James Dyson wants bright sparks

Two winners from last year's global competition. Hopes, a device for pain-free, at-home eye pressure testing from Singapore; and Plastic Scanner, a low-cost, handheld device to identify plastic for recycling from the Netherlands.

Budding inventors and aspiring young engineers in Thailand are invited to submit their radical and game-changing ideas to the "James Dyson Award 2022" which offers up to 222,000 baht to national winners, plus a chance to win 1.33 million baht in the global competition.

The annual student design competition has come to the Kingdom for the first time and is accepting submissions from young inventors with engineering potential.

Since 2005, the award has challenged entrepreneurial undergraduates and recent graduates of engineering and design around the world to "design something that solves a problem".

This problem 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.

Eligible contestants must be, or have been within the last four years, enrolled for at least one semester in an undergraduate or graduate engineering/design related course at a university. Team entries are also accepted but at least one team member must have studied an eligible subject in engineering or design.

Entries will be judged by a panel of external judges and a Dyson engineer. A national winner and two runners-up will receive £5,000 (222,000 baht) each. The national winner will proceed to the international shortlist of 20 entries in the global competition.

Two winners from last year's global competition. Hopes, left, a device for pain-free, at-home eye pressure testing from Singapore; and Plastic Scanner, a low-cost, handheld device to identify plastic for recycling from the Netherlands. (Photos courtesy of James Dyson Award)

Sir James Dyson, founder and chief engineer at Dyson, a technology company that designs and manufactures a wide range of household appliances, will choose the global winners by himself. They will receive £30,000 (1.33 million baht) each to put towards the next phase of their invention's development.

The competition is run by the James Dyson Foundation, an engineering-education charity funded by Dyson profits. It received an impressive array of entries in recent years and has so far awarded 285 inventions with prize money.

Past winners have found solutions to plastic recycling accessibility, excessive blood loss from knife wounds, and improving at-home medical diagnostics.

Applications should be made online by July 6. Entrants should explain what their invention is, how it works, and their development process.

Visit jamesdysonaward.org.