INVENTORS AND REMARKABLE PEOPLE

Eight young inventors give us a 2-minute elevator pitch

July 30, 2011

Young Aussie designers talk us through the designs that got them to the Australian finals of the James Dyson Awards

The James Dyson Awards for young inventors are always a treasure trove of fresh ideas and up-and-coming innovators - so we caught up with 8 of the Australian finalists and got them each to deliver us a 2-minute "elevator pitch" explaining their designs and the inspiration behind them. The videos after the jump highlight some of our favorite entries for this year's prize, including the winners. See if you can guess which of these young contestants took the prizes!

The James Dyson Award is an international event that brings together products and inventions from young creators all over the world. Last week saw the Australian finals, held in Melbourne as part of the Australian International Design Awards event.

Our pitch to these young Aussie inventors was simple - give us your 2-minute spiel telling us the who, what, why and how of your invention. Here's what they came back with - skip to the bottom if you want to find out who won!

Alexander Vittouris: Ajiro

Berty Bhuruth: Optimetric

Christina Heggie: Mass Rescue Board

Joshua Sunghoon Mun: Liquid Nitrogen Carrier

Chris Fox: 9th Life

Ben Lau: Emergency Flotation Device

Ed Linacre: AirDrop Irrigation

Eric Chau: HyJack

You can read full project details of each of the finalists at the Dyson Awards website.

...and the winners were:

Highly Commended prize: Ed Linacre's AirDrop Irrigation

Bronze Prize: Christina Heggie's Mass Rescue Board

Silver Prize: Chris Fox's 9th Life

And the winner, from Sydney, was Joshua Sunghoon Mun's Liquid Nitrogen carrier - a product the judges said "took an everyday, often overlooked problem and applied research, design and innovation to provide a sound solution." Joshua and a few of the other candidates will go on to the international round of the Dyson awards, vying for a UKP20,000 prize, split between the designer and their university or institution.

So there you go. Personally, for pure wow factor, I loved Alex Vittouris' concept of growing a recumbent tricycle frame out of bamboo, opening up the possibility of single-piece 3D frame shapes that can't be economically produced in more common materials.

We wish all the finalists well in their future endeavors, and would love to continue hearing what they're up to.

About the Author

Loz loves motorcycles - at the age of two, he told his mother "don't want brother, want mogabike." It was the biker connection that first brought Loz to Gizmag, but since then he's covered everything from alternative energy and weapons to medicine, marital aids - and of course, motorcycles. Loz also produces a number of video pieces for Gizmag, including his beloved bike reviews. He frequently disappears for weeks at a time to go touring with his vocal band Suade. All articles by Loz Blain