The seventh Lexus Design Award is officially open for entry. The world-wide competition is once again seeking out innovative ideas and concepts in architecture, product design, fashion, engineering or whatever you can dream up.

The award was created to anticipates the needs of tomorrow’s world and bring forth fresh solutions to any and all of society’s issues. Designs will follow the directive of this year’s theme “Design for a Better Tomorrow,” while also incorporating the three fundamental principles from Lexus’ brand, Anticipate, Innovate and Captivate.

Six shortlisted finalists will be chosen and notified via email in mid Dec 2018, and the finalists will be announced on Lexus’ website in the new year.

Finalists will win an invitation to Milan Design Week to exhibit their work at the Lexus event, a mentorship in New York City, PR assistance and up to three million JPY in Prototype Production Cost assistance (a little over $35k CAD). The finalists will then compete for the Grand Prix prize where they will display their prototypes at Milan Design Week.

In 2018, winners were chosen in four categories that included a grand Prix winner, two Prototype winners and a People’s Choice Award winner. The winners of these categories brought forward unique ideas ranging from honest eggs to recycled fiber planters; however, they all revolved around a central theme of “CO-” which explored the environment through new connections and collaboration.

Last years Grand Prix winning submission, Testing Hypotheticals, came from Extrapolation Factory and its founders Elliott P. Montgomery and Chris Woebken. Mentored by Formafantasma, an Italian designer duo based in Amsterdam, the duo created a system that  explored theoretical relationships between society, technology and the environment. This took form through a testing site that works with neighbourhoods to identify concerns specific to their area and helps them develop ideas to address these concerns. Set to be an immersive test site for users, Extrapolation Factory looks at community problems from a new angle but also help them bring potential solutions to life with prototypes.

Submissions for design entries for this year’s contest are open until Oct 28, 2018 at 23:59 (CET), and interested applicants can apply at https://discoverlexus.com/experiences/lexus-design-award-2019.