James Dyson Award 2025 seeks groundbreaking inventions from young talents

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.

“I started the James Dyson Award 20 years ago with the mission to inspire and support the next generation of design engineers” Sir James Dyson, Founder of Dyson. 

“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!”

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 $59,7000 and a chance to gain international media exposure, providing a springboard to commercialise their inventions.

In 2023, RMIT student Alexander Burton won the Australian national award for his work on REVR, an innovative solution to electric vehicle retrofitting.

“Winning the James Dyson Award in Australia gave me a huge confidence boost and motivation to accelerate this project. I hope REVR can continue to make clean, cheap transport an option for everyday people and help us get to net zero sooner,” Burton says.

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. 

After receiving recognition from the James Dyson Award, the team launched SoaPen in the US in 2018 and continues to pursue its mission to make hand hygiene fun and accessible, worldwide.

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 $9,700 prize, will be announced on 10th September, the Global Top 20 Shortlist, selected by Dyson Engineers, on 15 October, and the Global Winners, selected by James Dyson, on 5 November.

Image: JDA social James Dyson and mOm incubator / supplied