Since 2005, the James Dyson Award has encouraged the inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit of undergraduates and recent graduates in engineering and design, challenging them to design the solution to a problem. Aimed at a broad audience, the tender encourages students to solve relevant problems. The previous winners have in fact identified solutions in the production of renewable energy, new forms of sustainable plastic and medical and cancer screening.
Sir James Dyson, founder and chief engineer of the company of the same name, has the task of selecting two international winners, including the best project in the field of Sustainability, who will receive a cash prize and global recognition: two crucial first steps to put into practice the own ideas in real life. “Young people – says James Dyson – want to change the world and this award wants to give them support through concrete funding, validation and a platform to launch their ideas, with considerable success: in fact 65% of international winners propose their ideas on market, in a context in which 90% of start-ups fail. I am looking for revolutionary inventions that challenge and question traditional thinking “. Last year it recorded a record number of entries and the new sustainability award went to its first winner: Aureus, invented by Carvey Ehren Maigue from the Philippines. The James Dyson Award, recognizing the role of young designers and engineers in creating a sustainable future, last year introduced this internationally acclaimed award focusing on ideas that address environmental issues and that share the Dyson philosophy of Lean engineering, of making more through leaner processes.
Two awards
In 2021 there will still be two global prizes worth € 33,000: the international winner of the sustainability category and the overall international winner. But first of all, each participating country and region will award one national winner (€ 2,200) and two national finalists. Those who win the national victory will compete in the international awarding phase. On the top step of the Italian podium, in 2020, sustainability with the theme of pollution originated by microplastics present in our seas; the solution? Cloud of Sea-sea cloud: a special fender that allows each sailor to do their part, triggering a virtuous circle that starts from below. In second and third place, Chroma, a wearable medical device for monitoring the fetus in pregnancy, with the aim of reducing the movement and discomfort of future mothers and X-Tile, a particular tile able to regulate the temperature of our homes allowing considerable energy savings; the latter project was also included in the top 20 drawn up by Dyson engineers, thus competing for the international victory. Three projects, linked by a single strong red thread that unites them: the protection of the environment and people, in the sign of an Italian ingenuity aimed at solving practical and identity problems, such as our seas, motherhood and the light of the sun that for a large part of the year illuminates the Mediterranean countries.
“The James Dyson Award allowed me to show my project to the whole world“: the words of the Italian 2020 winner, designer Matteo Brasili. Twenty-five years old, from the Marche region and with a mind constantly turned towards the creation of practical solutions and the resolution of real problems: Matteo Brasili is the winner of the Italian edition of the James Dyson Award 2020, graduated from the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan (Naba) . More than 5 months after his victory, he takes stock of the path of his invention: “I am happy to say that the project is currently undergoing further evolution and experimentation through collaboration with a company, and we are working to make the produced as soon as possible “. Finally, he offers advice to all those who want to participate in the competition: “To all young people intent on participating and winning the competition I would recommend to express themselves within their project and to show their passion and their goals through their own ideas “.
The semplicity
Often the best inventions are also the simplest ones because they provide clear and intelligent solutions to real-world problems. The 2020 international winner, The blue box, is a home breast cancer detection device that diagnoses patients using an AI algorithm and a urine sample. It is designed to be less invasive and more accessible than current screening processes. The idea arose following the increase in the number of women who avoid mammograms. The inventor of the Blue box is 23-year-old Judit Giró Benet who says that winning the award was “a real turning point because the money won will allow the filing of numerous patents to accelerate research and development of the software”. Thanks to the prize money and international notoriety, Judit is now working on the final stages of software prototyping and development at the University of California Irvine. Everything is ready for human studies and clinical trials.
The award offered young inventors international media exposure, which paved the way for new investments and opportunities for the development of their ideas. KwickScreen, the UK national winner in 2011, specializes in infection screens for patient safety, and has grown to found a company that now employs over 70 people and supplies screens to every public health care institution in the United Kingdom and 240 hospitals worldwide. In 2017, SoaPen was the national finalist in the United States. The SoaPen is a colored soap pen that promotes safe hand washing. The product has been commercialized and has been included in the prestigious Forbes Under 30 ranking. SoaPen now distributes its expanding product line across America and recently created a hand sanitizer to meet demand during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rabbit Ray, a 2011 Singapore finalist, is used by 44 hospitals in 23 countries. It is a communication tool that hospital staff can use to explain medical procedures to children. Its inventor, Esther Wang, has since founded an award-winning health education company, Joytingle, and her invention Rabbit ray supports the communication of medical procedures from vaccinations to chemotherapy.