Calling all design visionaries and hardware enthusiasts! The “World Capital of Hardware,” Yongkang, China, is hosting the 19th International Industrial Design Competition for Hardware Products. This prestigious event, now in its 19th year, throws open its doors to a global audience, offering a unique platform to showcase your design talent and potentially revolutionize the hardware industry.
With a rich heritage in metalware and a thriving modern hardware sector, the city fosters a collaborative environment where design and industry converge. The competition itself boasts a remarkable history. Since its inception in 2006, it has served as a bridge between international design talent and China’s hardware powerhouse. Past editions have seen entries from close to 30 countries, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas and propelling design-driven advancements in the hardware landscape.
This year’s competition is all about hardware that makes a difference. Organizers are looking beyond aesthetics, seeking entries that demonstrate not just cutting-edge design, but also significant commercial and social value. The ultimate goal? Products that can seamlessly integrate into Yongkang’s robust manufacturing infrastructure. These innovative designs have the potential to propel not just the city’s hardware industry, but the global market as well.
Here’s a Deeper Dive into What Awaits You
Open to All: The competition welcomes submissions from a wide range of participants. Whether you’re a budding design student, a seasoned design professor, a well-established design agency, a leading company, or a freelance designer with a groundbreaking idea – the 19th International Industrial Design Competition for Hardware Products wants to hear from you.
Dual Award Tracks: The competition features two main tracks, each catering to specific design goals:
The Golden Star Product Award: This prestigious award recognizes designs with exceptional commercial and social potential. Ideally, these entries should be well-suited for rapid and efficient manufacturing within Yongkang’s established ecosystem. The jury will be looking for designs that are not just innovative but also commercially viable, with the potential to disrupt the market and make a positive social impact.
The Creative Sub-Category Competitions: These delve deeper into specific hardware product areas, offering a more focused platform for designers. This year’s sub-categories include:
- Outdoor Leisure Goods: Think innovative camping gear, portable cooking solutions, or next-generation sporting equipment.
- Quickly-Assembled Houses: Designs that prioritize functionality, sustainability, and ease of construction in prefabricated housing solutions.
- Sports Leisure Vehicles: The future of bicycles, e-scooters, or other recreational vehicles could be in your hands.
- Health Cups and Pots: Designs that promote healthy living through innovative features in drinkware and cookware.
- Rehabilitation Care Products: This sub-category seeks designs that improve accessibility and functionality for assistive devices.
- Fitness Equipment: Push the boundaries of exercise routines with creative and effective fitness equipment designs.
The Creative Sub-Category Competitions are co-organized with prominent local manufacturers in Yongkang. This unique collaboration ensures a direct line from design concept to real-world application. Your design, if chosen, could be fast-tracked for production and potentially reach a global audience.
Lucrative Prize Pool: Showcasing your talent and design vision at this global competition can be incredibly rewarding. The 19th International Industrial Design Competition for Hardware Products boasts a staggering total prize pool exceeding $498,900 USD. This makes it a significant opportunity to not only gain recognition for your work but also potentially launch a successful design career.
The deadline for submissions is October 10th, 2024. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a global design movement! Head over to the competition website to register and unleash your design vision on the world stage. Here’s also a look at the Gold and Silver winners from last year’s International Industrial Design Competition for Hardware Products.
Gold Prize – Caregiver
About the size of a travel case, the Caregiver is a foldable chair and inflatable bathtub combo that can be wheeled around. Designed for caregivers (hence the name), the chair folds open to allow senior citizens to sit comfortably in the seat, while a lower flat-pack container houses an inflatable bathtub. When the senior needs bathing, they just sit in the chair, while the bathtub inflates around them. The chair then lowers into the tub, allowing caretakers to bathe their elderly patients. When everything’s done, the chair lifts up, the patient gets out and gets dressed, and the caretaker can drain the water before folding everything back to its compact, portable size.
Silver Prize – Orthopedic Robot Surgery System
Using a combination of precision robotics, minimal incisions, and radiation, this orthopedic robot helps bring quality surgery experiences and healthcare to millions of patients. A dynamic duo of a vision robot and an execution robot, these two machines work in tandem, with the kind of accuracy and pin-point precision that even human hands can’t achieve. This enables seamless surgeries, allowing doctors to monitor the process throughout while the machine executes things perfectly.
Silver Prize – Pocket Stove
It just feels wonderful seeing some good old-fashioned clever design thinking! Meet the Pocket Stove, a foldable little number that opens out into a portable stove for camping. The entire device comes with a two-part design that splits along the middle, with one part becoming the stove itself, and the other plugging onto a gas tank. When you’re done, the stove element plugs into the bottom of the gas connector, and the three fins of the stove fold upwards, turning into a capsule that can be carried around anywhere you go.
Visit the International Industrial Design Competition for Hardware Products website to Register.
