Creating the future is about change, creativity, and risk - the core building blocks that foster innovation.

For the past five years, Emhart Teknologies has partnered with NASA Tech Briefs in challenging the engineering community through our “Create the Future” Design Contest. The worldwide engineering community’s response to the challenge surpassed our expectations once again. To encourage and recognize outstanding innovation in product design, the “Create the Future” design contest seeks to foster innovation in the categories of everyday products, safety, transportation, and medical. These categories were selected because they are areas where innovation can significantly improve the quality of our lives at home, work, recreation, or when we travel. Submitting an entry to the contest required commitment and attention to detail. Our panel of expert judges carefully scrutinized drawings, written descriptions, and all information that was relevant to the idea.

Again, congratulations to the winners of the 2006 “Create the Future” design contest. David Torrey and Buck Albritton were both honored at an awards dinner in New York City, but I want to express my personal gratitude to every other entrant who took the time to share their ideas, creativity, and innovation with us. We were truly impressed with the quality of the submissions, the attention to detail, and forward thinking that went into each entry.

We continue to be amazed at the increasing number of creative ideas developed by the global engineering community. The “Create the Future” design contest is Emhart Teknologies’ way of acknowledging the gifts, talent, and innovative spirit of engineers who help companies like ours put ideas into action. We also hope the contest gives individuals an opportunity to see their visions become reality.

I would also like to thank SolidWorks Corp. and COMSOL for their vision and generosity in co-sponsoring the event with us this past year.

Creating the future is a never-ending journey, and the drive to continuously develop engineering advancements is at the core of the Emhart Teknologies design contest. We hope you will continue to participate in this endeavor. It’s an honor to be a part of creating the future.

Thank you and congratulations to all of the winners!

Michael A. Tyll

President, Emhart Teknologies

A Truly Global Event

For this year’s fifth annual “Create the Future” Design Contest, engineers from the United States and 40 other countries responded with an unprecedented number of entries, proving that engineering innovation is truly a global concept. Entries came from Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, and

Yugoslavia.

2006 Grand Prize Winner

2006 First Prize Winner

2006 Second Prize Winners

2006 Merit Prize Winners

Meet the Judges

2006 Contest Sponsors

A complete list of qualified entrants is available at www.emhartcontest.com . To inquire about any of the winning inventions, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..