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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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— Kevin Hess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Mouser Electronics

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Ear Prophylactics (Dry Earplus for Diving)

Votes: 0
Views: 6745

Our earplug simply keeps water from coming in contact with the ear canal and eardrum; it does not keep the water and pressure out of the ear canal. The ear canal and eardrum are at the same pressure as the external water pressure plus the pressure needed to dilate the diaphragm, virtually the same as if you were not wearing any ear protection and far less than a conventional swimmers earplug used 1' below the waters surface.

There are presently no earplugs made for swimming that will not cause damage to the eardrum when used below the surface of the water. How deep before damage occurs is a matter for conjecture, individuals with ear problems are going to be affected before those without ear problems but damage will occur well before the 10’ level that many swimmers earplugs advertise as the safe depth for use.

Conventional earplugs seal off the water pressure from the ear canal on the exterior and the tympanic membrane (eardrum) seals off the canal from the interior creating a trapped dead space where pressure cannot be equalized without rupturing the tympanic membrane. Some brands of regular swimmers plugs, claim their safe, to a depth of 10' (4.5psia trapped) at 5' there is 2.25psia trapped between the plug and eardrum, at 1' there is .445psia trapped. Our earplugs (Patented as Ear Prophylactics 7,185,655) begin working immediately upon leaving the surface and there is less pressure on the eardrum at 100’ than with a conventional swimmers earplug at 2’ or 3’

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    John Redon
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    Commercial Diver, 100T Captain
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    1
  • John's hobbies and activities:
    Boating, Snorkeling
  • John belongs to these online communities:
    Facebook, Google, gust
  • John is inspired by:
    Past ear infections
  • Patent status:
    patented