With the REHACARE DESIGN AWARD, Messe Düsseldorf awards accolades to design-oriented innovations which are characterized by a humane and sensitive design. With the quality label they are thus offering all winners an effective long-term marketing instrument. Categories of interest include communication aids for visually impaired, hearing impaired, speaking impaired and speech impaired persons, telecommunication aids, aids for writing and reading, computers, entertainment electronics, etc.

The competition will take place before the trade fair (15-18 October 2008). The winners will be honoured at a festive awards ceremony on the evening of the first day of the trade fair and will receive the official confirmation for their product’s excellent quality with the certificate. In addition, all award-winning works will be presented in an attractive exhibition area during the REHACARE. Parallel to that, they will be given another presentation platform here on the competition’s Internet site www.rehacare-award.com and in the bilingual trade publication, which will be published after the trade fair.

Registration deadline is 20 August 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

The Cycling & Health Tech Industry R&D Center is organizing the 13th International Bicycle Design Competition (IBDC) and invites entries. IBDC takes great pleasure in inviting you to take part in the ONLY international bicycle design competition! There is no entry fee. You may read about it on http://design.runride.com and register through this web page from May 1 to August 10 2008. After registration you have until August 10 2008 to submit your work (4 electronic files in jpg format) via email for the First Round. Twenty-one finalists will be selected and notified by September 15, 2008. These twenty-one submit their final work (a small-scale model) by December 20, 2008. Final results will be announced on March 17, 2009, the first day of the 2009 Taipei International Cycle Show. The Grand Prize NT$500,000 as well as high honorary is waiting for you!

London deserves a bus fit for the 21st century, and Mayor Boris Johnson wants as many people as possible to submit their ideas. Whether you’re a professional designer who can submit a detailed plan or you are someone who uses buses every day and has one great idea that would make your journey better, they have a category for you. You don’t need any technical knowledge to enter the “Imagine” category and it is open to everyone. The “Design” category is intended for professional design companies and people with the technical skills to give us detailed design documents. The winning entries in this category may see their designs taken forward to major bus manufacturers.

There is a 1st prize of £25,000, and many smaller awards for great ideas. The competition will run until mid September, and Mayor Johnson will announce the winners by the end of October. Visit the site to learn more.

Above: 1st Prize [d³] contest
Raphael von Allmen (ECAL) - Chair.

This competition is one of the most prestigious competition platforms for up-and-coming designers of interior products. It is open to students and graduates from the fields of product design, industrial design or interior architecture and allows all interior products like furniture, lighting, textiles, carpets or wallpapers at the status of prototypes at the time of the fair or in preparation for serial production. The jury of the “interior innovation award” will select the best developments and present the award to up-and-coming designers at imm cologne 2008.

All entries have to be submitted by September 15th 2008 (date of postmark) to the German Design Council which is organizing the competition on behalf of imm cologne. Visit the site to learn more.

The Adi Foundation seeks to nurture the work of artists exploring the nexus between art and Judaism. To that end, the Foundation’s central project is a biennial international competition in the visual arts and design on a theme related to Jewish thought and tradition. This competition is open to artists, including students, from a wide variety of fields in the visual arts, including painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photography, video, installation art, computer art and design (Judaica, industrial design, graphic design, jewelry, fashion, etc.).

The theme of the fourth Adi Prize (2008) is Rupture and Repair. Information on the theme, including a source book on the subject, is available on the Foundation’s web-site, www.adifoundation.co.il.

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Keeseh Studio invites students and design enthusiasts to celebrate the pursuit of ecodesign through an international competition to utilize waste material.

A given manufacturing facility creates many copies of a product; therefore they create many copies of their waste material as well. Waste material can be used as raw material for other products or processes; this concept is known as upcycling.

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It’s that time again - time for the reddot design award. Participation extends to all designers, design studios, companies, research laboratories, inventors, design professionals and students from anywhere in the world are eligible to enter.

All kinds of inventions, novelty designs and aesthetic designs that are not in the market, and not produced for sale before 1 December 2008 can be entered. Award decisions are taken on the concept presentations directly by the jury during the adjudication process.

Registration deadline is 11 July 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Spark is the exciting new competition created to promote great design and designers. They invite everyone to participate - designers, art directors, architects, design firms, manufacturers, institutions, ad agencies, students and novices may enter and enjoy the Spark Design Awards.

Graphics, product, transportation and architecture are just a few of the many design categories accepted. If you or your company create great designs, don’t miss the opportunity to compete in this important event.

To accommodate the greatest possible range of designs and designers, and to lower the initial cost of entry, the SparkAwards are now configured as a “two-phase” competition, just like a sports playoff series. In Phase I, the entrant will upload an image of their work and short description to the Spark website. The Phase I fee is US$125.

The first phase (virtual jury) final deadline is August 1. An international jury will carefully review the entries in early August. Phase I entrants chosen by the Jury will then have the option to participate in Phase II, as a Spark “Challenger “candidate, with payment of a second fee of $250. Phase II deadline is September 1, 2008. Jurists will judge the actual, physical works of design, so you’ll need to ship your design to the Jury site by September 5. Visit the site to learn more.

Join the metacycle community by helping to increase product longevity through design and rapid prototyping technologies. In the design lab, they present the following design challenge: Choose one of 10 selected objects and transform it into a new, functional and eco-responsible product. For example, take a flip phone and turn it into a makeup case.

The winning idea will be developed by the professional designers of the Metacycle team and all commercial rights will remain with the originator of the idea. A physical model will be created and shipped to the winner.

Deadline is 30 June 2008. Winner will be chosen by 15 July. Visit the site to learn more.

Create a Concept Car which is designed to evolve within the cities of the future, whilst retaining the key values of the 21st century. The projects should bear Peugeot’s stylistic codes and must contain the following four aspects included in this design competition: environmental awareness, social harmony, interactive mobility and economic efficiency. The theme this year is “IMAGINE THE PEUGEOT IN THE WORLDWIDE MEGALOPOLIS OF TOMORROW.”

Together with the design, entrants must include a text explaining the concept of the vehicle. During selection, particular consideration will be given to the following: the originality of the concept and the clarity of explanations, faithfulness to the values of the Peugeot brand, creativity regarding style and the quality of the final product. At the end of the competition, PEUGEOT will build a full size model of the winning vehicle, which will be exhibited at the Shanghai Motor Show in April 2009.

Any net users who wish to enter should connect to the Internet site http://www.peugeot.com under the heading “Design” before 20 July 2008. Correspondence is by e-mail only. Follow the instructions on the website.