A device that turns air into water, bringing deserts to life, has won this year's James Dyson award.
Edward Linacre took home the $14,000 prize for his Airdrop irrigation device, while his university, Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology, will also receive $14,000.
Judges selected Linacre from among more than 500 entries from designers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA. Two international runners-up were also chosen, both of whom will receive $3,000.
The finalists' inventions are diverse and range from an air massager for people with arthritis to a low cost water pump for those with difficulty accessing clean water. But the products share a certain commonality: They are all simple designs that solve real-world problems.
According to the James Dyson Foundation website, Dyson created the award fund to, "inspire young people about design engineering, to fulfill their potential and become engineers."
In his blog on Huffington Post UK, Dyson recently called for government ministers to match policy with rhetoric, to ensure that training is available for future generations of innovators.
"D&T (Design and Technology) should be valued by its long-term contribution to the economy, not by expense of teaching it. It teaches prized skills, relevant to business and industry; the launch pad for the next generation of Edisons, Brunels and Whittles. D&T needs inspiring teachers and healthy government funding but this investment will produce good yield," he wrote
See all the entries in the gallery below and rate your favourite entries: