Design the Change
Bolt Burdon Kemp LLP are proud to announce the return of our proprietary Design the Change Competition. Starting in October 2024 and finishing in Easter 2025, our student competition joins a global conversation about the need for improved accessibility in the world and the importance design plays in making this happen.
According to research carried out by the Spinal Injuries Association it is estimated that there are more than 105,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK. Every two hours, through accident or illness, a person’s life is changed when they sustain a spinal cord injury. Adults, children, men, women: injury does not discriminate.
A spinal cord injury is a life-changing event that makes even the most simple of tasks time-consuming and a challenge. Yet despite the increasing number of people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK, not enough is being done to make the world in which we live, accessible to all. In recent years a spotlight has been shone on the transport industry with rail companies and airlines repeatedly failing to look after the needs of their disabled passengers. Stories of people being trapped on airplanes; abandoned on platforms; having their wheelchairs damaged. Just walk down your local high street and imagine being in a wheelchair or having limited mobility – how many shops could you access? Even if you can get inside, can you move about? The examples really are endless; we are not living in an accessible society but that can change and that is where we think that students can make a difference!
The Brief
Once again, our spinal injury team invites students from universities across the UK to think creatively, innovatively and empathetically to invent a product aimed at improving the lives of people with a spinal cord injury.
Whether it’s something simple – like a newer, easier way of accomplishing an everyday task – or something complex – like completely reimagining a common household appliance – we’re looking for unique, practical ideas that truly consider the needs of people with this injury.
We’d like all entries to show three key steps:
- The problem that you’re looking to solve
- The journey you went on to solve the problem, including your research and development process
- The final design, including the name of your invention, a description of how it works, and how you believe it will help those with a spinal cord injury
The Prize
The winning entry receives £5,000 with the runner-up receiving £2,500.
This competition is supported by our charity partner Cerebra based in Wales, a unique national charity that works to improve the lives of children with neurological conditions. Part of the charity’s work is to design bespoke equipment to meet families’ needs at their innovation centre. Cerebra is offering the winner, or a member of the winning team, a week’s placement at their innovation centre in Wales.
How to enter
Email competition@bbbkllp.co.uk with your entry. Your entry must detail the key steps outlined in the brief, and must be submitted in one of the following formats,:
- A video, of 5 minutes or less, uploaded privately to YouTube.
- A combination of words and images delivered as a PDF document, including early sketches, photographs and CAD renderings, if created, limited to no more than 5 pages
Who can enter?
This competition is open to individual students as well as teams of up to four students.
Students can be either undergraduates or postgraduates, from any higher education institution, college or university in the UK. If submitting a team entry, all members of the team should attend the same university but do not need to be reading the same subject.
Key Dates
- 14th October 2024: Competition opens
- 14th May 2025: Competition closes
The Judging Process
All entries will be judged by our panel of experts, including a representative from our charity partner Cerebra. We’ll look at whether entries:
- Are original
- Have considered the needs of people with a spinal cord injury
- Solves a practical, day-to-day problem for people with spinal cord injury
- Demonstrates commercial awareness and is viable
Research and Insight
For a helpful starting point from which to learn more about the challenges faced by people with spinal cord injuries, you can follow the links below.
- What is a spinal cord injury?
- Bolt Burdon Kemp Spinal Injury Team Blogs
- Paralympian Anna Turney talks to BBK about life as a wheelchair user
- Bolt Burdon Kemp: Sport and Spinal Cord Injury
- Ella Beaumont speaks about life in a wheelchair
- Bolt Burdon Kemp – Vlog supporting a novice wheelchair user
- Bolt Burdon Kemp – Raising awareness for wheelchair users
- Going the Extra Mile
- Accessible Travel and Spinal Injury
- The Incomplete Picture
As you begin to investigate this field of design, you’ll no doubt discover that research in spinal cord injury rehabilitation often intersects the medical and physiotherapy worlds as well as the design and manufacturing worlds. This means, when we ask ourselves how design can better help people with spinal injuries, we’ll need to keep several factors in mind:
- The person’s medical needs
- The person’s physical ability
- The possibilities and limitations of design
- The possibilities, limitations and availability of raw materials
When creating your entries, you’ll need to make sure your ideas encompass everything above.
Previous Winners
Tom was the winner of our 2022-23 competition. At the time, Tom Baker was a Product Design student from Sheffield Hallam University. His winning design was a state-of-the-art wheelchair buggy, designed to affix to wheelchairs and help parents safely transport their children. The wheelchair buggy comprises of a lightweight collapsible frame, offering wheelchair users independent and secure travel with young children utilising existing wheelchair and infant seat fixings, for universal use with non-adapted products. Through Tom’s research he realised that many wheelchair users rig up DIY contraptions so they can push conventional pushchairs. His research revealed there are around 4,000 UK parents living with a spinal cord injury, and many more parents who are wheelchair users who could benefit from this. Click here to read more information about Tom’s winning entry.
Terms and Conditions
- Entrants must be students, either undergraduates or postgraduates, from any higher education institution, college or university in the United Kingdom
- Only one entry per person or per team will be considered
- If the entry is submitted by a team, all members of the team (four people maximum) should attend the same university but do not need to be reading the same subject
- The entry must be the student’s/team’s own work
- Late submissions or submissions that do not meet the required submission format will not be considered
- Bolt Burdon Kemp claims no intellectual property rights (these remain with the entrant/entrants). However, we reserve the right to retain designs to display on the Bolt Burdon Kemp website and for use in relevant PR/promotional material. Entrants should be aware that by displaying the design publicly it would most likely void any claim to ownership of the intellectual property and therefore they should seek to cover themselves should they so wish.
- Winner(s) will be required to agree to the use of their name and photograph in promotional activity related to the competition and will co-operate with any other reasonable requests by Bolt Burdon Kemp relating to any competition publicity
- Winner(s) will be notified by email. Return of this email as undeliverable or failure to reply within 7 days may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner(s)
- Prizes are non-transferable
Have a question? Email competition@bbkllp.co.uk or send us a tweet @BoltBurdonKemp.
Good luck!
