The College of Design and Engineering's Design Incubation Centre (DIC) of the Division of Industrial Design, has received the highest and most prestigious distinction, “Red Dot: Best of the Best”, for their groundbreaking work on the CALIPSO (Computer Assisted Live Imaging for Predictive Screening of Organoids) project.
The Red Dot Design Award: Design Concept aims to spotlight innovative projects with the potential to evolve into transformative products that can change the world. Among its prestigious accolades, the “Red Dot: Best of the Best” stands out as the highest honour, recognising the most exceptional designs. In 2023, just 22 winners earned this distinction, while 37 projects were celebrated in 2022. This year, only 1 to 3 per cent of entries received the award, making CALIPSO’s recognition a true testament to its outstanding creativity. As the only Singapore professional team to receive the 'Best of the Best' award, CALIPSO stands alongside world-class industry leaders like Honda, Hyundai, and Lenovo.
Associate Professor Christophe Gaubert, Director of DIC and the Project Lead of CALIPSO, shared, “This award places DIC alongside the world’s top design studios. It is a testament to the skill and commitment of our young graduates from Division of Industrial Design, as well as the excellence of our teaching at CDE.” The team’s success exemplifies how design thinking and creativity can lead to impactful solutions, shaping future leaders in the industry.
The CALIPSO project is awarded for its ergonomic design, which offers enhanced movement and access with an automated sliding door ensuring minimal interference and maintaining experimental conditions. Therefore, the design helps to streamline tasks and offer a visual hierarchy of functions and more ease in the manipulations, allowing the operator to better focus on the image acquisition steps.
Although seemingly simple and intuitive, such innovative designs are crucial in shaping products to meet user needs. Koh Bei Ning, an Industrial Design alumnus who had participated in the latest stage of the project, shared, “My role in the fabrication stage gave me a glimpse into the countless details considered, from selecting hardware to surface finishes, vent holes, and colours. I hope this recognition can help showcase the positive impact and value of design, opening doors to more opportunities where designers like us can apply our skills to improve experiences and workflow in more industries.” Winning this award celebrates the team’s outstanding contributions and brings them visibility and respect within the global design community.
Looking to the future, Assoc Prof Gaubert emphasised, “Our challenge now is to secure new funding for a more compact and optimised version,” as the team envisions CALIPSO evolving towards industrialisation. With this recognition, the team aims to bring this ergonomic microscope to a wider audience, benefiting more researchers. They will focus on practical steps such as licensing and entrepreneurship to advance their work and explore new opportunities in the design field.
For more information on CALIPSO’s design: https://designincubation.sg/project/calipso
Team Members
Design Leads:
Associate Professor Christophe Gaubert, Director of the Design Incubation Centre, Division of Industrial Design
Poh Yun Ru, Designer at Design Incubation Centre
Designers:
Tommy Cheong, Designer at Design Incubation Centre
Yuta Nakayama, Designer at Design Incubation Centre
Willie Tay, Designer at Design Incubation Centre
Koh Bei Ning, Division of Industrial Design, Class of 2022
Tan Wei Jing, Division of Industrial Design, Class of 2021
Cynthia Chan, Division of Industrial Design, Class of 2021
Shawn Ng, Division of Industrial Design, Class of 2020
Anh Nguyen, Division of Industrial Design, Class of 2020
Science Leads:
Associate Professor Virgile Viasnoff
Dr Jean-Baptiste Sibarita
Lab specialists:
Dr Anne Beghin
Dr Gianluca Grenci
Dr Ron Ng
In collaboration with
NUS Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) & CNRS@Create, Singapore
