20 Finalists Announced for 'Dyson Award'... Korean Team Selected as Finalist with Infertility Assistance Device

International Student Engineering and Design Competition
Over 2,000 Ideas Submitted
Domestic Winner "Blloom" Selected as International Finalist

The 20 finalist teams for the international round of the "James Dyson Award 2025," a global student engineering and design competition, have been announced.

According to Dyson on October 17, this year's James Dyson Award was held simultaneously across 28 countries worldwide. More than 2,000 creative ideas were submitted, addressing a wide range of issues such as environmental pollution, access to healthcare, and disaster response. After a rigorous review process, the top 20 teams were selected as finalists for the international competition.

This year's international finalists include the "Blloom" team, which was a winner in the domestic round. Blloom is a portable injection assistance device designed to help patients easily and safely self-administer injections throughout the infertility treatment process, which often involves daily self-injections that can be physically and mentally taxing. Through in-depth interviews with infertility patients, the Blloom team identified a range of emotional and physical challenges, including poor injection environments, feelings of isolation from repeated injections, and embarrassment associated with carrying a hospital-branded cooler bag. Based on these insights, Blloom was designed with a half-moon cam structure that enables stable and precise automatic injections at the push of a button, and features a cooling function that can keep three medications at the optimal temperature (2-8°C) for up to six hours.

Additionally, Blloom incorporates a smooth, curved design that prevents the needle from being exposed, thereby reducing psychological stress for patients. The design also focuses on ensuring that patients can maintain their daily routines and sense of freedom during the injection process. The Blloom team plans to further improve usability through user testing, pursue medical device certification, collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, and conduct real-world environment validation.

Blloom, a candidate for the James Dyson Award 2025 international competition. Dyson.

Alongside Blloom, the domestic finalist, a variety of entries in the medical and healthcare fields stood out. Notably, Jayanti Kumari from India developed "OncoALERT," a paper-based nanotechnology device that enables oral cancer screening using only saliva, without the need for needles. "Urify," invented by Yidan Xu from the United Kingdom, was inspired by her father's late-stage kidney disease diagnosis after missing early screenings. The device is designed to both clean toilets and detect early signs of kidney disease. "BrailleSteps," created by a team of industrial design undergraduates from T?rkiye, helps visually impaired children learn Braille in a more engaging way by using not only their fingers but also everyday movements and sounds.

Other entries focused on environmental and sustainability issues also drew attention. Pablo Yaniz Gonzalez from the Netherlands developed "POMPA," a vascular procedure inflator that can be sterilized and reused to address medical waste problems. The "UNBLOK" team from Malaysia created a biodegradable kitchen filter made from palm oil waste, which filters out fats, oils, and grease to simplify wastewater treatment processes.

The top 20 international finalists were selected by a panel of 15 Dyson engineers with expertise in product design, electronic engineering, and materials science. Robyn Coutts, Head of Innovation & Delivery at Dyson and a judge for the James Dyson Award 2025, stated, "This year saw a large number of innovative ideas aimed at solving major challenges facing our society. The judges engaged in intense discussions about the innovativeness and commercial viability of the ideas while selecting the top 20 teams. I hope all participants feel proud of their inventions, and I look forward to the announcement of the final winners."

The grand prize winner of the James Dyson Award 2025 international competition will be selected directly by James Dyson, founder of Dyson and Dyson Farming, and will be announced on November 5. The winning team will receive a prize of 30,000 pounds to further develop their product.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.