Open Innovation that Benefits Humankind

Published Aug-06-10

Breakthrough:
Using ultraviolet light to sterilize drinking water for developing countries.

Company:
James Dyson Award, United States

The Story:

This year's winner of the James Dyson Award for innovation in the UK, goes to Timothy Whitehead, who developed a water purifying bottle that uses ultraviolet light to sterilize drinking water.

The device enables water to be purified without using chlorine or iodine tablets that can take up to half an hour to be effective, and add an unpleasant taste to your drink.

Water is poured into an outer chamber and then an inner chamber is plunged into it, instantly filtering the water, which is then sterilized in 90 seconds using a wind-up UV bulb.



Providing clean drinking water is a major concern to so many developing countries, and the Dyson Award enables inventors and innovators to apply their skills in ways that benefit huge numbers of people.

Whitehead's invention will go on to compete in the International phase of the contest. Entries to the 2010 competition are now closed, and the winner of the 2010 International Award will be announced on October 5th.

The idea behind the Award was to set up an international competition to encourage and inspire next generation design engineers.

Product design, industrial design and engineering university level students from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA, are eligible to submit their inventions each year.

The competition is run by the James Dyson Foundation, and offers £10,000 to the winning student or student team, as well as £10,000 to their university department.

The aim is to support not just the international winner, but to aid and promote a large number of students by giving recognition to their good quality entries.

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