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BraunPrize Forum 2005
Once again it has been a perfect interplay between people, place and time at the BraunPrize 2005. More than 500 design experts and guests from all over the world met at the Braun headquarters in Kronberg on September 8th for the 15th BraunPrize ceremony on a cheerful late summer afternoon.
Like in the previous years 2001 and 2003, 5 finalists remained from a 3 staged qualification process and out of new record total of 684 submissions from across 50 countries. In the first two rounds the finalists managed to convince the BraunPrize Jury 2005 which consisted out of 4 internationally acclaimed design and business professionals:
- Alessandra Vasile (Architect, Italy)
- Gianfranco Zaccai (CEO Design Continuum, US/I)
- Udo Milutzki (Vice President Engineering & PPM, Germany)
- Peter Schneider (Director Corporate Design Braun, Germany)
In the last round the 5 finalists had to present their projects in front of the BraunPrize Forum last Thursday afternoon. The Forum consisted out of more than 160 internationally acclaimed design professionals whose task (and burden) has been to elect the final BraunPrize 2005 winner.
The following finalists from five countries across the globe managed to be part of this last stage of the competition:
- Gregory Scott, University of New South Wales (Australia) with Yolk: Head protection for extreme snow sports
- Jens Andersson, Institute of Design, Umeå University (Sweden) with Rescue Buoy
- Lynn Borneman, Ontario College of Art and Design (Canada) with Animal Factor - Echo Equine
- Wa Yao, Universität der Bildenden Künste, Hamburg (Germany, Nationality: Chinese) with Mesh Editor 2D to 3D
- Adriano B. Galvao, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (USA) with Easy-XM
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The voting process
However prior to the voting process each finalist had to present his project in a 10 minute presentation in front of the Forum. This year Hans-Jürgen Gerdes (Bremer Design GmbH, Design Centre Bremen, Germany) moderated and coached the finalists for this critical stage of the BraunPrize competition.
With an overall prize money of Euro 36.000 (the highest amount donated ever) the winner is open to choose between a single prize money of Euro 12.000 or an endowed six months internship at the Braun Design department. The remaining amount is allocated to the other finalists and special nominees for projects of design excellence.
At the end of a highly inspiring presentation session the BraunPrize forum elected Jens Andersson Insitute of Design, Umea University (Sweden) as the winner of the BraunPrize 2005 with his project "Rescue Buoy":
The Rescue Buoy is a life guard assistant in the form of a rescue buoy that monitors the water to detect possible rescue situation in time.
Life guards are able to find the rescue situation from land, but have problems locating the spot while out on water. The Rescue Buoy solves this problem by identifying the problem, contacting the life guard on shore to determine the right action, and if needed, moving towards the location to act as a floatation device and a positioning marker until further assistance arrives. The buoy is meant to work in a team with other buoys covering the whole width of the beach, each observing a distance of 150 meters.
Besides emergency situations, it also makes beach guests feel safe from off shore winds and shark attacks. The Rescue Buoy brings the robotic application into a new field by finding, consulting and solving an actual problem that would save human lives.
As always the ceremony has been accompanied by short lectures of internationally acclaimed experts. This year Braun has been able to attract Bernhard Wild (Chairman of the Board, Braun), Prof. Dr. Peter Zec (Chairman Design Center NRW and President-Elect of ICSID), Klaus Burmeister (Chairman Z-Punkt GmbH/Futurist, Essen) as well as Peter Schneider (Director Corporate Design, Braun).
At the closure of the official ceremony the BraunPrize exhibition 2005 has been opened by Peter Schneider. The exhibition showcases 24 of the best submissions and 11 "Notable Mentions" of the BraunPrize 2005. Furthermore the exhibition comprises 19 of the best projects of the local BraunPrize competitions from Mexico and China.
The final and hidden highlight of BraunPrize Forum is always the open buffet in the architecturally inspiring atrium of the Braun headquarters. In a relaxing atmosphere people make new business contacts, meet old friends or form new friendships in order to meet again … at the next BraunPrize Forum 2007.
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