The James Dyson Award, an international student design and engineering competition, is open for submissions to its 2025 programme and young Kiwi inventors are invited.
From everyday challenges to the world’s most pressing issues, the Award calls for current or recent students to submit problem-solving ideas that could make a real difference to people’s lives.
Since it was established in 2005, the James Dyson Award has supported more than 400 student inventions with close to $2 million in prize money and a global platform.
Those who progress to the final stages and are selected by James Dyson as the global winners will claim a prize of $66,100 NZD and a chance to gain international media exposure, providing a springboard to commercialise their inventions.
In 2024, Massey University student Jack Pugh won the New Zealand national award for his work on Cap Snap, a sustainable solution that uses a multi-tool to assist health professionals when accessing medications.
Pugh says, “It was so thrilling to be selected as last year’s National winner for New Zealand, as it was a formal acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication I’ve put into this project so far. The James Dyson Award is held in high regard for Massey industrial design students, so it was a huge milestone for me.”
Global previous winners include mOm incubators, who developed a low-cost, inflatable incubator to provide flexibility to caring for newborns in less developed areas.
Invented by James Roberts, Product Design & Technology graduate from Loughborough University in the UK, mOm has gone on to support over 10,000 patients, and continues to expand its operations worldwide, including in conflict areas such as Ukraine.
SoaPen, a previous runner-up in the US, continues to transform hand hygiene education. Invented by Parsons School of Design graduates Shubham Issar and Amanat Anand, SoaPen is a colourful pen made from soap, to teach young children handwashing in a fun way.
Sir James Dyson, Founder of Dyson, says, “I started the James Dyson Award 20 years ago with the mission to inspire and support the next generation of design engineers. The brilliant ideas we’ve seen since then prove that young people are passionate about providing solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, using design, engineering and technology – in medicine, the environment and much more. I look forward to discovering what inventions will be put forward this year – good luck!”
The deadline to apply is midnight on 16th July 2025. Shortlisted entries in each participating country or region will then be evaluated by national judging panels with expertise across design and engineering, based on functionality, design process, differentiation, and commercial viability.
The National Winners, selected by these judging panels and each winning a $11,000 prize, will be announced on September 10, the Global Top 20 Shortlist, selected by Dyson Engineers, on October 15, and the Global Winners, selected by James Dyson, on November 5.
