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.
Special thanks to our esteemed panel of judges.
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 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/2013
2013
For Information Contact:
Debbie Rothwell
Director of Marketing
Tech Briefs Media Group
212-490-3999, ext.5520
www.createthefuturecontest.com
October 3, 2013
Breakthrough in Low-Cost, Automated Chemotherapy Treatment
Wins $20,000 Global Design Competition
Contest Draws over 925 Innovative Product Ideas from Engineers and Students in 60 Countries
New York, NY – ChemoPatch, a game-changing, patent-pending device, is able to administer up to three different chemotherapy drugs in select doses and at specific time intervals. Drug delivery is automated, allowing patients to reduce the frequency of hospital visits. The device is undergoing CE mark approval processes in the UK and will start clinical trials in India.
The ChemoPatch is a key fob-sized device that includes multiple environmental sensors that enable consumers to run a variety of Apps — from carbon monoxide monitoring to breath alcohol testing. For mobile device developers, it offers an open platform to create new low-cost sensor applications, both for entertainment and more serious applications such as medical sensors.
ChemoPatch was among the more than 925 new product ideas submitted in the 11th annual design contest, which was established in 2002 to recognize and reward engineering innovations that benefit humanity, the environment, and the economy. This year’s design contest was co-sponsored by COMSOL (www.comsol.com), and SAE International (www.sae.org).
Alydaar Rangwala, a student at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), is part of the design team and views this invention as cutting-edge in its ability to deliver quality early-stage chemotherapy in developing countries. The existing methods for administration of these drugs have been primarily through intravenous delivery via a complex and costly pole-based infusion pump setup. As a result, infusion pumps have prevented treatment for early-stage cancers from becoming widely accessible.
“We are shocked and excited to have this tremendous opportunity to move forward with our design,” Mr. Rangwala said, ”this prize will help us to progress with the manufacturing process. We would like to extend a big ‘Thank You’ to the contest sponsors for making this happen.”
In addition to the grand prize of $20,000, first-place winners (of Hewlett-Packard workstations) were named in eight categories:
Aerospace & Defense – sponsored by TE Connectivity
Microwave Extraction of Water for Space Propellant
Edwin Ethridge
A method to reduce the cost of spacecraft launches by producing rocket propellant in-space from water.
Consumer Products
Plant Air Purifier
James Schaeffer (team leader)
An appliance that utilizes the recently discovered air-cleaning capacity of root-associated microbes living synergistically with common houseplants to trap and consume toxins in the air.
Electronics – sponsored by W. L. Gore & Associates
iPecs Pro Clinical Prosthetic Alignment and Assessment Tool
Michael Leydet (team leader)
A measurement and assessment tool to improve the fitting, adjustment, and alignment of prosthetic devices, resulting in greater mobility for the patient.
Machinery & Equipment
Fuel Flexible, Ultra-Portable Microturbine Generator
Erik Herold (team leader)
A portable power generation system that is reliable, requires little maintenance, and can operate continuously for extended periods of time.
Medical – sponsored by AVNET
Vitalflo
James Dieffenderfer (team leader)
A monitoring device that helps asthma and COPD sufferers to manage a respiratory care program through Bluetooth connectivity to a tablet, computer, or smartphone.
Safety & Security
Power Fingerprinting Monitor: Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Attack
Carlos Aguayo Gonzalez (team leader)
A cyber security solution capable of directly detecting malicious intrusions in critical infrastructure and Industrial Control Systems (ICS).
Sustainable Technologies
The Paradigm Shift in Wind Turbine Technology
Glen Lux
An environmentally friendly vertical axis wind turbine design that cuts the capital and maintenance costs of wind turbines by half, making wind power more competitive with other energy sources.
Transportation & Automotive – sponsored by AVNET
Swift Tram: High Speed Automated People Mover
Carl Lawrence (team leader)
An elevated, high-speed, automated rapid transit system that passengers can schedule on-demand using a smartphone.
Finalists were selected by senior editors at Tech Briefs Media Group and judged by an independent panel of design engineers. Visitors to the contest Web site could vote on entries, with the 10 most popular designs awarded a Sphero mobile game system by Orbotix. For more information, visit
www.createthefuturecontest.com.
About COMSOL
COMSOL, Inc. (Burlington, MA) provides software solutions for multiphysics modeling and simulation. Its flagship product, COMSOL Multiphysics, lets engineers and scientists build simulations that bring their design ideas to life. Its unparalleled ability to include all relevant physical effects that exist in the real world opens up a wide array of modeling possibilities. COMSOL's customers apply this technology to make cars and aircraft safer and more energy efficient, enhance the reception of our cell phones, search for new energy sources, explore the universe, develop medical equipment enabling more accurate diagnoses, and educate the next generation of scientists.
www.comsol.com
About SAE International
SAE International (Warrendale, PA) is a global association of more than 138,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive, and commercial-vehicle industries. SAE International's core competencies are life-long learning and voluntary consensus standards development. SAE International's charitable arm is the SAE Foundation, which supports many programs, including A World In Motion® and the Collegiate Design SeriesTM.
www.sae.org
# # #
The following entries received the highest overall scores from the panel of judges. They are listed in alphabetical order by title.
48V Town & Country Hybrid Powertrain
A Coordinated Powered Flexion/Extension/Rotation Prosthetic Wrist
A Device and Method for Screening for Cancer Metastasis
A New Concept of Computer Tomography with Fixed Anodes (Fixed Anodes CT, FA-CT)
Active Kinematics Suspension for a High Performance Sports Car
Aerial Arms
Air-Rops: Active Rollover Protection System
Air Filter Maintenance Alert
ATOM: A Multipurpose Tool
Audio Imager
Auto-Foil
AUTO Stop Lamp (Brake Light Bulb)
Automated Active Flow Control System based on Fluidic Oscillators for Fuel-efficient Aircraft
Avian-safe Wind Power
Beam Irradiance on Target System (BITS)
BluDAQ: Android Bluetooth Oscilloscope
Bio Fertilizers Using a Microbial Surface
Bio-Inspired Vision for Safety and Security
Carplane®
CASP Controller: Cascading Array of Sequenced Power, for ATX Supplies
ChemoPatch
Child Security Band and App
Compensator of Voltage Sags and Short Time Interruptions of Voltage at Power Grid
Deep Ocean Benthic Sampler
Electrically Conducting Proteins for Continuous Assay
Electroless 3D Micro Incubator Array
Electron Exciter
Electronic Aerial Emergency Flare
Energy Cell with Multi-layer Capacitors
Exo Dynamics - ExMS
Flexible, Inexpensive, Wireless Data Acquisition Unit
Flow Control Bridging Smart Devices with Cooking & Heating
Fuel Flexible, Ultra-Portable Microturbine Generator
Fuel Quality Sensor
Grass Powered Robot Mower
Gravity Development Board
Hybrid Micro-Composite E-Springs for Vehicle Suspension Systems
Hybrid Opposed Piston Engine - HOPE
HydroBine
INCREDICLAMP - A Safer, Stronger Machine Clamp
Intelligent Electric Roller Skates
iPecs Pro Clinical Prosthetic Alignment and Assessment Tool
Isowalk Intelligent Mobility
KloGlo
"Line-Wise" Snap-On Identifier
LOC Micro
Low Angle Sunlight Collector
LunarSail - Developing and Demonstrating a Mission-Capable Solar Sail for the Interplanetary Cubesat
Lyophilized Container for Plasma
Making Night Time Driving Safe and Automated
Manta Ray Cell Phone Detector
Microwave Extraction of Water for Space Propellant
Mobile Amputee Prosthetic Limb Management
Mycolysis - Pathogen Extinguisher
New Powertrain to Achieve 80mpg for Midsize Car
New Spinal Tap Kit for Improved Accuracy and Accessibility
OCOR Multiple Segment Lobe Pump
OrthoSensor Verasense System
Pedal Signal Correction to Improve Fuel Economy
Plant Air Purifier
Power Fingerprinting Monitor: Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Attack
Prillings for Next Generation Rocket Fuel
Prism - Urban Commuter Backpack
Pulsed Fusion Propulsion
Responsive Valve for Fuel Systems
RL Mark VI Space Skydiving Suit
Rotatable Telescopic Wingsail
Self-Powered Wireless Dimming Switch
Sensitive, High Resolution Thermal Infrared Imagers Based On Visible Digital Cameras
Simple Rapid Method of Water Quality Control
Simplest Opposed Piston Combustion Engine
Ski Helmet with Retractable Visor
Skin Assessment and Decubitus Ulcer Prevention System
Small Sample Analysis Device
Smartagger
Solar Textile: Ultra-Light, Low-Cost, Flexible, and High-Efficiency Solar Energy Harvesters
Sol Power LLC - Solar Powered Charging Stations
Speed Transmission Changer
Supercolor Multiplexing
Swift Tram: High Speed Automated People Mover
Test Strip Mixture Indicators
TH-Mission, Thumb-Sized Transmission
The Afterburning Rocket Engine
The Carbonator: Converting CO2 and Water into Plastic and Oxygen for Long-term Space Travel
The Daysimeter
The Omeguitar Project: The Ultimate Digital Song-Training Accessory
The Paradigm Shift in Wind Turbine Technology
Torque Stabilized, Vertical Lifting System
Tractional Stability Control System for Automobiles (Based on Integrated ABS and Weight Transfer Mechanism)
Two Roll Gripper End of Arm Tooling
Ultra-Miniature External Defibrillator System
UV Imager Useable In Ambient Lighting Environments
Varada Innovations
Variable Angle, Depth Controlled, High Speed Manual Cranial Access Device
Vehicle with Autonomous Operation Robocar UMech
Vibration Energy Harvesting
Vitalflo
Wave Thread Geometry Adds Strength and Durability to Applications
Wearable Bio-Sensing Platform
Wellhead Power Solution for Gas Venting
GRAND PRIZE
ChemoPatch
Alydaar Rangwala, Nikhil Mehandru, Aaron Perez and Brandon Sim
Theratech, Loudonville, NY
Category Winners
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE CATEGORY
Winner:
Microwave Extraction of Water for Space Propellant
Edwin Ethridge
Huntsville, AL
Honorable Mentions:
Sensitive, High Resolution Thermal Infrared Imagers Based on Visible Digital Cameras
Marcos Kleinerman
MetriLight, Inc., Amherst, MA
Prillings for Next Generation Rocket Fuel
Joy Mann Simmons, Joseph Resnick, Ron Stewart and Holden Lane
Perry, GA
CONSUMER PRODUCTS CATEGORY
Winner:
Plant Air Purifier
James Schaeffer, Bill Wolverton, Wayne Schaeffer and Bernarr Schaeffer
U.S. Health Equipment Co., Kingston, NY
Honorable Mentions:
Isowalk Intelligent Mobility
Ron Goldberg
Greenwood Lake, NY
Air Filter Maintenance Alert
John Pollock
Peoria, AZ
ELECTRONICS CATEGORY
Winner:
iPecs Pro Clinical Prosthetic Alignment and Assessment Tool
Michael Leydet, Richard Harrington, Alan Hutchenreuther, Vinay Bharadwaj, Chuck Krapf, Michael Link, Megan Toscas, Steven Hoover, Chris Nowak, Aaron Taszreak, Douglas Briggs, and Frank Fedel
College Park Industries, Fraser, MI
Honorable Mentions:
BluDAQ: Android Bluetooth Oscilloscope
Aubrey Kagan
Emphatec, Inc., Ontario, Canada
Simple, Rapid Method of Water Quality Control
Volodymyr Maslov and Gleb Dorozinsky
ISP NASU, Kiev, Ukraine
MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT CATEGORY
Winner:
Fuel Flexible, Ultra-Portable Microturbine Generator
Erik Herold, Jason Ethier and Ivan Wang
Dynamo Micropower, Boston, MA
Honorable Mentions:
Smartagger
Charles Kochou
Zareen P/L, Sydney, Australia
Audio Imager
Graeme MacDonald
Cube Industrial Design, Watsons Bay, NSW, Australia
MEDICAL CATEGORY
Winner:
Vitalflo
James Dieffenderfer, Mike Brown and Leigh Johnson
North Carolina State University, Apex, NC
Honorable Mentions:
OrthoSensor Verasense System
Carlos Gil
Orthosensor, Inc., Sunrise, FL
Exo Dynamics — ExMS
Jorge Sanz Guerrero, Dan Johnson, Sam Beckett, Alejandro Catalan and James Buquet
Exo Dynamics, Ann Arbor, MI
SAFETY & SECURITY CATEGORY
Winner:
Power Fingerprinting Monitor: Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Attack
Carlos Aguayo Gonzalez, Jeffrey Reed and Steven Chen
Power Fingerprinting, Inc., Blacksburg, VA
Honorable Mentions:
Line-Wise" Snap-On Identifier
Alan Sherman and Neil Koenig
Intelplex, Olivette, MO
Electronic Aerial Emergency Flare
Harry Wainwright
HLeeWainwright Tech Consulting, Bethlehem, PA
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES CATEGORY
Winner:
The Paradigm Shift in Wind Turbine Technology
Glen Lux
Lux Wind Power Ltd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Honorable Mentions:
Solar Textile: Ultra-Light, Low-Cost, Flexible, and High-Efficiency Solar Energy Harvesters
Ramki Kalyanaraman
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Energy Cell with Multilayer Capacitors
Denny Wheeler
Crystalline Energy Research Co., Nampa, ID
TRANSPORTATION & AUTOMOTIVE CATEGORY
Winner:
Swift Tram: High Speed Automated People Mover
Carl Lawrence, Becky English, Graham Hill, John Murino, Elaine Thorndike, Gaby Aweida, Carl Talkington, Rob Kammerling, Kim Hedberg, Nancy Balch, Ilse Gayl and Ron Gremban
Swift Tram, Inc., Boulder, CO
Honorable Mentions:
Making Night Time Driving Safe and Automated
Ofer David, Yoav Grauer, and Eyal Levi
BrightWay Vision, Haifa, Israel
Fuel Quality Sensor
Alain Lunati, Eric Hermitte, Sylvain Oberti, Xavier Capron, Tual Trainini, Christelle Kernaflen, Owsin Galtier and Thierry Gergaud
SP3H, PACA, France
BEST STUDENT ENTRY
Winner:
Vehicle With Autonomous Operation — UMech Robocar
Stanislav Kuskov, Kirill Kondratev, Pavel Karpenko, Maxim Shestak, and Ilya Shebanov
UMech University, Moscow, Russia
Click here for the list of the TOP TEN MOST POPULAR ENTRIES
Click here for the TOP 100 highest scoring entries.
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR JUDGES
| Malath Arar Senior Engineer General Electric Schenectady, NY |
Dean Barker Fisher and Paykel Healthcare Auckland, New Zealand |
Kenn Bates Principal Physics Engineer Raytheon El Segundo, CA |
| Nate Bernklau Senior Design Engineer John Deere Davenport, IA |
Stuart Brown Managing Principal Veryst Engineering Needham, MA |
Francisco Caballero INTA Madrid, Spain |
| Peter Colovas Software Manager General Dynamics Land Systems Northville, MI |
Jeff Crompton Principal AltaSim Technologies Columbus, OH |
Evangelos Diatzikis Principal Engineer Siemens Energy Orlando, FL |
| Mitch Finn Engineering Manager Medtronic Fridley, MN |
John Fish Senior Manager Lockheed Martin Astronautics Co. Palmdale, CA |
Venkat Gaddam Electrical Engineer Medtronic Neurological Minneapolis, MN |
| Samuel Glass Chief Technology Advisor AREVA Lynchburg, VA |
Pankaj Gupta Senior Process Development Engineer Boston Scientific Plymouth, MN |
Gregory Hardy Senior Engineering Program Manager The Boeing Company St.Louis, MO |
| Jim Hathaway Manager, Production Pograms Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Redondo Beach, CA |
Roger Harmon Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff Motorola Mobility Libertyville, IL |
Robert Holzhauer Electrical Cost Engineer Chrysler Group, LLC Northville, MI |
| David Jorde Owner Jorde Development, Design & Consulting Fallbrook, CA |
Pankaj Kalore Engineer Siemens Buffalo Grove, IL |
Preston Kemp, Jr. Technical Leader GE Power & Water Greenville, SC |
| James Lauer Master Black Belt Caterpillar Morton, IL |
Dzung Le Reliability Manager Schlumberger Jurong, Singapore |
Yu-Tai Lee Naval Architect Naval Surface Warfare Center West Bethesda, MD |
| Dave Luckey Satellite Flight Software Lead Lockheed Martin Denver, CO |
Edward Miesak Senior Staff Scientist Lockheed Martin Orlando, FL |
Scott Moore Chief Engineer Alliant Techsystems Anoka, MN |
| Paul Moren R&D Projects Quality Manager Valeo Cergy-Pontoise, France |
G. Muralidharan Senior R&D Staff Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN |
Matt Ondler Program Director SGT Houston, TX |
| Stephen Osborne Senior Project Engineer Stanley Black & Decker Townson, MD |
Anilkumar Pandit Senior Consulting Engineer GE Industrial Solutions Bangalore, India |
Tudosa Petrica R&D Engineer Alstom CH Rieden, Switzerland |
| James Potter Controls and Calibration Manager ZF Transmissions Group Gray Court, SC |
Humberto Pretti Senior Durability Engineer General Motors Sao Paulo, Brazil |
Jeffrey Puschell Principal Engineering Fellow Raytheon El Segundo, CA |
| David Ouellette Senior Mechanical Engineer Winchester Electronics Middlebury, CT |
Antonio Quintieri Procter & Gamble Waterloo, Belguim |
Susan Stanton Principal SBCi Sunbury, OH |
| Mike Stokes Staff Design Engineer Ethicon Endo-Surgery Cincinnati, OH |
Vladimir Theodorof Engineering Specialist Caterpillar Dunlap, IL |
William Vetterling Research Fellow Zink Imaging Lexington, MA |
| Rich White Mechanical R&D Engineer Agilent Technologies Wilmington, DE |
Bruce Woollard Senior Principal System Engineer Raytheon Tucson, AZ |
Michael Wrazen Project Integrator U.S. Army Picatinny Arsenal, NJ |
| Puck Yan Principal Professional Staff Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, MD |
TRIPLE ACTING PUMP it is named because compression is accomplished at the three sides of the pistons. By using this Triple acting pump we can achieve every high delivery with very high pressure comparing with the exiting one.This TA-pump reduce the Electrical efficiency, mechanical efficiency.
Trade Marked as the All American Fitness Bar, this handheld full body muscle building exercise barbell is the greatest advancement, in 200 years, for the free weight exercise community. Unlike conventional straight barbells, this bar is curved around the body, to maintain uniform balance.
Ever since I was a kid I remember my friends talking about the cars in the future,
The child security band and app offers parents of children a simple way to monitor their child's location without having them have to carry a mobile phone. The band provides parents a measure of security as the band is discrete, looks like a fun accessory to wear,
The built in smartphone projector eliminates the need for additional devices to be purchased or attached to the smartphone.
The benefits allow a smartphone owner to have easy access to projecting video, pictures, presentations, movies,
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