The 2023 James Dyson Award is a global engineering award that calls on students and recent graduates to create a design that solves a problem, and with 20 amazing inventions in the top 20 finalists, we’ve focused on Australia’s winning entry – a retrofit kit that turns fossil fuel cars into hybrid EVs, so please watch the video interview below and read on!
The James Dyson Award empowers aspiring engineers and problem solvers to apply their knowledge, discover new ways to improve lives through technology, change the world – and after being personally selected by James Dyson himself – will win $50,000!
The brief is to design something that solves a problem – it may be a frustration that we all face in daily life, or a global issue. The important thing is that the solution is effective and demonstrates considered design thinking.
The final stage of judging is now underway, with the judging process to be complete by the 15th of November. The full list of 20 global finalists and more information is below, but in short, it spans from Spain to Singapore and Poland to the Philippines, with the inventions ranging from a forest fire detection system to a rehabilitation device for patients who have undergone open heart surgery.
However, we’re going to focus on RMIT student, Alexander Burton, whose ICE car to hybrid EV retrofit invention kit is called REVR, which sounds like revver – despite my mistakenly pronouncing it a bit like River in the video interview.
REVR stands for “Rapid Electric Vehicle Retrofit”, and as you’ll see in the video below, fits easily onto the back wheels of any car, with the battery pack sitting in the spare wheel well of your car’s boot.
Burton started working on this technology a few years ago, and once he heard of the James Dyson Awards, decided it would be an excellent entry – and thank goodness he entered, because he is already Australia’s national winner for 2023 – and stands an excellent chance of not only becoming the global winner, but genuinely changing the world and accelerating the EV revolution by years, if not decades.
Let’s start with the two minute video about REVR from the James Dyson Award YouTube page, which succinctly explains how REVR’s technology works, after which my video interview with Burton is immediately embedded thereafter.
You can also read more about REVR and the other 19 global finalists below that, so please sit back and take a look at inventions which can truly change the world, whether they become the final global winner or not, because they are already very deserving national winners from their respective countries, and are already inspiring the next generation of engineers and inventors to come!
The Australian James Dyson Award 2023 Winner – REVR:
You can see a stack of other James Dyson Award videos including the other 2023 national winners here.
Here is my video interview with Alexander Burton:
More information on REVR is that fossil fuel emissions from transport are responsible for around 8 billion tonnes of CO2 lobally every year.
Burton’s REVR hopes to reduce the carbon footprint of the transportation industry, which accounts for 20% of global emissions. With the added problem of electric vehicles being costly, Burton’s retrofit kit invention converts internal combustion engines in cars to hybrid electric, significantly decreasing the cost of greener transport.
Burton said: “Climate change has highlighted how heavily we rely on cars that now need to be made electric. Replacing the entire fleet with new EVs will be too slow, too expensive and emit billions of tons of CO during their manufacture. Approaching this problem with modern motor technology₂ has led me to a new approach to retrofits which I’ve named REVR. This is a powerful electric retrofit kit that can be quickly installed in the wheels of almost any vehicle.”
Here is the video Burton produced for REVR’s entry into the James Dyson Awards competition:
So, what are some of the other inventions?
Well, you can see the top 20 list here if you want to skip ahead, but more details are below.
Ok, so noting that “Invention changes lives”, the James Dyson Award reminds us that students and young engineers around the world continue to demonstrate how inquisitive minds can push the boundaries of invention and create solutions that can change lives.
The Awards continue with its explanation, noting that, for example, Turkey’s shortlisted entry, ForestGuard 2.0, is a response to the devastating wildfires that students witnessed tear through the country in 2021 and since. The invention, created by a team from Istanbul Bilgi University, uses sensor-to-satellite technology to alert authorities at the earliest sign of a potential wildfire, hoping to vastly reduce the risk in future years.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, young inventor E Ian Siew was motivated by his difficult experience recovering from open-heart surgery to create a better solution. Consulting with experts from the National University Hospital in Singapore, he created a vest-like device for post-operative rehabilitation, which improves support for the fusion of the sternum bone after surgery.
Sometimes, even the simplest ideas can have a significant global impact. In the Philippines, young entrepreneur Jeremy De Leon created Make-roscope, a simple keychain tool that turns a smartphone or tablet into a microscope. Improving access to laboratory tools for students across the world has potentially huge implications for the future generation of scientists, and the invention has already been used by over 3,000 Filipino students and teachers.
Discussing what it takes to make the shortlist, Rachael Pink, Head of Technology Development at Dyson, said: “The inventor needs to demonstrate that they really understand how their idea will work; they need to show that they have thought about how their idea can be realised in a robust way and that it will stand up to the challenges it will face in use. Some of the best entries we saw demonstrated that they had failed along their design process, but learnt from these failures and made their designs even better.”
Deliberation powered by diversity of thought
Great ideas spring from diversity of thought and experience. The 14 Dyson engineers forming the panel for this year’s Top 20 work across Dyson R&D centres in Singapore, the UK, Malaysia and the Philippines, and specialise in engineering fields including sustainability, electronics, manufacturing, acoustics and energy storage. They were joined by undergraduates from the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology to share their insight, challenging conventional design processes.
The panel analysed, debated and reviewed all the national finalists and runners-up, coming together to whittle down the entries to create this year’s Top 20 shortlist.
“The James Dyson Award provides a platform for young inventors to showcase their innovative ideas on a global stage. It was refreshing to see so many inventions offering solutions ranging across medicine and sustainability,” said Hong Fei Hu, Head of Electronics at Dyson.
Freya Moore, Undergraduate Engineer at the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology, said: “For students, the James Dyson Award draws an exciting picture of what engineers can do. Being part of the panel allowed me to learn about real problems I may otherwise never have come across and see all the different ways to approach those challenges.”
Swipe to the left or right if the table below is cut off on your screen. You can also see the Top 20 at the James Dyson Awards website here.
| Invention | Solution | Inventor(s) | Country |
| AISIG | Devices that enable the visually impaired to safely cross pedestrian crossings using AI-based image recognition. | Ikuya TanakaSergio and Narushima Masaaki | Japan |
| Auxobrace | A rehabilitation device for patients who have undergone open heart surgery. Inspired by the inventor’s own experience of post-operative care. | E Ian Siew | Singapore |
| AVA | Adaptive personal hygiene tools for individuals with spasticity. | Javier Pascual Paredes | Spain |
| Boreas | A device to automate and gamify pulmonary rehabilitation in hospitals, inspired by team leader Piotr’s father’s experience with COVID. | Piotr Falkowski, Bazyli Leczkowski, Maciej Pikuliński and Anna Pastor | Poland |
| E-COATING | A sustainable roof and exterior wall coating with a high cooling effect, reducing the need for air conditioning in warmer countries. The material uses waste glass and could vastly reduce the amount of electricity used on cooling. | Hoi Fung, Ronaldo Chan and Can Xiao | Hong Kong |
| Ergotech | An ergonomic laparoscopy tool to improve surgeons’ comfort and reduce wrist strain. The inventor was inspired by his internship shadowing a medical device design process. | George Clarke | Ireland |
| ForestGuard2.0 | An ultra-early, sensor-to-satellite wildfire detection system. Inspired by witnessing Turkey’s wildfires in 2021, the system alerts the authorities at the earliest sign of fire. | Ecem Ertan, Onur Sertgil, Rana Imam Esirger and Suat Batuhan Esirger | Turkey |
| Gutsy | A prosthetic medical port offering reprieve from ostomy bags, the inventor was inspired to create a better alternative by a friend who received colostomy surgery at 26 years old. | Charlotte Böhning | US |
| LEKA | A biodegradable, non-invasive, and accessible test to detect cysticercosis parasite. | Ximena García Ortega | Mexico |
| Lunet | A 3D printable mechanical finger prosthesis for finger amputees. The inventor plans to make the design of Lunet completely free and open source to help as many people as possible. | David Edquilang | US |
| Make-rosco pe | A portable keychain which turns your smartphone or tablet into a microscope. | Jeremy De Leon | Philippines |
| Oasis | A wearable device to reduce visual distractions for those with ADHD. | Joel Olympio | Ireland |
| os*tomy | A sustainable and affordable bag for colostomy patients. The inventor was inspired by his time working in Tanzania as a medical assistant to create a lower-cost alternative to traditional colostomy options. | Nikolaus Potapow | Austria |
| Pleural | A smart airway clearance device for help with mucus-related respiratory conditions. The team was inspired by their relatives’ experiences with chronic respiratory experiences and the struggle to access care. | Daniel Hale, Yihan Dong, Fergus Laidlaw and William Eliot | UK |
| Pre-Podium | A drug testing kit designed to improve the athlete anti-doping testing experience. The solution was prompted by hearing about his friend’s uncomfortable experience with the testing process, and wanted to create a better, more inclusive solution. | Nick Holland | New Zealand |
| REVR | A retrofit kit to convert internal combustion engine vehicles to hybrid electric. | Alexander Burton | Australia |
| Shuimu Breathing | A medical support device for chronic respiratory disease patients, providing guidance for inhaler use. | Fang Yuan and Zhang Mouwei | China |
| The Golden Capsule | A non-electric medicine-injection device for emergencies. | Shin Young Hwan, Chae YooJin, Bai Yuan, Kim Dae Yeon | Korea |
| The Life Chariot | An off-road trailer for medics in conflict zones. | Piotr Tłuszcz | Poland |
| WhaleSafe | A rope-on-demand fishing system that eliminates whale entanglements. | Collin Bolt, Benjamin Beazley and Jake Chateauneuf | Canada |
