The James Dyson Award will announce its 2026 Philippine national winner on September 16, with 42 local inventions in the running for the international design competition for young engineers and designers.
Three Philippine entries will be shortlisted by a panel of local design and engineering professionals, with one ultimately named the national winner and receiving a £5,000 prize, or about P423,820.
The James Dyson Award is an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. It is open to current and recent design engineering students and is run by the James Dyson Foundation, the charitable trust established by English inventor and entrepreneur James Dyson, as part of its mission to encourage young people to pursue design engineering.
Entries are judged on more than the final invention. Judges also consider how the product was developed, including the testing, trial-and-error process and design improvements that led to the final product.
The Philippine national winner will advance to the next stage, where Dyson engineers will assess entries from participating countries and regions and narrow the field to 20 finalists. The Dyson engineers’ shortlist will be announced on October 14.
The second stage will focus partly on commercial viability, including whether an invention addresses the competition brief, meets potential consumer needs and can be manufactured at a reasonable cost.
The final 20 entries will then be reviewed by James Dyson, who will select the global winner, a global runner-up and a sustainability winner.
The international winner and sustainability winner will be announced on November 4.
The competition offers a £30,000 prize, or about P 2.543 million, to the global winner, while the sustainability winner will also receive £30,000. The global runner-up will receive £5,000, or about P423,820.
Beyond the cash prizes, the award gives young inventors an opportunity to gain media exposure, recognition from their peers and industry visibility that could help launch their careers or encourage them to develop their inventions into businesses.
The James Dyson Award marked its 20th year in 2025 and received more than 2,100 inventions from young engineers worldwide.
The competition is open to current university students and those who graduated within the past four years in engineering, product design or industrial design. Eligible degree-level apprentices may also participate.
Filipino inventors have previously won the Philippine national award, including Jeremy De Leon, whose Make-roscope won in 2023. The invention converts a smartphone or tablet into a pocket-sized microscope to make science equipment more accessible in classrooms.
The Make-roscope has since been developed into the JereMAKE brand, which has sold more than 10,000 units and reached students in over 70 schools and universities.
The Philippines’ 2025 national winner was SolAsin, a sustainable salt farming tool developed by University of the Philippines Diliman graduate John Carlo Reyes. The invention uses a compact solar-powered evaporation system aimed at helping small-scale salt farmers improve productivity. — Kaizzer Angela Marie V. Manuba
