The 2009 James Dyson Award has recently launched.
The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. It’s run by the James Dyson Foundation, James Dyson’s charitable trust, as part of its mission to inspire young people about design engineering. It also gives you the chance to win £10,000 – could provide very handy for paying those university fees!

The challenge: design something that solves a problem.
“Young designers and engineers are brimming with creative ideas to change the world – it’s this ability to think differently that the James Dyson Award celebrates and encourages.” James Dyson

The 2008 winner of the James Dyson Award, Middlesex University student Michael Chen, designed the Reactiv Cycling Jacket, a jacket that communicates a cyclist’s intentions to other road users:

“Winning the James Dyson Award came as a surprise to me. I’m immensely proud to have been selected from a list of such outstanding product designers from around the world. And to be personally selected by James Dyson himself made it more special. The James Dyson Award has given me many new opportunities and much publicity for my designs.”
– Michael Chen

I’ve yet to see one of Mr Chen’s jackets in the shop but as a would-be cyclists and being related to several commuter-cyclists it’s definitely an item I’ll be keeping an eye out for and I’ll be interested to see what this year’s entrants have to offer!