James Dyson Award 2025 Seeks Groundbreaking Inventions From Young Engineers And Scientists

The James Dyson Award, an international student design and engineering competition, opens for submissions today to its 2025 programme in 28 countries and regions. 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 £1m 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 £30,000 and a chance to gain international media exposure, providing a springboard to commercialise their inventions.

Previous winners include mOmincubators, 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,SoaPenis a colourful pen made from soap, to teach young children handwashing in a fun way. After receiving recognition from the James Dyson Award, the team launchedSoaPenin the US in 2018,and continues to pursue its mission to make hand hygiene fun and accessible, worldwide.

In 2024, Eshara an AI-powered Arabic sign language translator using avatars, has won the 2024 UAE James Dyson Award. Developed by three talented engineering students from American University of Sharjah (AUS) – Salma Shaarawi, Mohamed Eid and Aley Eshra – Eshara addressed a critical gap in the Middle East: the lack of Arabic sign language translation services.

Sir James Dyson, Founder of Dyson, said: “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 16^th 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 £5,000 prize, will be announced on 10^th September, the Global Top 20 Shortlist, selected by Dyson Engineers, on 15^th October, and the Global Winners, selected by James Dyson, on 5^th November.