Efficiency for Access Design Challenge Prototypes
Prototype Funding
Thanks to funding from the IKEA Foundation, students in the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge have had the option to build prototypes of their designs, transforming early-stage concepts into practical models where they can test their ideas in real world conditions. Prototyping has helped teams understand how their designs work, identify improvements, and explore how their innovations could create meaningful impact in their communities.
Whether it’s a simple sketch or a fully functioning device, a prototype is a vital step in the design process. It encourages hands on learning, creative problem solving, and experimentation, while also helping students communicate their ideas to stakeholders and potential funders.
Through this experience, student teams have gained skills in practical engineering, technical expertise, collaboration, teamwork, budgeting, problem-solving, and more, building the confidence and drive to continue developing their innovations beyond the competition.
Prototyping Across the Years
Over the past six years of the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge, some prototyping students have taken their ideas further by showcasing their designs. We’ve gathered a selection of prototyping highlights from the six years of the Challenge which you can look through below.
Previous Participants’ Prototypes
2024 - 2025
Prototype designs were highlighted in a dedicated video showcase, celebrating the creativity and progress of the student teams.
You can view a video summarising these fascinating innovations here.
2023 - 2024
In this year, 22 teams undertook prototyping, with many presenting their work at the Global Off-Grid Solar Expo held in Nairobi in October 2024.
- 7 local teams attended in person
- 5 of those teams brought fully built prototypes to exhibit
- Other teams showcased their concepts through detailed posters displayed around the exhibition stand
Discover some of the teams’ innovative designs.
2022 - 2023
In 2023, our talented prototype developers dedicated the months after the Grand Final to realise and refine their designs through our prototype grant funding opportunity. These students decided to go above and beyond the Challenge to pursue their ideas.
2021 - 2022
Student designs were displayed at the Engineering Design Show, the UK’s largest annual engineering and electronics exhibition. As participating teams were based outside the UK, their innovations were presented through detailed posters displayed throughout the booth. To read more about the students’ show at the Engineering Design Show, and see some of photos from the show floor check out our blog post on Medium!
2020 - 2021
In the 2020 – 2021 year of the Challenge, students exhibited their prototypes online through Dutch Design Week. Take a look at Efficiency for Access’ virtual space here to see some of last year’s prototypes: electric cooker, fresh fish cooler storage, grain dryer, hydroponic system, milk pasteurizer, vaccine refrigerator, water purification.