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.

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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.

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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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Catherina, Smartly Illuminate Your Life

Votes: 0
Views: 6150

CatherinaS presents autonomous indoor lighting that utilizes recent advances in LED technology. This luminaire is designed to be used as a compact light source with high efficiency, long life time and smart autonomous behavior. Due to its compact size, almost any design idea can be accommodated and realized. With the implementation of a highly sensitive PIR detector, CatherinaS behaves autonomously. Luminaire electronics distinguish between day and night, meaning the user can precisely select the threshold value for minimal ambient light (the point when you need artificial illumination). If the ambient light is below this threshold level (getting dark) and movement is detected, light is continuously increased and switched on. After approximately 45 seconds, when there is no movement, it is slowly faded-out and finally switched off. Thanks to advanced LED technology, CatherinaS offers almost homogeneous lighting over the whole projection area with minimal power requirements and life expectancy above 50k hours.

CatherinaS could save more than 50% on electricity consumption compared to halogen and fluorescent light sources and is environmental friendly (no mercury content, and compliance with RoHS directives). CatherinaS requires NO maintenance other than normal dusting/cleaning during the entire product life. Benefits of this solution are:

- Functions automatically, no switches, plug it in and let it work without touching any switch, automate tedious tasks and thus improve quality of life
- Efficient, Low power consumption, uses less than 50% of the electricity when compared to halogen or incandescent lighting
- Long life over 10 years of regular home use
- High resolution intensity control with flickering elimination (invisible even to a video camera)
- Built-in microcontroller with dimming function, smooth fade-in, fade-out with gamma correction for visual comfort
- Intensity adjustment offers 250 levels with,
- Novel SmartAmbient function simplifying ambient threshold adjustment
- Easy installation, using 3M adhesive tapes with all necessary accessories included.

Summary: CatherinaS improves quality of life, user is getting illumination when needed without touching any switch. It can be used in each home, thus offering high marketing potential introducing high quality product at moderate costs. According to our knowledge this is the first such solution introduced to the market.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Valentin Kulikov
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    Valentin Kulikov Junior
    Valentin Kulikov Senior
    Bibiana Kulikova
    Patrik Juricek
  • Profession:
    Business Owner/Manager
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    3
  • Valentin's hobbies and activities:
    Literature, Traveling, Electronics, Mechanics
  • Valentin belongs to these online communities:
    please refer to linked-in
  • Valentin is inspired by:
    Bringing outstanding products for smart people.
  • Software used for this entry:
    Autodesk Inventor, Alibre Design, Corel Draw X4, KeyShot 2
  • Patent status:
    patented