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
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The 3D Virtual Reality System completely immerses the user in a dynamic 3D visual and 3D audio environment that changes naturally in response to the user's movements. The user wears specially designed goggles that create the 3D visual and audio environment.
One of the biggest problems with any device that needs an electric motor is the faster a motor turns and the more torque that is required, the more current and/or voltage is required to run it which limits the time a motor can run from a stored energy source like a battery.
This design idea proposes looking at cancer tumors as an electrical engineering problem and use simple techniques to detect and treat them using common lab equipment and RF energy (i.e. cell phone signals). Information available estimates more than 180,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer each year, with over 41,000 deaths resulting annually.
While driving on the highways, quite often we come across messages displayed on electronic sign boards either over head or on the side of the road. Sometimes they could be running messages. The message could be an Amber Alert, a Traffic Alert or any other important message.
With the higher speed that we will be driving on the Interstates,
Correction of Pediatric and Adult spine deformity is a difficult problem facing physicians worldwide. Currently devices on the market necessitate large expansile incisions and extensive blood loss, creating a high morbidity rate as well as a significant complication rate. This device allows for gradual correction of the most difficult deformity with minimal incision with no blood loss whatsoever.
The eventual shift from our dependence on fossil fuels to sustainable, alternative energies has been exemplified by personal transportation. We rely on the high energy density of petroleum products to power our vehicles, but the rise of hybrid and electric vehicles in recent years has shown hints of the future to come. However, the shift has been gradual,
Autonomous Velocity Motors
One of the biggest problems with any device that needs an electric motor is the faster a motor turns and the more torque that is required, the more current and/or voltage is required to run it which limits the time a motor can run from a stored energy source like a battery.
We are creating a venture referred to as ZEFCOT. ZEFCOT stands for Zero Energy, Environmentally Friendly Community Of Today. The goal of ZEFCOT is to prove that an extremely energy efficient housing subdivision can yield greater profits for the developer and builders while providing a very durable, comfortable, energy efficient, well-lit housing for the homeowners.
Electronic ink displays are not very expensive to manufacture, not that much more expensive than normal paper, yet the cost of devices containing them is quite high. That is because of the control circuitry that drives the display.
Oceanic Thermal Energy Conversion system for Gulf Restoration Venture (OTEC-Gulf) is being created in this two-phase effort. In Phase I, we will conduct extensive, long-term testing of concepts over a two-year period in a one-tenth-scale prototype. In Phase II, deploy 100’s of 100-megawatt OTEC systems.
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