BANGALORE, India – Tata Elxsi celebrated World Industrial Design Day earlier this year with the launch of a worldwide design and innovation contest for design students.
Being the first-ever global iGNITE design contest, it piqued the interest of multiple participants resulting in 180+ entries from countries such as the US, the UK and India. Premier universities such as the University of Arts London, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, IISc, NID, IIT, MIT, Shristi and many more have participated in the competition.
As part of the contest, participants were asked to create a sustainable design solution that addressed the future needs of consumer goods, healthcare and mobility industries. The entries for the contest opened on 29th June 2022 and closed on 8th August 2022.
The winner and finalists, along with their innovations, are:
- Uditanshu Pratap Singh – National Institute of Design Haryana, Saviour Vending Cart (Winner)
- Ayushi Agarwal – NIFT Raebareli, Good Extension
- Lizixi Zhu – University of Arts, London, Immersive Repair
- Vaibhav Chawla- NIFT Mumbai, Smart Lid
Nick Talbot, Head – Global Design & Innovation, Tata Elxsi, said, “I extended my heartiest wishes to the winner – Uditanshu and the three finalists. Seeing many young minds create innovative design solutions that put sustainability at the core was inspiring. Competitions like this give students the chance to experiment and put their ideas into practice while also fostering a hub for innovation. It was a herculean task to pick a winner, but it was well deserved, and I hope to see many more innovations from the finalists and other participants in the future.”
Uditanshu Pratap Singh’s winning entry -The Saviour Vending Cart- seeks to be more energy efficient and user-friendly than the current models. According to him, he used to observe the neighbourhood street vendors daily during Covid and realised the need for sanitisation and an ergonomically superior cart. The research and conversations with such vendors resulted in the concept’s development.
He received a cash prize of US $ 10,000 along with an all-expenses-paid trip to the Digital Design event, which was held this month in Bangalore. When asked about his plans for the prize money, he revealed that he intended to develop a functional prototype of the idea and market it.
The results were deliberated upon by a six-member international jury appointed by Tata Elxsi. The jury consisted of Dr Amitoj Singh, Partner & Head of Design and Innovation Chapter, BCG Digital Ventures in India; Kok Chian Leong, Professor at University of Arts, London; Satish Patil, Samsung Research India; Saurabh Singh, Head of Design at Maruti Suzuki India; Yogesh Suresh Dandekar, Founder and Design Head, Sarg Design Studio and Nick Talbot, Global Design and Innovation Head, Tata Elxsi.
For more information, visit Tata Elxsi
