers to change the world. The competition has supported over 285 inventions with prize money, and is run by the James Dyson Foundation, an engineering-education charity funded by Dyson profits.
The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology and the Foundation’s work encourage aspiring engineers and problem solvers, to apply their knowledge and discover new ways to improve lives through technology.
To date, the James Dyson Foundation has contributed £140m to boundary-breaking concepts in education and other charitable causes, including £12m to Imperial College London to create the Dyson School of Design Engineering, and £8m to Cambridge University to create the Dyson Centre for Engineering Design and the James Dyson Building.
At school level, the James Dyson Foundation offers robotics workshops, led by Dyson engineers, and provides free educational resources. These include its most recent launch, Engineering Solutions: Air Pollution: introducing young people to air pollution and engineering’s role in finding solutions.
They support medical research and the local community in Malmesbury where Dyson’s UK offices are based. Last summer, the Dyson Cancer Centre at Royal United Hospitals in Bath broke ground, and the Foundation continues to support the Race Against Dementia Dyson Fellow, Dr Claire Durrant, in accelerating finding better treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
The Foundation has a website, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
About the competition
The brief
Design something that solves a problem. This problem may be a frustration that we all face in daily life, or a global issue. The important thing is that the solution is effective and demonstrates considered design thinking.
The process
Entries are judged first at the national level by a panel of external judges and a Dyson engineer. Each operating market awards a National winner and two National runners-up. From these winners, a panel of Dyson engineers then select an international shortlist of 20 entries. The top 20 projects are then reviewed by Sir James Dyson who selects international winners.
The prize
- International winners, chosen by Sir James Dyson, awarded up to £30,000.
- International runners-up receive £5,000.
- Each National winner receives £5,000.
The deadline to apply: 12:30 pm IST on 6 July, 2022
How to enter
Candidates enter through an online application form via the James Dyson Award website.
Entrants should explain what their invention is, how it works, and their development process. The best entries solve a real problem, are clearly explained, show iterative development, provide evidence of prototyping and have supporting imagery and a video.
All judges will take into consideration the restrictions to prototyping and product development as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eligibility criteria
Entrants must be, or have been within the last four years, enrolled for at least one semester in an undergraduate or graduate engineering/design related course. This course must be at a university in a country or region chosen to participate in the James Dyson Award.
In the case of team entries, all members must be or have been within the last four years, enrolled for at least one semester in an undergraduate or graduate programme at a university in a country or region chosen to participate in the James Dyson Award. At least one team member must have studied an eligible subject in engineering or design. Those participating in a degree level apprenticeship at Level 6 or Level 7, and those who have completed said apprenticeship in the past four years, are eligible to enter the award.
Further FAQs can be found on the James Dyson Award website.
