Annual Dyson Award Calls For Kiwi Ingenuity

Press release
4 April, 2006

ANNUAL DYSON AWARD CALLS FOR KIWI INGENUITY

New Zealand’s only national product design competition is now calling for budding Kiwi designers with innovative new product ideas to submit their designs for the sixth annual Dyson Product Design Award before Friday, May 26, 2006.

Set up in 2001, the Dyson Award is held in association with the British Council Design Ambassador Programme, the Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ) and the Designers Institute of New Zealand to recognise and reward up and coming Kiwi designers with product design ideas that best demonstrate innovative and inspiring solutions to everyday problems.

The Award’s judges call for inspiring ideas which provide solutions for everyday problems. Previous award submissions include a digital talking book for the blind, a practical yet stylish skateboarding shoe with a replaceable outer shell and washable inner and a man overboard life saving device.

Last year’s winner, Su. Vario, designed by Unitec graduate Rodney Ng, is an innovative tool designed to protect horticultural workers from becoming exposed to dangerous spray chemicals. The spray unit, worn as a backpack, removes the need for horticulturalists to pre-mix and measure dangerous chemicals prior to spraying crops.

The 2006 Dyson Product Design Award recipient will be named a British Council Design Ambassador and will travel to the UK with $3,000 travelling expenses where they’ll have the opportunity to meet key members of the UK design community. Plus, they can select an official fee prize package from IPONZ tailored to their design’s intellectual property needs, a year’s membership to DINZ, a Dyson vacuum cleaner, and an invitation to join the D&AD talentpool, an online database of international design talent.

The winner will also have the opportunity to compete against other emerging product designers for the James Dyson Award, a global design award to be won by the best of other national level competition winners from around the world. The winner of the James Dyson Award will receive a £5,000 cash prize package which also includes interaction with Dyson’s senior engineers from their Research and Development team based in the UK.

Open to final year tertiary students studying in the areas of design, technology or engineering, the Award is also inviting entries from graduates in these areas who are in their first five years of work force.

Interested applicants can visit http://www.dyson.co.nz/ for entry information or email entries@dysonawards.co.nz to request an entry pack.

-ends-

- Dyson was founded by James Dyson who made over 5000 prototypes and dedicated 15 years to revolutionise the vacuum cleaner.

- Dyson invests heavily into R&D, a third of Dyson’s employees are design engineers developing new technologies to make everyday products work better. Dyson has 577 patents and patents pending in respect of over 438 different inventions, which protect Dyson technology from being copied by imitators.

- Dyson is New Zealand’s leading vacuum cleaner brand.

- Dyson is the only floorcare company to partner the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation of New Zealand. The main objective of this alliance is to accomplish deep reaching, long term and better solutions for people with asthma.

© Scoop Media