Dubai, UAE, July 16, 2018:  A device tackling ocean plastic waste, a heavy-lifting exoskeleton and an automated pollination system are just some of the thought-provoking entries that have entered the 2018 James Dyson Award so far. 

 

Our oceans are swamped with eight millions tonnes of waste every year. To abate a potential crisis in our ecosystem, technology must react quickly and students in Spain think they may have the answer. L.I.F.E. (Living Incorporated Filter Ecosystem) is engineered to dissolve plastic waste, filter toxic water and foster life underwater. Click here for more information.

 

Reports suggest that 800million jobs could be lost by 2030 due to automation,  and already robots are competent in conducting physical activity. Compiled with the prevalence of injury in the sector, manual labour jobs appear most at risk.  EXOSUIT aims to empower human labour by correcting overexertion and incorrect lifting and maximising strength. Click here for more information.

 

As bee numbers decline across the globe, the United Nations claim that the world's food supply could be jeopardised. If this trend isn’t curbed, industry must develop alternative mechanisms for pollination. Stem is an automated system which artificially pollinates plants and optimises their growth. Click here for more information.

 

From space colonisation, to space tourism, Space and Exploration Technologies are increasingly de rigueur, yet space exploration currently incurs a high-level of risk. Extravehicular activity (EVA) is a primary example of this, as it involves missions outside of a spacecraft, leaving astronauts vulnerable to unanticipated difficulties. Despite this, audio is the currently the principle method for communication. Astronaut Augmented Reality Display, aims to make astronauts more autonomous during mission by providing them with new communications tools including a visual display, voice control and audio. Click here to find out more.

 

According to the World Health Organisation, every year over 7 million die prematurely from chronic illnesses after being exposed to air pollution;  of these deaths, 1.7 million are children.  Robi, is a wearable device designed to educate children about air quality using colour, sound and vibration, whilst also cleaning the air using a carbon filter. Click here to find out more.

 

The competition is open to student inventors with the ability and ambition to solve the problems of tomorrow. Winning solutions are selected by Sir James Dyson and show ingenuity, iterative development and commercial viability. This year Mexico, the UAE, Sweden and the Philippines, have joined the global contest. With students from 27 nations now competing, the award is set to welcome new approaches to a broader range of global issues than ever before.

 

Since the competition first opened fourteen years ago, the iconic inventor has already contributed over £1m to championing boundary-breaking concepts. To help finalists to develop their novel idea, each year the overall winner is awarded £30,000, and winners in each participating region receive £2,000. Unlike other competitions, participants are given full autonomy over their intellectual property. 

 

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 Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, the James Dyson Foundation and James Dyson Award embody a vision to empower aspiring engineers, encouraging them to apply their theoretical knowledge and discover new ways to improve lives through technology.

 

Last year’s International Winner, ‘The sKan’ was a bold and ambitious project to provide a low-cost solution to melanoma, a form of skin cancer which is increasing in incidences. ‘The sKan’ is designed to detect the disease, by creating a thermal map of the skin. In the long-term the team hope the product could save thousands of lives every year.  

 

A year on since winning the award, the team of biomedical scientists are already developing their company ‘PRSM Medical’, building their next prototype and plan to file their first patent later this year. Following this success, they are encouraging others to enter their projects into the Awards: “Winning the James Dyson Award was an exciting and humbling opportunity.  The exposure we received around the world opened many doors for us. We’ve made connections with top experts and are continuing to learn from them so we can continue to develop ‘The sKan’ to solve the problems in today’s melanoma diagnosis process.”

 

The James Dyson Award closes for entries on 20th July 2018. With just a few days to go, the countdown clock has begun, but already the competition has attracted a number of ground-breaking ideas. Below are further details about some of the projects that having sparked our interest.