CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
6 August 2007
Company News
Product Designers to Strut Their Ingenuity in Create the Future Design Contest
The Create the Future Design Contest sponsored by SolidWorks Corporation and NASA Tech Briefs is accepting entries from inventors around the world.
Engineers and product designers have until Oct. 15, 2007 to submit their ideas for the next invention that could change how we work, play, and live. In its sixth year, the contest celebrates entrants' abilities to explore new ways to design the as yet unimagined. Aside from the $20,000 grand prize, the contest will award a new powerful HP workstation to each of the category winners, and $250 to the top 10 most visited entries. To submit an entry or find out more information about the Create the Future Design Contest, visit the Web site ( http://www.createthefuturecontest.com/ ). Other contest co-sponsors include COMSOL, Hewlett-Packard, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
"We want product designers to push the limits of their creativity and pursue the concept of the 'absurdly ideal' design," said Rainer Gawlick, SolidWorks vice president of worldwide marketing. "That is, we want them to discover the best solution to a design challenge, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. That creativity is the spark behind many of our greatest inventions."
Contest entrants have six categories to choose from: machinery, equipment, and component technology; consumer products; medical; safety and security; transportation; and sustainable technologies. A panel of expert judges will evaluate entries based on innovation, marketability, manufacturability, and cost effectiveness. Winning ideas can include products that are entirely conceptual, or in prototyping or early production. The key criteria will be bold alternatives to conventional approaches.
Qualified entries will include a text description (500 words or less) on an idea for a mechanical or electro-mechanical product in the categories above. They should also include a 30-word abstract of the idea and a 30-word description of the problem solved. Finally, they should have one or more visual illustrations (regardless of format, i.e., CAD file, sketch, etc.) of the idea.
"In five years this contest has been the seed bed for innovative designs that could someday be ubiquitous," said Joe Pramberger, publisher of NASA Tech Briefs. "We expect over 1,000 entries from more than 40 countries this year, as engineers and product designers put their skills on display and share creative ideas."
About NASA Tech Briefs
NASA Tech Briefs is an official publication of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration. The monthly magazine features exclusive reports of innovations developed by NASA and its industry partners/contractors that can be applied to develop new/improved products and solve engineering or manufacturing problems. Authored by the engineers or scientists who did the work, the briefs span a wide array of fields, including electronics, physical sciences, materials, computer software, mechanics, machinery/automation, manufacturing/fabrication, mathematics/information sciences, and life sciences.
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