Winners for the James Dyson Awards have been announced and though the Kiwi did not win, Jack Pugh’s invention has been recognised on the global stage.
In 2023 alone, around 149,000 ACC claims were made by healthcare workers for work-related injuries.
What are the injuries? Healthcare professionals responsible for opening glass ampoules and vials are at risk of hand strain and injury.
With this in mind, Pugh went out of his way to find a solution to reduce the risk of injuries in healthcare. He invented Cap Snap, a medical multi-tool that answers this problem while also improving efficiency in the industry.
It’s described as an all-in-one that combines medicine bottle opening, ampoule snapping into one easy-to-use design and reducing medical waste heading into the landfill.
To come up with his design consulted with a number of healthcare professionals in the space, which later inspired him to join Health New Zealand/Te Whatu Ora’s Improvement and Innovation team after graduating from Massey University.
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This invention led Pugh to be named the New Zealand national winner of the James Dyson Awards, an international design award that celebrates the next generation of engineers creating solutions for problems we face in daily life.
Winners are reviewed by Sir James Dyson himself.
As the national winner, Pugh went on to represent the country in the awards in November.
The 2024 James Dyson Awards saw Ireland’s Olivia Humphrey’s design on hair loss prevention devices for chemotherapy take the global medical award. Singapore’s airXeed Radiosonde took the global sustainability award for its invention on a sustainable ‘maple seed’ weather balloon that captures data.
These two winners walked away with $61,500.
Despite not winning at the James Dyson Awards, 22-year-old Pugh still received $10,200 in funding to take his invention into the next stage, development.
