Life-Saving Invention That Preserves Organs Longer Wins Top Prize in Create the Future Design Competition

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — For patients awaiting an organ transplant, time can be the difference between life and death. A team at Vascular Perfusion Solutions (VPS) has developed a small, self-contained device for organ and limb transport that uses oxygen to keep tissue viable for more than 24 hours, compared to 4 – 6 hours with current methods. The ULiSSES™ device can also serve as a bioreactor, for example, to grow new skin for burn victims. ULiSSES™ has been awarded the Grand Prize of $20,000 in the 2019 “Create the Future” Design Contest, produced by Tech Briefs Media Group.

Leonid Bunegin, VPS Chief Scientific Officer, said, “The VPS team is deeply honored to receive the grand prize in a contest that celebrates technologies that benefit humanity. Our ULiSSES™ device is designed to be portable, affordable, and easy to use, which makes it more accessible to more hospitals, doctors, and most importantly, transplant patients.”

Engineers and students from 60 countries submitted new product ideas to the contest, which was established in 2002 to recognize and reward engineering innovations that benefit humanity, the environment, and the economy. This year’s contest was co-sponsored by COMSOL (www.comsol.com) and Mouser Electronics (www.mouser.com). Analog Devices and Intel were supporting sponsors.

“COMSOL is thrilled to support innovators and to recognize their achievements through the Create the Future Design Contest,” said Bernt Nilsson, Senior VP of Marketing with COMSOL, Inc.  “The winners bring novel solutions to major problems with great potential for commercial success.”

“Mouser congratulates the 2019 Create the Future Contest winners, and we applaud all of the participants and their creative ideas. Part of Mouser’s mission is empowering innovation, so we are very excited to support this global design contest,” said Kevin Hess, Mouser Senior Vice President of Marketing. “Our world is witnessing incredible advancements in electronic design thanks to today’s innovators and engineers.”

In addition to the grand prize, first-place winners were named in seven categories and received HP workstation computers:

Automotive/Transportation – sponsored by Siemens (www.mentor.com)
The World’s First Standalone AC Battery
A battery that integrates a new type of electrode, the Biode, to enable an AC system for power storage to deliver batteries that have more capacity, last longer, and are safer.
Tadashi Kubo (Team Leader), AC Biode Ltd., Abiko City, Chiba, Japan

Electronics/Sensors/IoT sponsored by Heilind/TE Connectivity (www.heilind.com)
Simple, Cost-effective Sensor for Early Detection of Battery Faults
Low-cost sensor detects onset of battery faults early, during charging and use, without negatively affecting battery performance.
Alexa Konstantinos, Battelle, Columbus, Ohio USA

Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation – sponsored by Maplesoft (www.maplesoft.com) 
High-Speed Joining of Metal to Plastics with the HPCI® Joining Gun
A Heat Press Cool-Integrative tool, much like a spot resistance welding gun, enables direct metal to polymer joining. Process times can be cut down from several minutes to a fraction of a second. 
Philipp Goetze (Team Leader), Fraunhofer IWS, Dresden, Saxony, Germany

Medical – sponsored by Zeus (www.zeusinc.com)
Cervical Stabilization Device (CSD)
A cost effective, non-invasive, medication-free, preventative treatment designed to support a successful and natural birth by addressing a wide range of conditions known to contribute to preterm birth.
Benjamin Booher, ViaTechMD, Scottsdale, Arizona USA

Aerospace & Defense
The Foldable Drone: A Morphing Quadrotor that can Squeeze and Fly
A drone autonomously changes its shape and size during flight to fit through narrow gaps. Applications include assisting rescuers after a building collapse.
Davide Falanga (Team Leader), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Consumer Products
Livox
A new communication tool for non-verbal people with disabilities and learning impairments that uses Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
Carlos Pereira, Livox International LLC, Orlando, Florida USA

Sustainable Technologies
Wave2O™ – Clean Water from Ocean Waves
The world’s first wave-driven desalination system can be deployed quickly, operate completely “off-grid” and supply large quantities of clean fresh water at a competitive cost.
Olivier Ceberio, Resolute Marine, Boston, Massachusetts USA

Finalists were selected by senior editors at Tech Briefs Media Group, producer of the contest, and judged by an independent panel of design engineers. For more information, visit www.createthefuturecontest.com.

About COMSOL
COMSOL is a global provider of simulation software for product design and research to technical enterprises, research labs, and universities. Its COMSOL Multiphysics® product is an integrated software environment for creating physics-based models and simulation applications. COMSOL has 19 offices worldwide and extends its reach with a network of distributors. Visit www.comsol.com.

About Mouser Electronics
Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an award-winning, authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on rapid New Product Introductions from its manufacturing partners for electronic design engineers and buyers. The global distributor’s website, Mouser.com, is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 5 million products from over 750 manufacturers. Mouser offers 26 support locations around the world to provide best-in-class customer service and ships globally to over 630,000 customers in more than 223 countries/territories from its 750,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility south of Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit www.mouser.com.

For Information Contact:
Debbie Rothwell
Director of Marketing
Tech Briefs Media Group
212-490-3999, ext. 5520
223764@email4pr.com 
www.createthefuturecontest.com 

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SOURCE Tech Briefs Media Group