With over 1,700 entries from 27 global regions, the James Dyson Award highlighted an array of ingenious solutions for critical problems, including microplastic pollution, IV infiltration, and coral-reef degradation.

Panels of tech experts, entrepreneurs and leading engineers reviewed, discussed and debated all the James Dyson Award entries to select a national winner and two runners up in each participating region, totalling 81 national finalists. These finalists have now been announced.

“The quality of entries was extremely impressive in this year’s James Dyson Award, and we knew we had found a great design when we all said, ‘I can’t believe this has not been invented yet.’ Ultimately, we selected finalists based on innovation and simplicity, combined with the impact it could have for people and the lives it will save. This is the best purpose of engineering - when it tangibly makes a difference for everyday tasks.”

Felicity Furey, Business leader and national judge for Australia

The Philippine National Winner, reBIRTH, enables mothers to give birth in the position of their choice. Its multiple configurations support a variety of upright & lying down birthing positions. It makes labor more comfortable and less painful than when done on current obstetric beds.

reBIRTH can switch between two different configurations — an upright mode and a lying down mode. Its default configuration encourages an upright labor position which can be done using the stool (75cm x 45cm x 30cm) or via the flip-in-and-out part (75cm x 45cm x 30cm). The C-shaped stool is designed as the passageway of the baby and the mother’s discharge, while the flippable part can serve as a wedge or a backrest. The other mode caters to birthing positions such as kneeling, lying, side-lying, and semi-inclined through a roll-out mattress (180cm x 75cm x 7.5cm). The simple configurations of reBIRTH make it easy to use while catering to a wide variety of birthing positions. Its interior is made of two layers of foam: coconut coir for support and polyurethane for comfort, both of which are easy to procure and replace when they deteriorate. Its exterior will be covered by waterproof olefin fabric for ease of cleaning.

Each national winner will receive £2000 and all 81 finalists will progress to the international stages of the competition where they will have the opportunity to be one of the international top twenty, selected by a panel of Dyson engineers. This shortlist will be announced in October.

These twenty finalists will then be in the running to chosen as the international winner, by James Dyson. What is more, for the first time ever, James Dyson will also choose a sustainability winner from the top twenty shortlist.