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.

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 more

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.

Listen now

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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2007 Category Winners

CONSUMER PRODUCTS CATEGORY

LED Cocoon Tent
Stephen Boynton, Orem, UT
A solution to the issues of jammed, snagged, worn out zippers and low visibility inside a tent at night.

MACHINERY/EQUIPMENT CATEGORY

Cargo Management System
Jeremy Connell, Blacksburg, VA
Innovative truck bed design increases functionality while maintaining normal usage.

MEDICAL CATEGORY

3D Ultrasonic Neuronavigation System for Image-Guided Brain Surgery
Ajay Mahajan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Murphysboro, IL
GPS-like system could help surgeons navigate through the brain to find and remove everything from tumors to bullet fragments easily, cheaply, and with hardly any cutting.

SAFETY & SECURITY CATEGORY

Personnel Beacon/Locator for Mine Workers
Joseph Hollmann, Spectral Biopsy, Kansas City, MO
Using ultrasonics and spread spectrum signaling, the PBL will help locate a trapped miner to within 10 feet.

SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY CATEGORY

LEDTRICITY™
Ted Bristow, Creative Electric, Kailua Kona, HI
Combining unique wiring circuits and state-of-the-art components, the LEDRICITY system enables the use of extremely long, inexpensive wires to illuminate hundreds of thousands of LEDs.

TRANSPORTATION CATEGORY

Internally Radiating Impulse Structure (IRIS) Engine
Corban Tillemann-Dick, Tendix LLC, Denver, CO
The IRIS design overcomes some of the shortcomings of modern engines and dramatically improves fuel efficiency by fundamentally changing the geometry of the combustion chamber.