Robot lifeguard wins 15th International BraunPrize - full details of finalists

The 15th International BraunPrize complements Braun’s year-long series of international events to celebrate 50 years of design innovation. The year-long celebration reflects the company’s far-reaching influence on product design since its iconography and philosophy was first recognised at the 1955 Düsseldorf Broadcast Exhibition where the entire new range of Braun radios and phonographs was showcased for the first time.

Braun President Eric Armour says that “2005 is special year for Braun when we are celebrating 50 years at the forefront of industrial design. The passion and commitment which has driven our designers to create innovative products over the years is still as strong and will be seen in the next generation of Braun.”

Upcoming highlights in Braun’s international year-long series of international events include the exhibition “Braun - 50 Years Design Innovation” showing in the Axis Gallery in Tokyo, Japan (22 Sept – 16 Oct 2005) and the Mass College of Art in Boston, United States (30 Nov 2005 – 14 Jan 2006).

This year saw a record number of entrants with 684 people entering the International BraunPrize from 50 countries – a new record in the history of the BraunPrize. The 70 entrants whose projects successfully made it into the second jury round in June were then asked to submit design models of their designs. The jury assessed the projects against the following criteria:

Design – what are the key qualities and points of difference? Technology – how convincingly does the design fulfil the product function? Practical usability – what benefits will it provide for the end user? How high is the overall standard of the work and how clear is the presentation? Is the project based on a thorough analysis of the requirements? How realistic is the solution that has been adopted? Is it environmentally compatible?

The winner of the 15th International BraunPrize, Jens Andersson was presented with a choice between an internship at Braun’s design department for 6 months or a prize fund of 12,000 Euros. The runners-up each received 4,500 Euros.