Calling Young Innovators: James Dyson Award 2026 Opens for Entries with INR 37 Lakh Global Prize

The James Dyson Award, a global design engineering competition that has supported more than 400 inventions, opens for submissions today for 2026. The Award invites current and recent design and engineering students across 28 countries and regions to present ideas that tackle real-world problems.

Shortlisted entries will be reviewed by national judging panels of design and engineering experts, including Dyson engineers. National winners will receive £5,000 and a chance to progress to the international stage. Sir James Dyson will select global winners to receive £30,000 (approx. INR 37 lakhs), and a platform to take their inventions to the next level.

The Award gives winners media exposure, international recognition, and the momentum for these young inventors to accelerate their ideas to commercialisation.

Sir James Dyson, Founder of Dyson, said: “I established the James Dyson Award to encourage young ‘doers’ in life who are focused on solving the problems they see in the world, not grandstanding about them. It has been inspiring to see so many brilliant ideas from young design engineers, many of whom have gone on to build businesses and take their problem-solving ideas to people and markets all over the world. I look forward to judging this year’s submissions.”

How to enter

Entries can now be submitted via the James Dyson Award website, with the deadline set for midnight on 15th July 2026. University students and recent graduates of design and engineering subjects are eligible to apply.

The National Winners, selected by these judging panels and each winning a £5,000 (Approx 6 lakhs) prize, will be announced on 9th September, the Global Top 20 Shortlist, selected by Dyson Engineers, on 14th October, and the Global Winners, selected by James Dyson, on 4th November.

The best entries tackle a clear global problem, demonstrate a thoughtful design process, and showcase originality and technical feasibility.

2025 winners

In 2025, the James Dyson Award marked its 20th year and received more than 2,100 inventions from young engineers worldwide. Projects provided solutions in areas such as health screening, household waste, and disaster relief.

Previous winners include JivaScope, invented by Tunir Sahoo from Kolkata, a pocket sized AI powered device designed to enable quick self screening of heart and lung diseases, which was named the National Winner of the James Dyson Award 2025 in India. Since receiving recognition from the award, Tunir has been further refining the device and progressing towards clinical validation and wider accessibility, with the vision of making early disease detection more accessible for communities across India.

OncoALERT, invented by Jayanti Kumari, the first Indian entry to reach the International Top 20, addresses one of India’s most fatal health challenges, oral cancer, where many cases are detected only at advanced stages due to limited screening and diagnostic infrastructure in rural areas. OncoALERT is a rapid, needle free oral cancer test powered by nanotechnology, offering 95 percent accuracy while using biodegradable paper instead of plastics. Designed as a low cost solution that requires no labs, specialists, or electricity, it enables large scale home screening and aims to make early diagnosis more accessible for vulnerable communities.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

The brief. 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. Unlike other competitions, participants are given full autonomy over their intellectual property.

The process. Entries are judged first at the national level by a panel of external judges and a Dyson engineer. Each operating market awards a national winner and two national runners-up. From these winners, a panel of Dyson engineers then select an international shortlist of 20 entries. The top 20 projects are then reviewed by Sir James Dyson who selects his global winners.

The 2026 prizes

• Global winners, chosen by Sir James Dyson, each receive a prize of £30,000.
• Each national winner receives £5,000.