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The James Dyson Award is an international design award, giving young people the opportunity to compete for a very generous prize.
The three global winners were announced last week.
An international winner, a sustainability winner and a humanitarian winner, selected by Sir James Dyson, will receive €34,000 to support the next phase of their inventions.
Commenting on this year’s competition, founder and chief engineer at Dyson Sir James Dyson commended the young innovators for showing great determination.
“Rather than grandstanding about the problems we face, these young inventors are getting on and solving them with technology and design.
"It’s their passion and determination to improve the world that makes them so impressive and I hope the award will give them a springboard to success,” said Sir James.
Humanitarian winner
The winner of the special humanitarian prize for The Life Chariot was Piotr Tluszcz from Poland.
As he watched the conflict unfold in Ukraine, young inventor Piotr observed the challenges of medical evacuations across challenging terrain.
This inspired him to design The Life Chariot, a MEDEVAC off-road ambulance that can attach to any hook-equipped vehicle. The vehicle’s low weight and suspension makes it safer for a casualty to travel in than the boot of a car.
Piotr is continuing to implement upgrades to The Life Chariot based on feedback received from medics working on the front line. He is also working on adapting the vehicle for mountain rescue purposes.
On winning the 2023 James Dyson award, Piotr said: “I hope that The Life Chariot, with support from the James Dyson Award, will continue to save lives, whether in frontline evacuations or rescues from accidents in inaccessible places.”
Sustainability winner
Taking home the award for sustainability with their invention E-COATING, was Hoi Fung Ronaldo Chan and Can Jovial Xiao.
In Hong Kong SAR, air-conditioning accounts for almost one third of total electricity consumption.
E-COATING is an eco-friendly solution that solves two problems in one. It is created from recycled waste glass and can be applied to exterior roofs and walls to reflect the sun’s rays thereby reducing the heat absorption of buildings.
This reduces the amount of electricity consumed on cooling solutions like air-conditioning and mitigates the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
“Ronaldo and Jovial have come up with a clever way to turn waste into something much more valuable. E-COATING uses recycled glass to create a coating to put on exterior walls. This reflects the sun’s rays and therefore saves a substantial proportion of the electricity needed to cool the building. It is a dual solution that is good for the environment and saves money,” said Sir James.
International winner
The international prize went to students in Korea for their innovation The Golden Capsule, a hands-free intravenous (IV) device for use in disaster zones.
The device was invented by Yujin Chae, Daeyeon Kim, Yeonghwan Shin and Yuan Bai in response to medics in disaster zones having to hold IV packs.
The Turkish-Syrian earthquakes in February 2023 resulted in over 55,000 casualties, with a further 100,000 injured. Throughout the evacuation process, medics had to move through harsh environments while carrying several IV packs in their hands for their patients.
In response to this problem, a team of student inventors from Hongik University in Seoul designed The Golden Capsule, a non-powered and hands-free IV device which uses elastic forces and air pressure differences rather than gravity.
This means that medics in disaster zones do not have to hold up IV packs while transporting patients, and electricity is not required to control the infusion rate.
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