The 'Create the Future' design contest, sponsored by SolidWorks Corporation and NASA Tech Briefs, is a chance for product designers and engineers from around the world to submit their invention ideas (with October 15, 2007 being the closing date for entries).
Now in its sixth year, the contest celebrates entrants’ abilities to explore new ways to design the as-yet unimagined. Aside from the $20,000 grand prize, the contest will award a new powerful HP workstation to each of the category winners, and $250 to the top ten most visited entries. To submit an entry or find out more information about the contest, visit the website (www.createthefuturecontest.com). Other contest co-sponsors include COMSOL, Hewlett-Packard, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
“We want product designers to push the limits of their creativity and pursue the concept of the ‘absurdly ideal’ design,” said Rainer Gawlick, SolidWorks vice president of worldwide marketing. “That is, we want them to discover the best solution to a design challenge, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. That creativity is the spark behind many of our greatest inventions.”
Contest entrants have six categories to choose from: machinery, equipment, and component technology; consumer products; medical; safety and security; transportation; and sustainable technologies. A panel of expert judges will evaluate entries based on innovation, marketability, manufacturability, and cost-effectiveness. Winning ideas can include products that are entirely conceptual, or in prototyping or early production. The key criteria will be bold alternatives to conventional approaches.
Qualified entries will include a text description (500 words or less) on an idea for a mechanical or electro-mechanical product in the categories above. They should also include a 30-word abstract of the idea and a 30-word description of the problem solved. Finally, they should have one or more visual illustrations (regardless of format, ie., CAD file, sketch, etc.) of the idea.
“In five years this contest has been the seed bed for innovative designs that could someday be ubiquitous,” said Joe Pramberger, publisher of NASA Tech Briefs. “We expect over 1,000 entries from more than 40 countries this year, as engineers and product designers put their skills on display and share creative ideas.”