James Dyson Award 2025 Seeks Groundbreaking Inventions From Young Engineers And Scientists

12th March 2025 Auckland, New Zealand– The James Dyson Award, an international student design and engineering competition, opens for submissions today to its 2025 programme in 28 countries and regions. From everyday challenges to the world’s most pressing issues, the Award calls for current or recent students to submit problem-solving ideas that could make a real difference to people’s lives.

Since it was established in 2005, the James Dyson Award has supported more than 400 student inventions with close to $2 million in prize money and a global platform. Those who progress to the final stages and are selected by James Dyson as the global winners will claim a prize of $66,100 NZD and a chance to gain international media exposure, providing a springboard to commercialise their inventions.

In 2024, Massey University student Jack Pugh won the New Zealand national award for his work on Cap Snap, a sustainable solution that uses a multi-tool to assist health professionals when accessing medications. Jack said: “It was so thrilling to be selected as last year’s National winner for New Zealand, as it was a formal acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication I’ve put into this project so far. The James Dyson Award is held in high regard for Massey University industrial design students, so it was a huge milestone for me.”

Global previous winners include mOm incubators, who developed a low-cost, inflatable incubator to provide flexibility to caring for newborns in less developed areas.

Invented by James Roberts, Product Design & Technology graduate from Loughborough University in the UK, mOm has gone on to support over 10,000 patients, and continues to expand its operations worldwide, including in conflict areas such as Ukraine.

SoaPen, a previous runner-up in the US, continues to transform hand hygiene education. Invented by Parsons School of Design graduates Shubham Issar and Amanat Anand, SoaPen is a colourful pen made from soap, to teach young children handwashing in a fun way. After receiving recognition from the James Dyson Award, the team launched SoaPen in the US in 2018, and continues to pursue its mission to make hand hygiene fun and accessible, worldwide.

Sir James Dyson, Founder of Dyson, said: “I started the James Dyson Award 20 years ago with the mission to inspire and support the next generation of design engineers. The brilliant ideas we’ve seen since then prove that young people are passionate about providing solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, using design, engineering and technology – in medicine, the environment and much more. I look forward to discovering what inventions will be put forward this year – good luck!”

The deadline to apply is midnight on 16th July 2025. Shortlisted entries in each participating country or region will then be evaluated by national judging panels with expertise across design and engineering, based on functionality, design process, differentiation, and commercial viability.

The National Winners, selected by these judging panels and each winning a $11,000 prize, will be announced on 10th September, the Global Top 20 Shortlist, selected by Dyson Engineers, on 15th October, and the Global Winners, selected by James Dyson, on 5th November.

NOTES

The James Dyson Award forms part of a wider commitment by Sir James Dyson, to demonstrate the power of engineers to solve the world’s problems. The competition has supported more than 400 inventions with prize money and a chance to gain global media exposure, and is run by the James Dyson Foundation. Founded in 2002, the Foundation is an international education charity whose mission is to inspire the next generation of engineers. The Foundation also invests in medical research and has donated more than £145m to charitable causes to date.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

The brief. Design something that solves a problem. This problem may be a frustration that we all face in daily life, or a global issue. The important thing is that the solution is effective and demonstrates considered design thinking. Unlike other competitions, participants are given full autonomy over their intellectual property.

The process. Entries are judged first at the national level by a panel of external judges and a Dyson engineer. Each operating market awards a national winner and two national runners-up. From these winners, a panel of Dyson engineers then select an international shortlist of 20 entries. The top 20 projects are then reviewed by Sir James Dyson who selects his global winners. The 2025 prizes

• Global winners, chosen by Sir James Dyson, awarded up to $66,100

• Sustainability winners awarded up to $66,100

• Global runners-up receive $11,000

• Each national winner received $11,000

Previous global winners

2024 Medical Winner – Athena

A portable and affordable hair-loss prevention device for chemotherapy patients.

2024 Sustainability Winner – airXeed Radiosonde

A reusable, nature-inspired sensor to improve weather forecasting and tackle e-waste.

2023 Australian winner (and Top 20 finalist) - REVR

Sustainability-focused invention ‘REVR’ is engineered with a new motor that easily fits onto the wheel of any car, quickly converting it to electric to help reduce fossil fuel emissions.

2023 International Winner – The Golden Capsule

A hands-free IV device for disaster zones.

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