The 2025 Contest is Now Open for Entries!
Submit your best new product ideas in any of seven categories for a chance at $25,000 USD and other great prizes. Here’s how to get started.
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 All the 2024 Winning Inventions
Special Report spotlights the eight amazing winners in 2024 as well as honorable mentions in each category, plus the top ten most popular entries as voted by our community.
Click here to read moreA ‘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 nowThank 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
contest
Contest
GRAND PRIZE
Self-Destructing Plastics via Embedded Enzymes
Aaron Hall, Chris DelRe, Ivan Jayapurna, and Ting Xu, Intropic Materials, Oakland, CA, USA
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE CATEGORY
How to Keep Drones Flying When a Motor Fails, without GPS
Sihao Sun, Giovanni Cioffi, Coen de Visser, and Davide Scaramuzza, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Honorable Mention – Aerospace & Defense Category
D3 – Control and Deorbit Spacecraft without Rockets
Dr. Riccardo Bevilacqua, Dr. Laurence Fineberg, Dr. Dave Guglielmo, Erik T. Long, Dr. Camilo Riano-Rios, and Nicolo Marcello Woodward, Orbotic Systems Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
Learning Extreme Flight
Elia Kaufmann and Antonio Loquercio, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Bio-inspired Multi-functional Ceramics for Aerospace Applications
Hamidreza Yazdani Sarvestani and Behnam Ashrafi, National Research Council of Canada, Montreal, Canada
Project Pr0be
Sebastian Bandycki, Piotr Kostek, Rafal Rotblum, and Janusz Dobrzanski, Haxtron, Gdynia, Poland
AUTOMOTIVE/TRANSPORTATION CATEGORY
Afreecar E-kit: Provide Sustainable and Affordable Mobility and Power for All the World's People
Chris Borroni-Bird and Rich Saad, Afreecar LLC, Rochester Hills, MI, USA
Honorable Mention – Automotive/Transportation Category
Hairpin Motor Using Aluminum Hairpins
Michael Durack, Ultimate Transmissions, Saraburi, Thailand
HCCI Fickett-Jacobs Cycle Double Acting Internal PDE
Sky Huddleston and Roger Richard, Liberator LLC/Eternal Engines, Bourbon, MO, USA
3D Printing Boosts SiC Inverter Performance
Richard Gotch, Professor Peter Wilson, and Oliver Holt, University of Bath Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK
SERS-Suspension Energy Recovery System
Aditya Deshpande, Saroja Siddamal, Amankumar Saha, and Vivek Kumar, KLE Technological University, Hubballi, Karnataka, India
CONSUMER PRODUCT DESIGN CATEGORY
Aira FreePower – Advanced Wireless Power
Jake Slatnick, Eric Goodchild, Simon McElrea, and Marc Rosenmayr, Aira Inc., Chandler, AZ, USA
Honorable Mention – Consumer Product Design Category
Xogo – Accessibility for Everyone
Ray Abel and Dalton Banks, Bansen Labs, Coraopolis, PA, USA
Vision X – Assistive Smart Glass for Blind People
Premnath K, Uxmint, Chennai, India
Float Thermometer – Baby Bottle Application
Scott Hines, Canton, MI, USA
Breakthrough Polyurethane for Comfort Applications
Yasmin Srivastava, Juan Carlos Medina, James Facello, Jessica Chang, Tang Yin, Gretchen Baier, Tom Fielitz, Christopher Thiede, Roy Gamboa, Heather Mikel, Michelle Tipps, and Charmain Surles, Dow Chemical Company; Wayne Celia, Cell Foam Solutions Inc., Lake Jackson, TX, USA
ELECTRONICS/SENSORS/IOT CATEGORY
Freetouch
Darren David, Suzanne Hitchcock, Joe Kotas, Josh Wagoner, Stephan Winokur, and Julie Yamato, Freetouch, San Francisco, CA, USA
Honorable Mention – Electronics/Sensors/IoT Category
2D Materials Origami: The Tiniest Nanochips for Future Computation
Dr. Manoj Tripathi and Frank Lee, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; James McHugh, Department of Chemistry, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Early Warning Saves Lives
Halit Kaplan and Tarik Ozkul, FatigPro Sensor Co., Instanbul, Turkey
High Performance Silicone-based Material, Enabling Breakthrough Foldable Consumer Display Devices
Steven Kim, Johnny Park, Tae-Seung Lee, Youngno Lee, BK Park, Hugh Kim, Minji Jeong, Lucas Lee, and Jayden Cho, Dow Chemical Company, Gwanghyewon-myeon, Jincheon-gun, South Korea
Zero Energy Development
Niels Hokke, Suryansh Sharma, Sujay Narayana, R.R Venkatesha Prasad, and Josine van der Velde, Zero Energy Development B.V., Delft, The Netherlands
MANUFACTURING/ROBOTICS/AUTOMATION CATEGORY
Electronics-Free Soft Walking Robot
Dylan Drotman, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
Honorable Mention – Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Category
Cosmic Scale: Bringing Muography to Industry
Luis Fernando Gomez Gonzalez, Alexandre Junqueira, and Erick Mascagni Ferdinando, Konker Labs, São Paulo, Brazil
The Armature Project
Jia-Xiang Cheng, Jin Teng Hu, Yu-Kuan Mo, Roberto Jacob Policar, Jolo Gerard Miel Tolentino, Prof. Wan Jung Chang, Prof. Ming-Che Chen, Prof. Yang-Kun Ou, and Prof. Aaron Raymond See, STUST, Tainan City, Taiwan
Solventless Silicone Release SYL-OFF™ SL 184 Coating – Effective Mist Reduction Enabling Maximum High Coating Speed Productivity
Na Li, Zhenbin Niu, Pierre Chevalier, Thomas Davidian, Alex Knott, Nathalie Gerard, Alexandros Manikis, Alberto Petrosino, Brennan Macmillan, Celine Vlemincq, and Xiaoyun Chen, Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI, USA
Mo – Wheelchair Combination
Vasilatos Ianis, Oradea, Romania
MEDICAL CATEGORY
Halo Speculum – Invented by a Female for the Female
Dr. Tamatha Fenster, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian; JJ Lees, Artisan Medical Devices; and Mitchell Tung, OneWorld Design & Manufacturing Group, Warren, NJ, USA
Honorable Mention – Medical Category
‘Smart’ Wearable Sensor for Continuous Monitoring of Wound Healing
Keith Stevenson, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology; Olja Simoska, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
First-in-Class Therapeutic Pain Drug Designed from Proteins
Samerender Nagam Hanumantharao, Derek Allen, and Paul Blum, Neurocarrus, Lincoln, NE, USA
LIMBER Unibody Prosthetic Leg
Luca De Vivo, Joshua Pelz, and Herb Barrack, LIMBER Prosthetics & Orthotics, La Mesa, CA, USA
POPSafe™ Tracheostomy Tube Sets – A Life Saving Device
Kay Fuller, Smart Bridge Medical Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, USA
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES/FUTURE ENERGY CATEGORY
Multifunctional Bionanocomposite Fruit Coatings
Sylvia Jung, Nancy Cui, Neethu Pottackal, Pulickel M. Ajayan, and Muhammad M. Rahman, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
Honorable Mention – Sustainable Technologies/Future Energy Category
Thermionic Transistor
John Read and Daniel Sweeney, Space Charge LLC, San Diego, CA, USA
Aerodynamic Optimization of Wind Turbines
John Maris, Marivent Corp., Quebec, Canada
Creating a Better Tomorrow by Repurposing Coal: Converting Coal & Waste into Renewable Hydrogen
PD Madden, Eco Energy International LLC, Tustin, CA, USA
Recycling of Lithium Ion Electrodes
Donna Baek, Tedd Lister, and Luis Diaz Aldana, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA
TOP TEN MOST POPULAR ENTRIES
Educational Toy: The Portable Tree J-1
Jonar Cubillan, Patrick Morton, Richard Marquez, Mercylino Quinto, Humberto Linares, Yanmiver Jiménez, and Jose Cubillan, 3JC Technologies, Maracaibo, Venezuela
Universal Body Enhancement Spaceship Unit
Rick Crammond, Keshe Foundation Canada, Sooke, British Columbia, Canada
SAHIYOG – Innovative Bed Design
Ritesh Kumar, Sumit Ranjan, and Aman Prasad, BIT SINDRI DHANBAD, Dhanbad, India
India's First Smart Self-Sterilizing N100 Face Mask for Covid-19 Protection
Dr Rahul Gore, Sameet Raut, Utkarsha Ankalkhope, Dr Prveen Bidare, Pranit Watve, Pallavi Gore, Resha Raut, Jyoti Bidare, and Isha Anurag, Boriwali, Mumbai, India
Robust Road Lane Detection using Studs Based Night Image
Muhammad Shahzad, Dr. Irfan Ullah, and Wajid Khan, Abasyn University Peshawar KPK, Charsadda, Pakistan
Mini Spying Wireless Car
Usman Umar Dagona, Dagona Science and Technical F, Gashua , Nigeria
HydroDry – A Glove-based Dry Iontophoresis Device
Chirag Satapathy and Hrishikesh Gokhale, VIT Vellore, Bangalore, India
Portable Treatment and Desalination Module
Henrique Martins, Yara, Patrocínio, Brazil
Retrofitting Old Bicycles into Electric Bikes for Rental Services
Neeraj Balani, Mani Sanguri, and Saurabh Singh, MNNIT Allahabad, Prayagraj, India
Design and Analysis of a Possible Concept of the Lunar Lander's Landing System
Anurag Talekar, Karan Jethwa, Ajinkya Dabholkar, and Ajinkya Thombe, Mumbai University, Mumbai, India
Kevin Alderman
Heat Treat Engineer
Malath Arar
Staff Engineer
Avi Bhugra
Head of Product Quality
Dean Barker
Director
Richard Berger
Program Lead Aero-Thermal CAE - Full Size Truck
Nate Bernklau
Drive Systems Design Engineer
Gregory Blackwell
Principal Scientist II
Joseph Bogusky
Staff Mechanical Engineer
Sabin Carpiuc
Senior Physical Modeling Engineer
Federico Cindolo
Director of Research
Jeff Crompton
Principal
Michael Cukier
Principal Engineer, Advanced Manufacturing
Fernando da Mota Lopes
Mechanical Engineer
Adrian Draghici
R&D Manager
David Ferguson
Global Technology Leader
Jon Fifield
Chief Engineer
Mitch Finne
Sr. Engineering Manager
Inmaculada Galvez
Supply Chain Quality Manager
Brian Gleason
Chief Engineer
Bhaskar Gopalanarayanan
Senior Staff Engineer
Jim Hathaway
Manager, Advanced Technologies Programs
Jesus Hernandez
Functional Validation Manager
Felipe Herrero
Sr. Process Development Manager
Robert Holzhauer
Electrical Cost Engineer
Dave Hosey
Engineering Manager
Kevin Houser
Director, IP Strategy
Paolo Imperia
Sample Environments Group Leader
Vivek Jain
Lead Expert
Frank Joa
Senior Scientist
David Jorde
Development Consultant
Tomasz Kawala
Technical Specialist, Electronics Design
Wonoh Kim
Principal Software Engineer
Bharath Konda
Research Engineer
Patrick Krueger
Manager - Manufacturing Engineering
Deepak Kulkarni
James Ladtkow
Director, Advanced Technologies and Materials
Christopher Lewis
Senior Staff Product Manager
Joseph Lipman
Director of Device Development
Jair Lizarazo-adarme
Research Engineer & Adjunct Faculty
Jeff Luttrell
Staff Engineer
Aaron McPhee
Engineering Manager
Jose Guadalupe Mercado Rojas
James Miller
Director of Engineering
Robert Mink
Sr Powertrain Engineer
Scott Moore
Chief Engineer
Kevin Moore
Sr.Principal Engineer
Arunachalam Nagarajan
Engineering Senior Manager
Stephen Osborne
Director of Engineering
Anilkumar Pandit
Senior Consulting Engineer
Anthony Panos
Professor
Joon Chul Park
Part Leader/Senior Researcher
Jay Paster
Electronics Engineer
Marek Piechocinski
MEMS Design Engineer
Peter Piechocniski
Manager Electrical Application
Ron Pietrowski
Steam Engineering Manager
Jeffery Puschell
Principal Engineering Fellow
Antonio Quintieri
Principal Engineer
John Radke
Mgr. Integrated Technologies Product Support
Fayaz Rasheed
R&D Staff
Alex Selvarathinam
LM Fellow
Gary Sera
Director Emiritus
Steve Stark
CEO/Creator
Brian Stewart
Chief Engineer
Mike Stokes
Principal Design Engineer
Samson Stoll
Systems Engineer
Michael Trulock
Executive Vice President
Adnan Turkey
Senior Professor, Engineering
Torbjorn Virdung
Technical Expert, Complete Vehicle CFD
William Wells
R&D Engineer
Rich Wells
Assistant Professor
Puck Yan
Principal Professional Staff
Brad Yearous
Principal Engineer
The Hybrid CoAxial Engine is an advanced development of the previous entry from 2015 that provides further improvements of the design of the CoAxial Engine. The design presents an integration between the CoAxial Engine and an electrical machine. Presently,
Science and technology are rapidly evolving, creating a daunting entrance barrier in the face of young students. Frequently, K-5 teachers are ill-equipped and uncomfortable in teaching STEM subjects. Coupled with this, many children grow up in families where their parents have an aversion towards STEM, propagating a negative perception of it.
PROBLEM TO SOLVE:
Screening and Lab analysis are performed at Lab with an expensive equipment, (Maintenance, periodic calibration, difficult to operate)
Samples are manually tagged, analyzed by a health care professional, and results are entered manually (Lack of digitization Risk of human errors).
Analyses are done hours in some cases days after sampling (Waste of time,
INTRODUCTION:
Blade fatigue, due to cavitation in rocket engine turbopumps, often triggers catastrophic system failures, costing backers of space missions, launch vehicle operators and their customers millions of dollars every year. The Next Planet Research VFI-689M System has the potential for reducing pump failures by optimizing launch vehicle performance and improving safety margins.
Why not build a truly non-invasive blood glucose meter out of a short-wave infrared (SWIR) reflectance spectrometer, and use the changes in skin spectra it measures due to the cardiac pulse cycle to produce interference free blood spectra for analysis? Availability of a hand held version of this device eliminates painful blood samples, lancets,
The advancements made in the fields of technology and automobiles has led many drivers to believe they are auditioning for the next Fast and Furious movie. This has contributed to car crashes being the number one cause of death for 5 to 29 year old’s and has claimed approximately 1.35 million lives a year worldwide.
Each year, 90 Americans are killed in lawn mowing accidents. Countless more are injured, and the average homeowner will spend 1% of their life mowing their lawn. With technological advances in GNSS positioning, sensor fusion, and obstacle avoidance and detection, autonomous lawn mowers are now a real possibility. This product will save lives, prevent injuries, 
We propose an alternative heatshield design for SpaceX’s Starship. It solves the problem of how to efficiently make a heatshield core material made of steel alloy that can be formed into double asymmetric curvatures without distortion and which has an interstitial space to hold either fuel or water in between the sandwich layers.
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