JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 7 October 2021 – The awards keep coming and for Samsung’s customers, so do the rewards. Samsung has won 48 awards at the world-renowned International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) 2021, including seven Silvers, three Bronzes and thirty-eight finalists.

The IDEA 2021 awards for Samsung include creative designs across multiple categories, showcasing Samsung’s excellence in consumer lifestyle design from product design to interactive and advanced concept design.

IDEA, hosted by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), has been held annually since 1980. Widely viewed as the most influential design awards program in North America, IDEA considers design innovation, benefit to user and benefit to society as part of its criteria for selecting its awardees. Samsung attained seven Silver awards for its cutting-edge creations including:

• Samsung Neo QLED 8K (QN900A) which deploys the Infinity Screen design that maximises immersion by minimising the bezel.
• Bespoke Cube air purifier (AX9500N) with the innovative concept of letting consumers choose the purifier’s front panel design according to their lifestyle.
• Bespoke Slim (VS6800AL)^[1], a vacuum cleaner which offers a slim and customisable design that fits in a small space. [1] The product is currently available in Korean market.
• SmartThings Cooking, enabling one-stop culinary experience powered by Whisk’s Food AI.

The following received Bronze awards:

• The Frame, a lifestyle TV that can be matched to any home décor and features ‘Art Mode,’ which allows viewers to enjoy masterpieces from their homes.
• The Premiere, a lifestyle projector designed for those who want to create a theatre-like environment in their homes.
• Bespoke 4-Door Flex refrigerator, which helps consumers achieve their desired lifestyles through flexible, personalised offerings.

The pandemic affected consumers’ lifestyles in many ways, so it is more important than ever to keep an eye on how those change and to offer meaningful experiences to consumers accordingly,” said Dudu Mokholo, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung Africa. “We will continue to provide optimised experiences for South Africans based on a variety of lifestyles with the design that best resonates with them.”

The IDEA 2021 Ceremony was held virtually on September 21. The International Design Conference was held virtually for two days from September 22 to 23. Dontae Lee delivered a keynote titled ‘Design for a Better Tomorrow’ at the event.

The list of all 48 award-winning designs can be found here.

Submissions are to fall under four categories: Education, Health-Medical, Environment-Safety and Local Community. First-time entries are eligible for Idea Awards and for solutions that have particularly far-reaching implications for society, Samsung Electronics has the option to provide additional support through their Impact awards. For more information, visit: http://www.tomorrowsolutions.org

Ignis helps Firefighters Spot Victims and Dangers in the Field with Thermal Imaging

The winner of the 2016 Idea Award and the 2017 Impact award was Ignis, a project for an affordable thermal imaging solution customised for firefighters. Inspired by a real-life situation experienced by firefighter Han Gyeong-Seung, Ignis was proposed through Samsung Tomorrow Solution and then further developed by Samsung Electronics Creative Lab (C-Lab).

A fireman demonstrates Ignis in a simulated fire

Conventional thermal cameras are bulky and expensive, which makes them difficult to dispatch in actual firefighting and rescue missions. Working with local firefighters, the Ignis team devised a small, light and easy-to-use thermal camera that can be attached to the firefighters’ masks. Samsung donated 1,000 of these Ignis cameras to fire stations throughout Korea.

About Samsung Tomorrow Solution

Samsung Tomorrow Solution is a social contribution contest that was created in 2013. Over 7,000 teams, consisted of over 30,000 people, have taken part in the contest during the last five years.

To date, Samsung Electronics has awarded a total of one billion Korean Won (about R12 million) to 40 winners through Samsung Tomorrow Solution, helping them further pursue and realise their ideas. Samsung has also invested additional assets, including financial, technical and human resources, to further develop and distribute solutions with particularly great potential.

Now in its sixth year and for the first year open as a global initiative, the project’s continuing quest to find and fund ideas that can help the public landscape is still going strong.

Additional Images

Ignis, an affordable thermal imaging camera customized for firefighters

The Ignis team worked with local firefighters to understand the full needs of their thermal imaging system

A local firefighter prepares to test an Ignis prototype

This infrared image, from a prototype test, is similar to what firefighters can see using Ignis’ technology