The 2015 James Dyson Award – a competition that is open to university students or recent graduates studying product design, industrial design or engineering – is now open for entries until 2 July.  The competition runs across 20 countries and the brief for entrants is to “design something that solves a problem”.

The competition is a lucrative one for successful entrants.  In addition to the prestige of the Dyson name, national winners receive £2,000, whilst the overall international winner receives £30,000 with a further £5,000 going to their university department.

Incentives for Innovation

As one of the most successful and high-profile British inventors of his generation, James Dyson has shown that it is possible to build a profitable business from clever inventions.  His enthusiasm for product design has led him to spend a great deal of time working with young inventors and entrepreneurs, as well as lobbying government and businesses for more support in this area.

Dyson firmly believes in the power of intellectual property, and has patented many processes and products since the start of his career in design and invention.  He has previously called on the government to introduce further incentives for innovation in the UK, which he believes represents a huge potential benefit to the economy.

Previous Dyson Winners

In 2014, James Roberts from Loughborough University won the overall international title for his design for an inflatable incubator for babies.  The incubator is designed specifically for the developing world, where its low cost makes it an affordable and vital option.

The winner of the national UK award in 2014 was Solveiga Pakstaite from Brunel University, who invented a system for food packaging that reliably informs customers whether food is suitable for eating.  It uses a gelatin patch which is smooth when food is fresh, but becomes bumpy as the food degrades.

To enter your design in this year’s competition please follow the link:

http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/individual-registration/

Patent Advice from SH&P

At SH&P, we offer sound professional advice to anyone who needs to protect their intellectual property.  From the initial invention stage through to prototyping and production, we work with businesses, organisations and individual inventors to help them decide when is the right time to seek  patent protection, and how that fits with their business planning.

Your initial consultation with us is completely free, so if you have an invention that you want to protect, or a portfolio of intellectual property that you would like us to assess, please book an appointment today.