The James Dyson Award, a global design engineering competition that has supported more than 400 inventions, has opened for submissions for 2026. The award invites current and recent design and engineering students across 28 countries and regions to present ideas that tackle real-world problems.
Shortlisted entries will be reviewed by national judging panels of design and engineering experts, including Dyson engineers. National winners will receive £5,000 and a chance to progress to the international stage. Sir James Dyson will select the global winners, who will receive £30,000 and a platform to take their inventions to the next level.
The award provides winners with media exposure, international recognition and the momentum for the young inventors to accelerate their ideas to commercialisation.
‘I established the James Dyson Award to encourage young “doers” in life who are focused on solving the problems they see in the world, not grandstanding about them,’ said Sir James Dyson. ‘It has been inspiring to see so many brilliant ideas from young design engineers, many of whom have gone on to build businesses and take their problem-solving ideas to people and markets all over the world. I look forward to judging this year’s submissions.’
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In 2025, the James Dyson Award marked its 20th year and received more than 2,100 inventions from young engineers worldwide. Projects provided solutions in areas such as health screening, household waste and disaster relief.
The global Sustainability prize was awarded to WaterSense, an autonomous water quality monitoring device. Invented by Filip Budny from Poland, a PhD candidate in nanotechnology at Warsaw University of Technology, WaterSense replaces manual, occasional sampling with real-time, AI-powered monitoring and early pollution alerts. ‘The award validated our mission globally and opened doors to lots of new partnerships, pilots and conversations across Europe and beyond,’ Budny said.
OnCue, the global Medical winner, is a smart keyboard for people with Parkinson’s disease. Invented by Italian product designer Alessandra Galli, who graduated from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, OnCue uses haptic and visual cues to manage motor symptoms and reduce typing errors. ‘The award offers real support to young people to help projects move forward,’ GAlli said.
Entries can now be submitted via the James Dyson Award website, with the deadline set for midnight on 15 July 2026. University students and recent graduates of design and engineering subjects are eligible to apply.
The best entries tackle a clear global problem, demonstrate a thoughtful design process and showcase originality and technical feasibility.
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