The James Dyson Award is heading into its fifth year now and 20 entries from 18 different countries have been shortlisted and are in with a posible shout of claiming the £20,000 first prize. Last year’s winner was the Automist, which is essentially a tap that doubles up a fire safety sprinkler system, so that if a fire should start in the most hazardous room of all, the kitchen, it can be automatically and quickly prevented from spreading. While the Automist may have won, our particular favourite invention was the folding plug which can be stored completely flat and takes up little room when plugged in.
Among this year’s entries are a number of particularly fine inventions. The British entry is the Electrostatic noticeboard; users don’t need to pin notices to it and don’t need to pay the exorbitant prices of albeit very cool virtual whiteboards. Rub a piece of paper against the baord and this action will create a static charge that will effectively stick the paper on.
One of the probable winners, though, has to be the LongReach buoyancy aid which fires a hydrophobic foam buoyancy aid as far as 150 metres. As soon as the aid hits water it expands creating a versatile and useful tool for sea and water rescue attempts. And, it sounds like fun testing it too. The Australian invesntion is likely to feature in one of the top spots.
The Dyson Awards aim to recognise innovation and invention with entries from around the world in various different categories.
The winner of the competition, whicch will be announced by James Dyson himself, wins a £10,000 personal prize and a £10,000 prize for their university department as well as a Dyson award trophy.
First and second place inventors win a trip to the Dyson research & development centre of their choice eitheri n the UK or Malaysia.
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