Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute has announced the winners of their Product Design Challenge. This challenge recognizes designs created and materials used for a circular economy, wherein products and materials maintain their value over time and can be perpetually upcycled. This approach to timelessness speaks to a future of finite resources and a growing global population.  

Participants in the C2C Product Design Challenge had free access to the Autodesk portfolio of 3D design software, as well as a self-paced online course providing strategies, tools, and examples of the Cradle to Cradle design principles leading to Cradle to Cradle Certified products.

"Designing for a world facing finite resources and a growing population requires enterprising and intrepid designers, and it's exciting to see these young designers rise to the challenge," said Lynelle Cameron, senior director, Autodesk sustainability and foundation. "We congratulate them on creating bold new approaches to how we design and make things. The latest C2C challenge presented creative yet practical solutions to the planet's resource scarcity and provided inspiration for what the future holds."

The 4 winners below ALL used Fusion 360 in their winning designs!

Best Use of Autodesk Fusion 360 The Engineers for a Sustainable World Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Chapter that developed a recyclable broom with a bristle head.
Best Professional Design Barent Roth, a designer and educator, who was recognized for his BikeShare Helmet, a simple unisex style bike helmet designed specifically to integrate with the growing bike share community.
Best Student Design Gabriella Jacobsen, a student at Virginia Tech, who designed the Onward Bag to address the issue of plastic bags being a major pollutant in oceans and waterways.
Best Use of Aluminium Michiel Meurs and his team, who designed the AtoB Seat, a seat for public transport made from recycled aluminum, recycled PET, and formaldehyde free bamboo plywood.

Cradle to Cradle’s mission is to turn the making of things into a positive force for people, the economy, and the planet, which is administered through a product program for assessing and continually improving products based upon five sustainability characteristics: material health, material reuse, renewable energy, water stewardship, and social fairness. Their bi-annual competition is run in collaboration with Autodesk and the Alcoa Foundation, whose focus areas include finding solutions to improve the environment through sustainable design.

Learn more about the winners of the Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge and the next installation of the challenge in Spring 2016.