From breakthroughs like invisible glass and self-destructing plastics to innovative treatments for spinal cord injury , the Create the Future Design Contest has spotlighted future technologies throughout its 23-year run. This year’s event, held on November 7 in New York City, was no exception.
Sponsored by COMSOL, Mouser Electronics, Analog Devices, intel, and presented by SAE Media Group, the Create the Future Design Contest brought together seven exceptional finalists to pitch their groundbreaking ideas before a panel of 12 expert judges, who then chose the Grand Prize winner, IMERSIV, based on a 20-point scoring system.
The contest rewarded innovation in seven categories: Aerospace & Defense; Automotive & Transportation; Electronics; Manufacturing and Materials; Medical; Robotics and Automation; and Energy, Power & Propulsion. There were two prior rounds of judging to determine the seven finalists — one for each category.
Each finalist pitched their idea via a 10-minute presentation, which was followed by a five-minute Q&A with the judges. The top prizes in the 2025 edition — including IMERSIV, which took home the $25,000 Grand Prize, and the winning designs in seven categories — were awarded at the live event.
Grand Prize Winner
IMERSIV: 100X Audio Digital-to-Analog Performance Improvement
IMERSIV is a profoundly new audio D-to-A conversion architecture that improves today's best DAC performance by 100X (40dB) or more. Noise, Linearity, and Dynamic Range are so advanced that today's finest test equipment cannot fully measure it (40nVrms broadband noise floor). This 100X breakthrough represents the greatest single objective improvement in the 140-year history of audio technology, according to the inventor. In brief, IMERSIV topology breaks an incoming audio signal into 2 or more dynamic pathways. The lower pathways are managed for extreme low noise, while the higher pathways are managed for extreme high levels. Combining these pathways results in an audio dynamic range in excess of 28-bits, or 170dB. Today's very finest DAC's rarely achieve anything close to 130dB.
For more information, visit here .
Aerospace & Defense
Silent Sentry: A Software-Defined Passive Sensor for Counter-Stealth and Battlefield Survivability
This solution is a software system that transforms existing passive microwave sensors into advanced threat detectors. The system is based on Passive Microwave Radiometry (PMR), which "listens" for the faint, naturally emitted thermal radiation from all objects. The core of our technology is a proprietary neural network that processes this data. It intelligently filters out complex background noise to isolate the unique thermal signatures of targets, turning a noisy environment into a clear, actionable intelligence picture that works day or night, in any weather.
For more information, visit here .
Automotive & Transportation
NOxZero™: Making Diesel Engines Nearly Emission-Free
The team spent seven years developing NOxZero™ — a highly efficient, low-cost, and easy-to-install technology that reduces diesel NOx emissions to near-zero levels. In the standard Diesel system, urea — also known as Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) or AdBlue — is injected into the diesel exhaust stream. As the injected urea contacts the NOxZero™ unit, which is installed in the exhaust line, NOxZero rapidly heats the droplets. This generates several times more ammonia than conventional systems, significantly enhancing NOx reduction in the downstream Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalyst.
For more information, visit here .
Electronics
Plastalyst – Chemical Recycling
For those companies that struggle to recycle their waste, Plastalyst recycles organic waste and plastic waste into chemicals such as monomers, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methanol. Uniquely, the process is below 200 °C, produces no CO2 and only uses water as a solvent. Plastalyst focuses on the most-difficult-to-recycle waste, such as cables, CFRP or circuit boards.
For more information, visit here .
Manufacturing and Materials
REACT®: Automated Capsule Recycling Technology for a Circular Coffee Industry
The REACT® Coffee Maker is an innovative integrated appliance that automates both the brewing and clean recycling of single-use coffee capsules. Unlike conventional capsule coffee machines, which leave used capsules contaminated with organic coffee grounds, the REACT® Coffee Maker incorporates a patented mechanical separation module that automatically empties each capsule immediately after brewing. This system addresses a critical barrier to sustainable capsule consumption: the difficulty of separating residual coffee from the capsule shell, which prevents efficient recycling and contributes to millions of tons of waste annually.
For more information, visit here .
Medical
Blood Viscosity: The Next Vital Sign – A Wearable Breakthrough in Trauma, Sepsis, and Vascular Health
The first real-time, wearable blood viscosity (BV) monitoring device, this breakthrough fills a long-standing void in trauma, burn, and sepsis care by delivering continuous, noninvasive insights into the body's fluid and vascular dynamics. Unlike traditional vitals, BV reflects the blood’s resistance to flow — capturing subtle, early physiologic shifts caused by dehydration, systemic inflammation, coagulation changes, and vascular leakage. These are the earliest precursors to life-threatening conditions like sepsis or hemorrhagic shock. Our technology empowers clinicians and medics — whether at the bedside or in remote, resource-limited environments — to respond before deterioration becomes irreversible.
For more information, visit here .
Robotics and Automation
Woodpeckr
Starting with a focus on improving the safety of lineworkers, the first prototype is a semi-autonomous robot designed to climb and drill wooden utility poles during the electrical line installation process. Current processes require lineworkers to climb poles manually or stop traffic to reach heights via a bucket truck. The device consists of a three-wheel system that wraps around a pole for climbing and forms a platform on which tools can be mounted. On the platform, a 180-degree track positions a drill angularly, enabling through holes to be drilled at any angle while ensuring safety, accuracy, and efficiency. The passive suspension ensures the device can hold itself and its payload up during operation, while resisting rough wind and weather conditions.
For more information, visit here .
Energy, Power & Propulsion
Ultra-Efficient Hydrogen Combustion for Clean, Distributed Power and Propulsion
Alpha-Otto Technologies introduces REV Force, a radically new hydrogen-compatible engine platform that combines a patented mode of engine operation with an advanced combustion strategy to redefine what’s possible in clean, distributed power. At the core of REV Force is a proprietary engine architecture that delivers a power stroke with every revolution of the crankshaft, effectively doubling the power density compared to conventional four-stroke engines. The REV Force design decouples pumping work from the piston, leveraging an external air management system that precisely controls intake and exhaust flows.
For more information, visit here .
The 2026 Create the Future Design Contest will open for entries on March 1, 2026. For more information, please visit createthefuturecontest.com .
