MOME students shine at the Red Dot Design Awards
A call for applications to foster business, as well as other research, development, and innovation (RDI) activities within the university was issued by the MOME Design Competence Centre (DCC) in 2023. The winning application was submitted by teacher András Húnfalvi and aimed to set up a programme for supporting and preparing students for prestigious international design competitions like the Red Dot and the iF Design Student Award. The concept owners of selected projects receive guidance on choosing the appropriate award categories and mentorship in preparing their submissions.
The programme garnered significant interest, with fifty-two concepts submitted. Twelve were chosen for further development, and five of them received a Red Dot award. The award ceremony will take place in Singapore in October.
Levente Botond Kiss's hybrid public transport vehicle Flytram revolutionising transit won the Best of the Best award – a highly prestigious accolade only received by 1% of the entries – in the Mobility category. Kiss’s diploma project envisions a self-driving, hybrid train that integrates a new cable system with the existing rail network, switching from rail to cable, and vice versa, in seconds at a transfer station, reducing costs and transfers.
Having started out as a project incubated by the Innovation Center, the At Least workout bench by Máté Guthy, Róbert Kristóffy, and Nóra Szilágyi provides an alternative for home workouts with adjustable angles for various exercises and doubles as a stylish storage unit for sports equipment.
One of the standout solutions from the Sports Equipment Design assignment was Sebestyén Ócsai’s award-winning Spirit AR headset, a VR headset designed for home workouts. This advanced device features a complex monitoring system that scans the user's body and physical condition, and like a real coach, it personalises the workout based on the collected data.
The Micromobility course was equally productive, generating several innovative, award-winning concepts. Dorina Bárdi, Márton Lengyel, and Dorottya Dobosi developed the Grow On modular pram that addresses both usability and sustainability issues. It can be repurposed as a storage or transport unit, or even as a toy car, preventing it from ending up in landfills when outgrown.
Another remarkable product from this course is the ORMS stretcher, designed for rough terrain by Mátyás Lelkes and Balázs Orbán to enhance the efficiency of rescue operations in outdoor and disaster situations with its self-adjusting, semi-automatic system that continuously monitors the patient.
This success is a recognition not only for the designers but also for the supervising teachers Fanni Csernátony, András Húnfalvi, István Juhász, András Kerékgyártó, Péter Molnár, and Dániel Ruppert, along with MOME alumna Judit Huszár, who joined as an external expert.
“It is important for our university that students who produce outstanding work have the opportunity to compete internationally with their projects”, said project leader and head of the Mobility Lab András Húnfalvi, adding that winning an international award, such as the Red Dot, enhances the university's prestige, increases its international visibility, and provides a significant boost to a designer's career, commitment, and professional confidence. "When winning our first Red Dot with Flying Objects, we experienced this, and we want to pass it on to students and instil in them the desire to regularly compete at various levels”.