Congratulations to Our 2024 Grand Prize and First Place Winners!

NETrolyze, a novel immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), was named the $25,000 grand prize winner at a live finalist round held November 15 in New York. The first-in-class therapeutic injectable gel prevents the spread of TNBC, one of the most aggressive cancer types, enabling patients to avoid toxic chemotherapy and expensive treatments – potentially transforming their lives. Click here for the full list of 2024 winners. Also see the Top 100 highest scoring entries.

Help build a better tomorrow

Since Tech Briefs magazine launched the Create the Future Design contest in 2002 to recognize and reward engineering innovation, over 15,000 design ideas have been submitted by engineers, students, and entrepreneurs in more than 100 countries. Join the innovators who dared to dream big by entering your ideas today.

Read About Past Winners’ Success Stories

Special Report spotlights the eight top entries in 2023 as well as past winners whose ideas are now in the market, making a difference in the world.

Click here to read more

A ‘Create the Future’ Winner Featured on ‘Here’s an Idea’

Spinal cord injury affects 17,000 Americans and 700,000 people worldwide each year. A research team at NeuroPair, Inc. won the Grand Prize in the 2023 Create the Future Design Contest for a revolutionary approach to spinal cord repair. In this Here’s an Idea podcast episode, Dr. Johannes Dapprich, NeuroPair’s CEO and founder, discusses their groundbreaking approach that addresses a critical need in the medical field, offering a fast and minimally invasive solution to a long-standing problem.

Listen now

Thank you from our Sponsors

“At COMSOL, we are very excited to recognize innovators and their important work this year. We are grateful for the opportunity to support the Create the Future Design Contest, which is an excellent platform for designers to showcase their ideas and products in front of a worldwide audience. Best of luck to all participants!”

— Bernt Nilsson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, COMSOL, Inc.

“From our beginnings, Mouser has supported engineers, innovators and students. We are proud of our longstanding support for the Create the Future Design Contest and the many innovations it has inspired.”

— Kevin Hess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Mouser Electronics

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2011
Judges

Senior Development Design Engineer - Solar Turbines Inc.
San Diego, CA

Subject Matter Expert Grounding Systems
Extra Class Ham Radio Operator
Mater Tool & Diemaker
Controls Lab Mgr.

Engineer Specialist - Caterpillar Inc.
Dunlap, Illinois

Born 05/10/58 Bucharest Romania
Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering - Automotive Engineering
27 years Mechanical Engineering in Automotive and Industrial Equipment design.

Software: ProE, ProMechanica, Maxwell 3D, StarCD, dSpace, Dynasty, 973.

Senior Engineer - Varian Ion Implant
Gloucester, MA

US Navy Fire Control missile radar systems 1977-1983
Varian Ion Implant Systems 1984-2011
Northeastern University Manufacturing engineering degree

Senior Analytical Engineer - Ferno Washington Inc.
Wilmington, OH

Sailesh Tangirala currently works as a Senior Analytical Engineer at Ferno Washington Inc. Sailesh oversees product safety analysis, material selection and product testing/certification departments at Ferno. He has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from University of Kentucky and is currently pursing MBA at Xavier University in Cincinnati Ohio.

Doctor - Newport
Santa Clara, CA

Education:
PhD, Precision Instrument Engineering, Tianjin University, China, 1996

Professional Experience:
2010 ~ present: Staff Mechanical Engineer, Newport Corp., Santa Clara
2008 ~ 2010: Mechanical consultant on semicondut equipment R & D, Mountain View, CA
2006 ~ 2008: Mechanical Engineer, Tokyo Electron, Santa Clara, CA
2004 ~ 2006: Mechanical Engineer, Frontier Semiconductor, San Jose, CA
2000 ~ 2004: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Riverside, CA

Professional Membership:
Senior Member of IEEE

6 Sigma Master Black Belt - Caterpillar Inc.
Morton, IL

Professional Engineer with BS and MS Industrial Engineering degrees as well as a MBA. Work experience of over 33 years in design, manufacture, safety and environmental needs of industries including aircraft/aerospace, engines/systems/components, and heavy construction equipment. Providing leadership, education, and training of creation and improvement methodologies for new/current products and processes through Lean and 6 Sigma tools and techniques.

Davide Borghi Technology Specialist Tetra Pak
Stuart Brown Managing Principal Veryst Engineering, LLC
Paul S. Buccos Senior Engineer Varian Ion Implant
Paul O. Davis Senior Platform Engineer GE Home & Business Solutions
Tim Garner Technical Fellow Delphi
Parag Gupta Principal Engineer Stryker
Avkash Chauhan Senior Escalation Engineer Microsoft Corp.
Carl Gomes Senior Mechanical Team Leader Motorola
Kenneth Huening Vice President, Automotive and Military Maxim Integrated Products
Michael Jammal Program Manager Rockwell Automation
David Jorde Senior Development Design Engineer Solar Turbines, Inc.
Pierluigi La Montagna Industrial Designer -- EUR-ERG Technip Italy S.p.A
Paul Morgan Senior Engineer Micron Technology
James Lauer 6 Sigma Master Black Belt Caterpillar, Inc.
Anwei Liu Mechanical Engineer Newport Corp.
Kamlesh Pande Chief Consultant & Adjunct Professor Forbes Marshall & IIT Bombay
Paul Rebmann Team Manager, Mechanical R&D Nagravision S.A.
Ralf Reiser R&D Manager Mars, Inc.
Sriram Sambandamurthy Principal Systems Engineer MEDRAD, Inc.
Abraham Si Director, IC Design Maxim Integrated Products
C. Nils Smith Assistant Vice President Southwest Research Institute
Yogesh Soni Founder & CEO Mattozetta Technologies
Sailesh Tangirala Senior Analytical Engineer Ferno-Washington, Inc.
Vladimir Theodorof Engineer Specialist Caterpillar, Inc.
Rich White Mechanical R&D Engineer Agilent Technologies
Ray Yingling Director, External Alliances Eastman Kodak Company

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