Let’s celebrate the winners of the Cumulus Green 2024 awards!

Cumulus, the Global Association of Art and Design Education and Research, is pleased to announce the awarded projects of Cumulus Green 2024: Designing Healthy Future, the signature biennial student competition of the Association that aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This year’s theme focused on SDG 3: Health and Well-being. The international jury of Cumulus Green awarded three winners and 31 honorable mentions to the top projects in categories including products, services and systems. They jury sought to recognize exemplars among the 270 submissions from 89 universities and 39 countries that show how to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, but also to encourage healthy lifestyle, fight diseases and improve access to healthcare.

As Co-chairs of the competition, Vice-Dean Anne Pikkov and Assistant Professor Angela Giambattista, remarked in the call for entries: We invite students from all Cumulus member institutions to apply their agency and creativity to develop design proposals that further the agenda of the United Nations Sustainable Goals (SDG) 3: Good Health and Well-being. Students are to take a proactive role in using the magic of design wisdom to create innovative ideas for desirable and absolute necessary change.

Cumulus Green 2024 counted with a prestigious global jury from academia and practice with experts in health and well-being product design, design for inclusion and sustainable, longevity and healthcare systems. Joining co-chairs Pikkov and Giambattista, the jury was represented by João de Sá Bonelli, Giuseppe Di Bucchianico, Gianpaolo Fusari, Thomas Garvey, Tadanori Nagasawa, Felix Ofori Dartey, Mikko Ollikainen, Ravi Poovaiah, Thais Russomano, Michelle van Wyk and Isabelle Verilhac.

Solutions were judged based on desirability/feasibility, evidence of a rigorous research process, and degree of innovation. The Jury celebrated the quality and diversity of the submissions and was thrilled to ultimately give the top prizes to student team projects, with entries that showcase the power of collaboration in design.

Cumulus Green 2024 is proud to announce its three winners:

The first-place winner, CURO, was developed by Andrew Meehan – a student of Maynooth University, Ireland. Curo is a retrofitted cast system with inbuilt electro muscle stimulants to help reduce muscle loss whilst in a cast by up to 20 percent. A typical fracture patient can remain in a cast for up to eight weeks, in which they can loose up to 60% of their muscle mass during this time. The stimulant is keeping the muscles engaged and also provides data on the improvements; it potentially removes the need for a long physiotherapy.

The second-place winner, Mirage: Slurry Solutions, by Team Marble Slurry – Divyansh Jain, Prakriti, Raghav Modi, Vedangi Rane– students of The Design Village, India, focuses on repurposing marble slurry waste from Rajasthan’s mining into functional products, reducing pollution, and enable sustainable economic growth. The primary beneficiaries are local communities in Rajasthan, particularly those affected by marble mining and the associated waste. Containing and repurposing fine marble dust improves air quality, promoting better respiratory health. Additionally, creating passive cooling systems reduces reliance on air conditioning, lowering energy consumption and emissions.

The third-place winner, Emergency Service Camera, by Robin Richter and Frieder Lukaszewitz– students from The University of Design Schwaebisch Gmuend (HfG), Germany is a system that provides the link between the ambulance and the tele-emergency doctor. In rural areas, long distances, frequent emergencies and increasing traffic density lead to a significant shortage of emergency doctors, which hinders the rapid care of emergency patients. The Emergency Service Camera (EMS CAM) enables emergency doctors to be directly involved in the emergency situation via video and audio connections. This system allows tele-emergency doctors to give precise instructions remotely and to effectively guide and legally secure the ambulance team on site.