James Dyson Award 2021 global winners announced

This year’s International winner is HOPES, a biomedical device for pain-free, at-home glaucoma testing and treatment, invented by a team from National University of Singapore.

The team were inspired after one of the inventors’, Kelu, father’s diagnosis of glaucoma. After witnessing his discomfort and multiple hospital visits, they realised there is a global need for a less invasive and more accessible method for Intraocular Pressure (IOP) monitoring. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide[1]. In 2020, about 80 million people have glaucoma worldwide, and this is expected to rise to over 111 million by 2040[2].

The Sustainability winner is Plastic Scanner, invented by Industrial and Product Design graduate from TU Delft Jerry De Vos from the Netherlands. Plastic Scanner is a low-cost, handheld scanner which tells you what type of plastic a product is made from, and therefore, whether it can be recycled!

We are excited to announce a third global winner this year, REACT, invented by Joseph Bentley from Loughborough University in the UK as this year's Medical winner. REACT is a rapid, inflatable tamponade device which can be inserted into stab wounds to provide internal pressure to a bleeding site in stabbing incidents, controlling the bleeding faster than current methods.

A HUGE congratulations to all our winners this year. Their inventions demonstrate what young engineering minds can achieve and are compelling solutions to real global problems. 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4525787/
[2] https://www.brightfocus.org/glaucoma/article/glaucoma-facts-figures