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/2012
2012
Emerging electric vehicles require high starting torque smooth running high power tracking motors. Developing such motors is a technological challenge.
Currently, hybrid and electric vehicle use motors with rare-earth permanent magnets in the rotor. This eliminates providing current to the rotor which eliminates power loss, and decreases maintenance.
Product idea: Prototype synthetic bone scaffolds manufactured by selective laser sintering (SLS) using NOVEL BORATE-BASED BIOACTIVE GLASS (BBG) mimicking the structure and mechanical properties of normal healthy trabecular bone tissue and which can be used for trauma repair.
How it works: Medical imaging can provide non-destructive characterization of 3D bone density, structure, connectivity, and mechanical properties.
Asteroids and comets are some of the most accessible sources of space based raw materials and elements, rich with minerals, ores and even water, that can be exploited in-situ toward space architectures and systems development or for delivery to locations including moon, Mars and also the Earth. As proof of concept for a needed critical technology,
The utilization of solar satellites beaming power to an airship based construction, permanently positioned about 18 to 25 km altitude will allow airship utilization to act as rectenna catchment area, an atmospheric intermediary and a relay station for ground based rectenna or receiver dish attributes.
Discussions for the provisions of manned lunar or Martian bases often center around the placement of various types of early stage settlement habitats, ranging from the cylindrical surface based “tuna can” of the Mars Society to an adaptable and expedient deployment of lightweight inflatable or aerogel rigidizable structures.
An important objective for solar system expansion is near earth asteroid-based development. Starting from a nunmanned mission this program can provide an asteroid mitigation platform, obtain essential space based resources and materials, spur the development of a fully reusable space transportation system, establish a durable and inclusive space colony,
The need to clean up space debris is urgent. We propose a comprehensive, self-sufficient and robotically enabled system, avoiding multiple launch support platforms once deployed. The main outlines comprise an initial vehicle together with a related debris processing plant.
The reciprocating engine has been a paradigm for industry and a touchstone for engine technology for over one hundred years. Engines used today though, are only five to seven percent mechanically efficient at best. They expel more than 75% of the thermal energy of its fuel out the radiator and exhaust! Wasted!
During years of experimenting with 3D photography I discovered that 2 full color photos are not necessary to gain a full color 3D photo.
One photo in color, the other in black and white. Combining the two result in a full color 3D image.
The additional benefit gained is a 3D color combination with more natural colors.
Problem Identification
While the use of various lightweight structures continues to grow for future automobile and aerospace vehicles, the availability of practical modular, miniaturized and multi-purposed Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) sensor systems for monitoring structure is seriously trailing. Thus, the need exists to develop a wireless structure monitoring system that is accurate but easy to handle physical,
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