Since 2001, inventors from Britain and around the world have brought their ideas to The British Invention Show. Many of its winners have gone on to retail listings, major orders, investment and national honours. Here are some of their stories, with links to the press, TV and magazine coverage.
Read it from the bottom up. Medals open the way to the grand final. Each of the five main awards then names its Platinum and Double Gold winners and one Diamond, and one Obelisk crowns the five Diamonds.
The ObeliskThe World Invention Award. One, above all five Diamonds
Gold, silver and bronze medals go to every entry that reaches the jury’s required score and standard.
The first bis awards, in 2001, were a solid silver Obelisk and triangular glass awards with a sterling silver medal attached to the front, plated in gold or bronze. The Natural Earth award was first launched in 2004.
From the bis awards pages as archived by the Wayback Machine, 2004–2026.
Cotron’s integrated Bluetooth and landline phone system took gold at the 2009 show and went on to an initial order from British Telecom worth NT$800 million (US$24.77m).
Turned down on Dragons’ Den in 2006, the beach bag that turns into a sun-lounger cover won Double Gold soon after and had made £380,000 within two years.
Designed by a former Virgin Atlantic cabin crew member, the J-pillow won Best Consumer Invention for 2012 and is sold through Lakeland and QVC.
The child walking-safety harness was British Invention of the Year and British Design of the Year 2007. Its inventor was appointed MBE in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to child safety.
The folding electric mobility scooter from SunTech UK won British Invention of the Year and a personal endorsement from Sir Richard Branson.
A smart plug that controls who can use an appliance: British Invention of the Year (Platinum) and International Invention of the Year (Diamond, Overall Winner).
Every entry is judged and scored by three experts in its field. Gold, silver and bronze medals go to entries that reach the score and standard required. The medal winners are then narrowed down by score and deliberation for the grand final.
59 winners
Mark Sheahan, Bromley
Invention of the Year 2001, judged by the Institute of Patentees and Inventors
Mark Champkins
Contender, Invention of the Year 2002
Later won investment from Peter Jones on Dragons’ Den (2007) for Concentrate Design.
Brian Flynn, Alton, Hampshire, Greentec Industries
Inventor of the Year, British Invention Show
A leading European road-construction company invested; first production units built after £300,000 in government grants and a loan.
Alexander Bushell, Gillingham, Global Medical Systems
Invention of the Year 2005
Fully certified and due to launch at Medic Africa, Abuja (Dec 2006), backed by several big companies.
Alexander Bushell, Global Medical Systems
Honoured at the 2006 awards
David & Sarah Glashan, Southend
Double Gold; narrowly missed the Diamond for invention of the year
Rejected on Dragons’ Den in 2006, then won Double Gold and had made £380,000 within two years.
Charlotte Evans & Carolyn Jarvis, Windsor
Two gold medals (design and invention)
Appeared on Dragons’ Den; BFIIN Awards 2008 Special Recognition.
Elaine Stephen
British Invention of the Year 2007 and British Design of the Year 2007
MBE in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to child safety.
Prof Datuk Dr Halimaton Hamdan, UTM, Malaysia
World Invention Award (glass obelisk)
Merdeka Award (Health, Science & Technology) 2009; ‘Maerogel’ product of the year, Clean Energy Circle UK 2008.
Jane Mitchell, Llantrisant
Gold medal
Went on to exhibit at the DIY and Garden Show, Earls Court.
Prof. Zhari Ismail, A.K.M. Shafiqul Islam, Prof. Mohd Noor Ahmad and Prof. Ali Yeon Md. Shakaff, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Gold Medal
Bill Currie, south London
British Invention of the Year gold medal, presented live on BBC The One Show, plus the award for the best invention in the whole show
A major high-street retailer wanted to stock it.
Martin White, with the Caparo Innovation Centre, Univ. of Wolverhampton
Double Gold, Industrial Innovation
Commercialised and on sale.
Scott Dutton, South Wales
Double Gold; first in the consumer category, named the invention of the year
Featured on GMTV and BBC The One Show.
Siu Kin Wai Michael, Hong Kong PolyU
Double Gold (Design category)
Paul Sparrow
British Invention of the Year
TL Audio
Best Design
Chew Kean Khoon, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Overall winner
Norashakin Mat Zain, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
Diamond Award for Innovation
Pep Torres / Stereonoise studio, Barcelona
Gold × 2, Silver × 2, Bronze × 1, plus an International Invention Award 2009
Interviewed on BBC Breakfast; covered by the Daily Mail, AFP, Sabah and the Kuwait Times.
Cotron Corp, Taiwan
Gold medal
An initial order from British Telecom worth NT$800 million (US$24.77m).
Prof Jayakaran Mukundan, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Gold medal
Also won gold at IENA Nuremberg 2010; National Academic Award 2013.
Hong Kong PolyU team, Siu, Hu, Wan, Lo, Lau
Gold medal (Design)
Darren Gudgin
Double Gold, Innovation (Leisure)
Gary Smith, Clacton
Most Innovative Design, the top award
Was producing about 10 a week.
Paul Sparrow
Gold medal and International Double Gold
Gemma Jensen, ex-Virgin Atlantic cabin crew
British Invention of the Year: Best Consumer Invention 2012
Sold through Lakeland and QVC.
Assoc. Prof Tsai Yen-hsin, Taipei Chengshih Univ. of Science & Technology
Diamond Award, plus a Double Gold for a UV-LED shoe sterilizer
Prof Chou Chien-heng, Vanung University, Taiwan
Platinum Award
Rob Stone, Wenvoe
Double Gold for innovation and Platinum for invention
Funded with £3,500 by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Prof Dr Ahmad Faris Ismail, IIUM
Double Gold
Dr Salmiah Ahmad, IIUM
Double Gold
Dr Anis Nurashikin, IIUM
EU Inventor Special Award
KF Chong group, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
Gold, Platinum, Diamond and the Obelisk Award
Jianmin Wang, SunTech UK
British Invention of the Year
A personal endorsement from Sir Richard Branson; later crowdfunding on Crowdfunder and Kickstarter.
Mr Pulathis Siriwardana
Platinum, British Invention of the Year: Consumer; and Diamond, The David Nicholas OBE Design Award: Most Innovative Design
Simon Colling, Woodstock, Oxon
British Invention of the Year (Platinum) and International Invention of the Year (Diamond, Overall Winner)
Started the SecuriPlug company in Woodstock in April 2019.
Yi-Lin Chiu and Wei-Chieh Chiu, Taiwan
Award winner
World Invention Award
Gemma Jensen
Diamond, British Invention of the Year
Sanandan Sudhir
Diamond, International Invention of the Year
Paul Sparrow, 4octopus
Platinum, British Invention of the Year: Consumer
Nick Staley, Bin Garden Ltd
Double Gold, Consumer
Shula Rich and Milly Rich
Double Gold, Consumer
Virginia Mary Rabbitts
Gold Medal, British Invention of the Year: Consumer; and Gold Medal, British Invention of the Year: Design (the certificates are dated London 2019)
Prof Li Hui team, Peking University Shenzhen
International Invention Diamond (overall winner), the first ever for a Chinese entrant
Maryam Muzamir, Methodist Girls’ Primary School, Kuantan, Malaysia
Diamond, Young Ambassador of Innovation: Chairman’s Special Recognition Award
Invented while she was a primary-school pupil.
Jie Zeng, Hongliang Li and Menglin Wang, University of Science and Technology of China
Gold Medal, International Innovation of the Year: Industrial
Norman Cheng and Sherry Cheng, Strategic Sports Limited, Hong Kong
Platinum, David Nicholas Awards: Most Innovative Design; and Double Gold, International Invention of the Year: Consumer
Zhenxu Bai, Xuezong Yang, Kun Wang and colleagues, Hebei University of Technology, China
Double Gold, International Invention of the Year: Industrial; and Double Gold, International Innovation of the Year: Industrial
Nicolae Covalenco and Nicolae Covalenco Jr, Moldova
Award winner
Yi Zhang, Ji Shi, Jie Xu, Xiangyu Zhang, Jinkun Lv and Jiaxing Guo, Southeast University, China
Gold Medal, International Invention: Industrial
amicoipet / ITRI, Taiwan
International Invention of the Year: Industrial Double Gold; David Nicholas OBE Design of the Year: Industrial Double Gold
A CES 2022 Innovation Award before bis.
Taiwanese team: Tsung-Lung Yang, Jen-Chun Liao, Wen-Ban Hsieh, Yun-Hsing
The Obelisk
Laurence Cairns, Northern Ireland
Platinum, British Invention of the Year category
Selling for £20 each.
Bill Currie
Platinum, British Invention of the Year category
Jeff Woolf
Platinum, British Invention of the Year category
Nor Fasihah Bt Zaaba & Hanafi Ismail, USM, Penang
Platinum
Emily Webb, Exeter student
Medals and awards (tier not stated)
Pitched on Dragons’ Den (2009).
No winners match this filter.
Inventors from China come to bis through Beijing Online Invention, bis’s agent in China. Here are their winners from 2019 to 2025/26.
Universities among the winners: Peking University, Tsinghua University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beihang University, Southeast University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Northeastern University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou Medical University, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Chengdu University of Technology, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Hunan University of Arts and Science and an institute of Nanjing University.
Deng Mingke, Bu Xinxing and colleagues, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology and Xi’an Wuhe New Material Technology
Diamond and a gold medal
A high-ductility concrete technology for strengthening masonry buildings.
Song Zhili
Diamond and a gold medal
A theory of surface-layer filtration and the processes built on it.
Zichun Hua and colleagues, Jiangsu TargetPharma Laboratories and the Changzhou High-Tech Research Institute of Nanjing University
Diamond and a gold medal
A selenium-based probiotic to help prevent diabetes and protect the pancreatic islets.
Zichun Hua and colleagues, Jiangsu TargetPharma Laboratories and the Changzhou High-Tech Research Institute of Nanjing University
Platinum and a gold medal
A new oral oncolytic formulation for treating cancer.
Cao Zhiyuan, Gao Xi, Gu Qinpeng and Liu Bo, Northwestern Polytechnical University
Double Gold and a gold medal
Flow control for the endwall region of aero-engine turbomachinery, using vortices against vortices.
Leilei Sun, Liangzhe Han and colleagues, Beihang University
Gold
A model of how people move around cities.
Guanghui Wen and colleagues, Southeast University
Gold
Plans missions for groups of satellites with adaptive genetic algorithms and mission fusion.
Professor Fang Chen, Peidong Tian and Huaxing Gou, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Award and medal winner
Lithium batteries, fuel cells and supercapacitors share the load in one electric propulsion system. The team’s 250 kW test rig, with a 0.8 m ducted fan, has completed ground verification, with a nominal energy density of 550 Wh/kg.
Jie Liu and colleagues, Harbin Institute of Technology
Diamond
An AI model built on a large agricultural knowledge graph, answering questions on seed varieties, cultivation and pest control.
Xiyong Yu and colleagues, with Nanshan Zhong, Guangzhou Medical University
Award and medal winner
Exosomes from heart-lung progenitor cells that helped repair heart function after a heart attack in a mouse model.
Yong Qi and Jianye Yu, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Award and medal winner
Spark and CNN-LSTM deep learning that spots attacks on vehicle networks quickly with limited computing power.
Jianlong Zhou and colleagues, Shenzhen Xinghai IoT Technology
Award and medal winner
Edge computing for smart buildings, used at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics venues.
Guihua Tian and colleagues, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine
Award and medal winner
A wearable device that combines acupoint massage with transdermal delivery of a Chinese medicine solution (US 11,944,584 B2).
Chen Zhang and colleagues, Chengdu University of Technology
Award and medal winner
A sampling device for studying the fluids in shale gas rocks (US 11,906,401).
Qunzhu Li and Li Li, Luoyang Weida Petrochemical Engineering
Double Gold
A cold regeneration cycle for catalysts, from a petrochemical engineering company.
Guotao Hui and Susu Lu
Grand Prix: the Obelisk
Balances the charge across the cells of an all-vanadium liquid-flow energy storage system.
Xiangjun Li, Dong Hui, Xuecui Jia, Xiaokang Lai, Yinming Wang and Si Zhu
Diamond
Splits power in real time between lithium and redox-flow batteries in one storage station (US 10036778B2).
Jiuming Zhang
Platinum
Zero-emission heating equipment, protected by 18 Chinese patents.
Jianzhong Shang
Platinum
A single-use device for circumcision.
Zhengqi Gu, Min Liang, Yong Zhang and Xiaofang Yin, Hunan University of Arts and Science
Platinum
A joint design optimisation for car bodies with lower air resistance and noise.
Bin Chen, Tianxiang Chen and Xiaoyuan Zhang, Peking University
Double Gold
A kit for creative projects in Python and AI.
Haiou Zhang, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Double Gold
Metal additive manufacturing that rolls each layer as it is deposited.
Mingjiang Wang, Jiangsu Risingsun Tyre
Double Gold
A tyre that needs no air, and the machinery to make it.
Wenjuan Xiao, Harbin Meihua Biotechnology
Double Gold
A method for producing gut probiotics at industrial scale.
Shenyang R.Y.L.T. Energy Technology and Northeastern University
Gold
Optimises the power used by large heating systems with a distribution algorithm.
Guotao Hui and Susu Lu
Gold
A distributed, intelligent irrigation system that raises water temperature for faster crop growth.
Jiuming Zhang
Gold
Computer-controlled heat supply.
Yuli Wang
Gold
A cooling device for passenger cars.
Sen Cui
Gold
A wall-mounted stove.
Dubin Huang and colleagues, Peking University
Gold
A lithium battery that stores more energy and lasts more cycles.
Kaiyuan Hou and colleagues, Tsinghua University and Northeast China Grid
Gold
A method for calculating how far a power-grid interface can be pushed and stay stable.
Wenjuan Xiao, Harbin Meihua Biotechnology
Gold
A skin essence made with the by-products of probiotic fermentation.
Baoyuan Xie
Gold
A balcony door that helps people escape a fire on a high floor.
From Beijing Online Invention’s award lists and the bis results letters. Where a results letter confirms an award and medal but not the level, the entry is listed as an award and medal winner.
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