Power To The Pedal Competition - UNESCO

The push for bicycle use is gaining global relevance not just as a leisure activity, but as a solution to a range of problems like pollution, congestion, rising gas prices and issues surrounding community health. In urban areas around the world, advocacy groups are staking a claim for bicycles and educating the public about the benefits of biking as a means of transport, fitness and fun.

Promoting bicycle use also means enabling it; local governments are being tasked to improve infrastructure to create more convenient and safer routes as well as incentives for biking. City initiatives like Bike to Work Day and other bike share projects are promoting public awareness of the positive impact of biking on health, wellbeing and the environment.

This competition calls for a biking accessory or add-on for existing bikes that would improve the bicycling experience and encourage more people to make biking their primary means of transport – more convenient, more enjoyable, safer and more integrated into daily lifestyles – whether it's for commuting, working, shopping, transporting, leisure or all of the above. In your description, you should define the user scenario and design problem that your design attempts to solve.

You cannot enter any design that already exists on the market or has been put into commercial production, or that you do not own the rights to.

Download pdf: English, French, Japanese

Application Closes: April 30, 2008 at 11:58PM UTC

Public Voting: April 30, 2008 to May 13, 2008 at 11:58PM UTC

Results Announcement: May 20, 2008 at 12:00AM UTC

Note: The submission and announcement deadlines may be subject to change.

Judging Criteria

Judging criteria specific to this competition are:

Overall effectiveness: How well does the solution provide an answer to the design problem?

Creativity: How innovative and cost-effective is the thinking behind the design?

Practicality: How successfully can the design be produced or put into practice? Can it be adapted for local production? Does it add to the safety of the cyclist, too?

Aesthetics: How strong is the design in terms of overall form and presentation?

Ecology: How well does the design respond to environmental concerns through considerations such as choice of materials, production techniques, life-span, upgrade, durability, weight, recycle, or re-use factors?

Prizes

1st prize: $5000

2nd prize: $3000

3rd prize: $1500

Most Popular prize: $500

Jury

Wendy Brawer (USA): An eco-designer, public educator and director, Wendy E. Brawer is best known as creator of NYC’s Green Apple Map and as Founding Director of the local-global Green Map System. In addition to producing maps and related websites (GreenMap.org, GreenAppleMap.org), books, exhibits and presentations, Wendy has taught, spoken and written on eco-design internationally since 1990. Her diverse projects for Times Square, Liberty Science Center, and others have promoted renewable energy and highlighted waste reduction. She was named Woman of Earth 2005, Designer in Residence at Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 1997 and chaired the IDSA EcoCommittee in the mid-90s, as seen at EcoCultural.info.

Emiliano Godoy (Mexico): Emiliano Godoy attended the Pratt Institute's graduate program (New York, 2004) and has a BA degree in industrial design from Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City, 1997) and furniture design studies from the Danish Design School (2003). He runs the design firm Godoylab, and is the Design Director of the furniture manufacturer Pirwi . He teaches industrial design at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, ITESM, and has thought design at UNAM's Centre for Industrial Design Research, the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Pratt Institute. He is a staff editor of the quarterly architecture and design magazine Arquine, is part of the design collective NEL, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of DESIGN 21: Social Design Network.

Jens Martin Skibsted (Denmark): Jens Martin Skibsted has founded and co-founded several companies, among them the world-renowned bike company Biomega, Actics, an ethical consultancy and the creative agency Skibsted Ideation. As Creative Director he has worked with some of the world’s leading designers such as Marc Newson, Ross Lovegrove and Karim Rashid and helped position a number of brands. He has designed a series of award-winning bikes for Biomega and is a select designer for Puma alongside the likes of Philippe Starck and Alexander McQueen. He has won the Wallpaper* best bike category and the I.D. Design Distinction for consumer products. He is the first Dane to be featured on the I.D. 40 list and Taschen’s Design Now. His latest bicycle was acquired for the permanent SFMOMA and MoMA collections.

More judges to be announced.

Application Closes: April 30, 2008 at 11:58PM UTC

Public Voting: April 30, 2008 to May 13, 2008 at 11:58PM UTC

Results Announcement: May 20, 2008 at 12:00AM UTC

<http://www.design21sdn.com/competitions/11>