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
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I designed this flexible solar film powered highway safety cone add-on with form, fit, and function in mind. In order to be useful, it must conform to present use of safety cones. They're thrown out of trucks, stacked on top of each other on a rod support,
Using stainless steel thread recently made available to weave a 1/2" wide perimeter sensor around a baby's pull-over that is able to touch skin, we can provide an actual machine-washable flexible lighted animated display embedded in the garment that appears as a heart and matches the pulse rate of the baby wearing it in a crib.
With a machine I invented to high-speed implant plastic fiber optic cables into fabric, I created a flexible, machine-washable, lighted display in black fabric to be sewn into a motorcycle jacket defining arrows and a flame-frame (designed to surround an embroidered brand name) that normally appears as a moving animated burning flame.
I invented a machine (#1 in Picture) that evolved into three different CNC machine configurations designed to permanently implant plastic optical fibers into any flexible materials including fabrics for apparel, vinyls, light plastics, coroplast, cardboard, gatorboard, etc. Each fiber is then assigned and placed into a comb position that will be attached to an LED (Monochromatic or RGB).
Fire Suppression Screen
Fires of many different types and sizes can be suppressed mechanically by use of a properly configured metal mesh screen.
A characteristic of a fine metal mesh screen is that flame will not penetrate the plane of the mesh screen; however water can be readily sprayed through a screen.
The PDT is a Hybrid of Steam, Gas Jet turbine, and Reciprocating technologies. The name Positive Displacement Turbine suggests a contradiction in terms; however, we need to make use of a paradigm shift in thinking of what constitutes a turbine. The PDT generates a cyclonic subroutine of rotating gasses perpendicular to the central shaft. An osculating-crescent-piston,
An upside-down approach to railway safety.
The modern technology allows development of systems of great complexity and power to manage the railway traffic on wide areas. Despite that, human error is still of great impact in the occurrence of accidents.
Modern railways have benefit of very expensive systems.
Spi-rella is a tent compatible with all terrains. The design, inspired by the anatomy of a spider and the function of an umbrella, was made in the light of difficulties faced in re-locating thousands of people affected by the 2010 floods in Pakistan.
The structure of a spi-rella comprises a spider frame and canvas covering.
Nowadays there are few standard plugs for e-vehicle charging. They cannot be used for robotic charging due to the need for precise pushing. My idea is to produce a simple socket in an e-vehicle (picture 1 top) and plug (robot hand).
Socket construction is very simple. Plug (robot hand) consists of two group of contacts. First,
Rocker Lowrise Earthquake Proof Building utilizes the principle at operation in a toy weeble. The build is designed to withstand the most severe earthquakes since it cannot fall over, since as the earthquake hits it will rock back and assume the upright position after the earthquake has passed underneath.
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