Congratulations to Our 2025 Grand Prize and First Place Winners!
Imersiv, a breakthrough technology that improves audio performance by 100X compared to today’s very best audio equipment for applications ranging from sound engineering to space missions to medical imaging, was named the $25,000 grand prize winner at a live finalist round held November 7 in New York. Click here for the full list of winners. Also see the Top 100 highest scoring entries. Special thanks to our esteemed panel of judges.
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 16,000 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 in our 2026 contest opening March 1.
Read About All the 2024 Winning Inventions
Special Report spotlights the eight amazing winners in 2024 as well as honorable mentions in each category, plus the top ten most popular entries as voted by our community.
Click here to read moreA ‘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 nowThank 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
contest
Contest
In modern power plants, machinery operates under high stress and extreme conditions, making fault detection a critical component for maintaining efficiency and safety. This project introduces an AI-based fault detection system tailored specifically for power generation units such as turbines, motors, and boiler feed pumps.
NanoTrap™ is a deployable, airborne particulate-binding agent designed to improve sensor accuracy in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environments. Unlike traditional filtration or ventilation systems, NanoTrap™ does not require power, fans, filters, or structural integration. It is applied as a fine mist directly into the surrounding air,
Overview
Introducing the Trifecta Energy Harvesting System: a patent-pending, fully additively manufactured platform revolutionizing energy capture by efficiently collecting electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical energy within a single, flexible printed architecture. By seamlessly combining these functions into a thin, conformal structure, the system replaces separate, bulky energy harvesters,
This project proposes the development of a portable acoustic signaling device for sports training, specifically designed for football players with visual impairments. Its primary goal is to provide an accessible, adaptable, and low-cost tool that enhances spatial orientation during training sessions, promoting athlete autonomy and reducing the operational workload of coaches.
Many public and indoor spaces still lack tactile paving for the visually impaired due to its installation complexity, inflexibility and high cost. To address this, we propose LuminWalk - a wearable cap system that leverages existing lighting infrastructure by transforming conventional LED lamps into light-based virtual tactile paving.
Uplift Drones is a pioneering company dedicated to transforming disposable plastic bottles into high-performance drones. Our mission is to reduce environmental impact while delivering cutting-edge drone technology for various industries.
This project focuses on repurposing waste plastic bottles into lightweight, durable drone frames. The process begins with collecting and cleaning used plastic bottles.
The major breakthroughs in internal combustion engine technology have been around optimizing the breathing capacity of an engine. However, the breathability has reached a saturation point, resulting in no recently significant improvements in engine performance. This plateau is largely due to the size of the intake and exhaust valves being constrained by the bore of the cylinder.
Integrated and flexible process schemes are proposed for utilization of CO2 as a sustainable feedstock with the objective to mitigate its harmful environmental impact. The selection of appropriate process configuration for a given location would require techno-economic evaluation and life-cycle assessment.
In high-stakes environments like semiconductor fabs, industrial shops, and hospitals, cleaning isn’t just about getting surfaces spotless—it’s about safety, performance, and environmental impact. That’s where Nano Cleaner 100 comes in.
Created by the team at DTL Chemical, Nano Cleaner 100 is a next-generation cleaning solution built for the modern era.
The utilization of extraterrestrial resources is essential for sustaining long-term space exploration and reducing dependency on Earth-based supply chains. Our innovative robotic-assisted regolith processing system will efficiently extract aluminum, silicon, calcium salt and oxygen as co-products, providing critical materials for construction, manufacturing, and propulsion. Designed for deployment on the Earth, Moon, and Mars,
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