Triumph Design Awards grand final – Saturday 29th June 2019

On Saturday 29th June 2019 the national final of the Triumph Design Awards was held at Triumph’s headquarters in Hinckley, Leicestershire. The competition was open to 16-18 year old students of relevant STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) and entrants were challenged to design a product to solve a real world problem.

Design engineers from Triumph Motorcycles shortlisted 25 finalists from across the UK to exhibit their work during the grand final. All entrants had the opportunity to present their projects to senior engineers from the Design department at Triumph. The judges were looking for evidence in 6 key areas:

  • Engineering
  • Innovation
  • Corporate responsibility
  • Communication
  • Visual design
  • Commercial awareness

The competition attracted a huge variety of innovative ideas ranging from an exo-skeleton device to be worn by disaster relief workers to move rubble in the event of collapsed buildings, to a sustainable bird scaring device, which protects crops from birds whilst using solar power.

This year Henry from Lancaster Royal Grammar School was awarded the overall prize for his design of a portable emergency breathing mask that was inspired by the Grenfell tower tragedy of 2017. The device provides an emergency oxygen supply to minimise smoke inhalation and ultimately allow residents to escape in the event of a fire. The judges were particularly impressed with his simple design which consisted entirely of available standard components and his understanding of how he could further improve the product with more resources. He was awarded the Triumph Design Awards winners trophy, £500 cash, two weeks of paid work experience in the Design department at Triumph, and will be considered for university sponsorship. Henry said that he was looking forward to spending his prize money on his dream of renovating an old Land Rover Defender.

The Innovation prize was awarded to Rowan, also from Lancaster Royal Grammar School for his radical design of a massaging device to prevent stitch pain in runners. The Impact on Society prize was awarded to Zara from Repton School. Zara designed a wheeled device for the transportation of water in Tanzania, which had considered the local manufacturing capabilities of the community in depth. They each received a Triumph Design Awards trophy, cash prize and one week of work experience in the Design department at Triumph.

The committee prize was awarded to Nicholas from Burnham Grammar School with his ‘Recycling Arcade’. This fun new approach to recycling involves the user entering a plastic bottle into the machine, with high scoring players receiving tokens for prizes.

Lord Digby Jones, Chairman of Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. attended the awards to speak and award the prizes to the finalists.

Lord Jones said “Every year my faith in the young people of this country is renewed and deepened by the excellence, innovation, courage and ideas that are on display at the Triumph Design Awards. I am proud to be the Chairman of one of Britain’s excellent manufacturers; a company that puts the medium to long term at the centre of everything. The Design Awards are evidence of making our philosophy a reality.”

The keynote speech was delivered by Professor Tony Miles, who is the Director of the Centre of Orthopaedic Biomechanics at the University of Bath

Professor Miles said “It was really wonderful to see the variety of creative and innovative design projects displayed at the Triumph Design Awards function today. I was hugely impressed not only by the quality of the models and supporting materials in the students displays,  but also the clarity, enthusiasm and technical knowledge they displayed in presenting their ideas.”

Also in attendance at the event was Councillor Lynda Hodgkins, The Worshipful Mayor of Hinckley and Bosworth. She said“I would definitely love to be invited to the Triumph Design Awards next year and it is great to be working so closely with the company, which is such a big part of life in Hinckley!”

The Triumph Design Awards aims to inspire the engineers of the future by:

  • Celebrating the design achievements of our country’s young engineers.
  • Demonstrating how the same skills are used by engineers in industry.
  • Inspiring all young people with the prospect of a career in which their ideas can become a reality.

The Triumph Design Awards 2020 will open for entries in March next year.

Website: www.triumphdesignawards.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tridesignawards  @TriDesignAwards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tridesignawards/