Student inventors challenged to create new design for people with spinal cord injury
University students are gearing up to enter Bolt Burdon Kemp’s competition to invent new products for people with spinal cord injuries.
Our Design the Change competition returns for a fifth year from the 14th of October 2026, giving students the opportunity to create an accessible design that solves a day-to-day problem for those with spinal cord injuries.
To provide some inspiration, we’ve taken a look back at our past winners and their experiences with our competition.
Why enter Design the Change?
Design the Change presents a unique opportunity to look at problems from a fresh perspective, leverage your creativity, and put your skills to the test to produce something that creates a real-world positive impact.
Lois Moore, our 2025 winner, who designed a computer mouse for tetraplegic users, said: “It was an amazing feeling to know the product had been recognised for its utility and efficacy for individuals with spinal cord injuries.”
What are the criteria to enter Design the Change?
Our panel of experts will be considering whether entries:
- Are original
- Consider the needs of people with a spinal cord injury
- Solve a practical, day-to-day problem for those with spinal cord injuries
- Are viable products with commercial awareness
How to start your entry
Students at the start of their process might think about consulting with those with spinal cord injuries in order to give consideration to their needs.
Josie, a sustainable product design student at Falmouth University who entered in 2023, said the competition gave her the chance to develop her skills using human-centred research methods.
She added: “As a group, we’ve gathered some highly valuable insight from interviews conducted with Cornwall Mobility which has helped to inform our design direction.”
In this video, Stoke Mandeville Maulers Rugby player Ella Beaumont provides some insight into the everyday challenges she faces and the inventions that would help her in her life and with the sports she loves to play.
Our 2021 winner, Thomas Salkfield from Cardiff Metropolitan University, bought a wheelchair to try for himself. Travelling around in it, he discovered he found wheelchair use, particularly when travelling uphill, to be exhausting. Thomas’ solution was the creation of a motorised wheel controlled from a smartphone that can be added to wheelchairs in order to assist where users encounter elevation, uneven ground, and long journeys. He ensured that his design truly took users’ considerations into account by obtaining feedback on his prototypes from people with spinal cord injuries.
Helping with hobbies
Another starting point for students considering the brief might be to consider products that help people with spinal cord injuries with their favourite hobbies.
Last year’s winning invention, the ‘Arc Mouse’, designed by Lois Moore from Sheffield Hallam University, allows tetraplegic users to utilise a computer mouse without having to grip it, allowing them to use computers and play games more easily.
Those with spinal cord injuries sometimes have poor hand dexterity, and so the Arc Mouse is designed to respond to downward pressure and features a button that can be ‘clicked’ by leaning down with the hand. The mouse can be used with or without straps and is made from rubber to stop the hand from slipping easily.
Lois also created a tracking function as a separate component which can be controlled using the other hand. During her design process, she spoke to an occupational therapist for advice and looked closely at hand ergonomics
You can read more about how important accessible gaming is here.
In the same year, runner-up Abbie Willgoose designed the ‘VIVEfree’, which assists makeup lovers with limited hand dexterity with the creation of a multi-functional beauty tool that allows control of makeup products without the need for hand strength. Featuring a hammered metal design and an open loop that can be adjusted to different finger sizes, the product has a ring design that makeup products can be securely attached to, allowing users to apply the product with the use of their arm.
Another invention that students might take inspiration from includes ‘The Swing Mate’, a device that uses ergonomic cuffs to enable wheelchair users to grip a golf club and attach it to the forearm, with the option to change out the attachment for your club of choice.
Rethinking everyday tasks
The competition encourages students to think of everyday tasks that may have barriers for those with spinal cord injuries.
In 2023, winner Tom Baker, from Sheffield Hallam University, designed a lightweight and collapsible buggy that fixes to wheelchairs, enabling parents to travel safely and independently with their children.
During his research Tom found many wheelchair users had been creating their own inventions to try to adapt buggies and realised there was a market for his creation.
Those considering entering might want to consider other creative ways to enhance the capabilities of wheelchairs. One example of this is ‘Wheel Skis’. These are small blades that click into the smaller front wheels of a wheelchair and prevent them from sinking into the snow, offering a solution for those living in colder climates that encounter snow and ice, or for those who wish to travel to these destinations but feel limited by the prospect of snowy terrain.
Designing beyond spinal cord injury
Anna Lis’ ‘Superhuman Shoe’ impressed judges as it helped not only those with a spinal cord injury, but those with other disabilities too, as it aimed to improve the walking gait and comfort of those who suffer from foot drop – a condition whereby weakness or paralysis of the muscles at the front of the foot prevents a person from lifting it.
Anna’s research showed that many with foot drop use an ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) to help keep their foot at a 90-degree angle, but users often find them uncomfortable, stiff, and difficult to put into their shoe. Anna’s ‘Superhuman Shoe’, which finished as 2021’s runner up, addressed these issues by creating an AFO from polypropylene, allowing it to flex slightly. By including a zip on the shoe, the orthosis could be inserted and removed with ease.
How to enter
The competition opens on 14th October 2026, closes on 4th May 2027, and is open to undergraduate and postgraduate UK students either individually or in groups of up to four from the same university.
You can find the full details of how to enter here.
For more information email competition@bbkllp.co.uk.
Good luck!
