2024 Contest Now Accepting Entries!

Submit your best new product ideas for a chance at $25,000, other great prizes, and global recognition. If you already are registered, log in to access the entry form. Otherwise, click here to get started.

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 across six continents. You can also join the innovators who dared to dream big and build a better tomorrow by entering this year’s contest.

Read About Past Winners’ Success Stories

Over the past 20 years, many innovators have used the recognition afforded by the contest to advance the development and marketing of their technologies. We highlight some success stories of past winners who have brought their inventions to the marketplace.

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.

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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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The ULiSSES™ Device for Organ and Limb Preservation

Votes: 3
Views: 6577
Medical

Vascular Perfusion Solutions (VPS) has developed a new, unique, and innovative medical device that extends organ and limb viability — the Universal Limb/Organ Stasis System for Extended Storage, or ULiSSES™. VPS is working with a team of world-class scientists to advance ULiSSES™ through FDA clearance and into the clinic. ULiSSES™ will provide organ and limb resuscitation, preservation and transport capabilities both civilian and military environments.

The ULiSSES™ device operates using a combination of fluidics, and mechano-elastic principles for the hypothermic, oxygenated, perfusion, preservation, of limbs and vascularized tissue. The device does not rely on electrical power to operate. Instead, it harvests energy from expanding compressed oxygen to simultaneously drive pulsatile perfusion of vascularized tissue and oxygenation of the preservation medium. Oxygen, fluid, and fluidics logic combine to perfuse, preserve, and resuscitate tissue at a rate that mimics a natural heartbeat. Capillary fibers with a large surface area, and permeable to O2/CO2, provide gas exchange and efficient oxygenation of the perfusate. These innovations result in a dramatic reduction in size, weight and cost, leading to a portable, single-use device that is expected to provide long term limb and vascularized tissue preservation.

Laboratory tests demonstrate that the ULiSSES™ device can preserve vascularized tissue for 24 hours, and beyond, at room temperature using animal models. According to an article published in Nature Biotechnology, "Organ shortage is among the greatest crises facing biomedicine today" (Giwa. et al., 2017). Furthermore, estimates show that by 2050, the amputee population in the United States will reach 3.6 million people (Amputee Coalition of America). One of the main reasons for the present shortage of organs is due to organ preservation constraints. For example, current technology cannot preserve hearts for more than 4 to 6 hours, and the distance between donor and recipient becomes a significant problem. The authors of the Nature paper noted that "with all supply constraints removed, organ replacement could theoretically prevent >30% of all deaths in the United States—doubling the average person's likelihood of living to 80 years of age" (Giwa. et al., 2017). Due to the unique design of the ULiSSES™ device, Vascular Perfusion Solutions, Inc (VPS) is poised to revolutionize the market for limb and vascularized tissue oxygenated perfusion, preservation, resuscitation, and transport.

We currently have a commercial prototype that was translated from a 3D printed lab prototype. VPS plans to collect additional test data and anticipates submitting a 510(k) application for clearance to the FDA in the second or third quarter of 2019, using our current commercial ULiSSES™ prototype, in collaboration with the Department of Defense.

Video

  • Awards

  • 2019 Grand Prize Winner
  • 2019 Top 100 Entries

Voting

Voting is closed!

  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Rafael Veraza
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    Leonid Bunegin, BS - Chief Scientific Officer, Vascular Perfusion Solutions, Inc
    Rafael J Veraza, MPH, PhD- Senior Scientist, Vascular Perfusion Solutions, Inc
    Tom DeBrooke, MA, MBA- Chief Executive Officer, Vascular Perfusion Solutions, Inc
  • Profession:
    Scientist
  • Rafael is inspired by:
    Using science and technology to solve medical problems to save lives, inspires me every day to continue innovating.
  • Patent status:
    patented