23 December 2023
The winning designs range from an Air Ionizing-Humidifier with an Indoor Air Pollutant Detector to a solar-powered public bench, re-usable LED bulbs and tubes with a replaceable cartridge and sustainable fashion in the form of bags made from ‘green’ materials that are produced using a three-dimensional (3D) printer.
The humidifier has been developed by Ralph Benedict Capili with his mentor Evelyn Marinas from the University of Doha for Science and Technology in the Philippines. SolSeatz, the solar-powered public bench, is the brainchild of Saber Aragh and his mentor Hamid Naghd Bishi from the Pars University of Architecture and Art in Iran. Shreya Chopra and her mentor Nanita Chopra from Amity University Noida in India won a silver award for GLED, the re-usable LED bulbs and tubes. Eszter Borsodi and her mentor Tamási Kinga from the University of Miskolc in Hungary produced the sustainable fashion.
Another team of five students from the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain designed a self-regulating nest for sea turtles that promotes a neutral male-to-female ratio. Sea turtles dig holes in the sand in which they lay their eggs. The eggs laid closer to the surface, where the sand is warmer, will hatch as females, whereas those eggs buried deeper will become males. With climate change warming the sand, the 50% male–female ratio is being upended as a greater number of female turtle's hatch. The team behind this design is made up of Victoria Olcina Marcos, Elsa Lacunza Arnedo, Luz Moya Ibáñez, Carmen Reina Román and Nerea Tarín Sáez. Their design won a bronze award.
About 30% (25) of the 83 teams won gold awards. Another 29 teams won silver and 29 bronze awards. Each winning team will receive a certificate.
List of Winners for 2023 Design the Future Awards
The 83 winning teams come from the following 24 countries: Argentina, Austria, Belarus, China, Costa Rica, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Japan, Rwanda, Spain, Sri Lanka, Russian Federation, Ghana, Kenya, Palestine, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.
The winning teams were selected from among over 1,500 applications from 48 countries. A total of 228 entries advanced to the stage of the final evaluation.
Barcode
Palina Davydzik from the Belarus State Academy of Arts has created the work 'Barcode' to raise awareness of the risk that deforestation poses to the climate, flora and fauna.
Palina Davydzik/Belarus State Academy of Arts
0,007%
Rene Marcos Herranz from the Universidad de Diseño y Tecnología in Spain has created a mobile phone application called '0,007%' to raise awareness about the water crisis and help the user save water.
Rene Marcos Herranz/Universidad de Diseño y Tecnología
The designs were judged by a panel of 21 experts in science, engineering, art and design. Careful consideration was given to ensuring gender equality and geographical diversity, as recommended by UNESCO’s partners and its science and engineering networks.
A new award
UNESCO launched these design awards in September last year within the framework of the UNESCO – UNITRAIN Youth Competence Development Project.
The awards are open to undergraduate and postgraduate students worldwide. The aim is to solicit innovative, creative works from young people around the world to raise awareness of the important role that science, technology, engineering and mathematics will play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
As we celebrate our winners, we also look forward to the ripple effects that their designs will make. These designs exemplify the power of scientific and artistic collaboration to produce new products and processes capable of fostering more sustainable production and consumption patterns.