In November 2021 ACT Medical won the International Medical James Dyson Award.

This prize has supported around 300 promising inventions from young engineers and scientists in 28 countries around the world since it was founded in 2007.

Its purpose is to celebrate, encourage, and inspire the next generation of design engineers.

In 2021, the Award received a record number of entries worldwide, as Sir James Dyson himself chose three global winners for the first time.

ACT Medical was one of the three. Sir James, Founder and Chief Engineer at Dyson, later said: “So promising were this year’s entries that we’ve awarded a third prize, focused on medical invention.

“Commercialising an idea is very hard - I hope that the awareness that the Award drives, as well as the financial support it provides, will give these ideas a springboard to success.”

Reaching a global audience

The impact of winning the UK James Dyson Award in August 2021 had been significant. It came with £2,000, which was put towards further research and official medical testing as we moved towards commercialising REACT.

To say that this was a big deal would be something of an understatement. Then it got bigger.

The impact of winning the International Award three months later was immediate and global. Coverage of ACT Medical went around the world.

Coverage had an estimated potential reach of 1.5billion as the story of ACT Medical was covered on BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Radio 5 Live and more. It featured in most UK national newspapers.

Joseph’s own LinkedIn post about the BBC’s coverage of ACT Medical had more than 390,000 impressions.

Winning the prize came with £30,000 in prize money to support the next stages of our journey.

‘The opportunity to save lives is so great’

Speaking about ACT Medical after the International Awards in 2021, Sir James said: “This type of problem-solving invention shows the significant impact engineers can have on serious, global issues, and is why I created the James Dyson Award.

“Developing a medical device is very challenging, and there will be no end of hurdles, but I would urge Joseph not to be put off since the opportunity to save lives is so great. 

“I hope that through winning the Award this invention gets the support it requires as it has the potential to make an impactful change.”

Joseph, who at the time had yet to graduate, reflected on the recognition being given to our medical device, saying: “The REACT system has the potential to be a life-saving tool in the fight against knife crime, but the development of medical devices is a long and challenging process.

“The recognition and funding provided by the James Dyson Award has given me the determination and confidence to develop the REACT system and get it into the hands of first responders as soon as possible.”

Our next step was to join an incubator to begin addressing the hurdles identified by Sir James and turning our vision into reality.

• ACT Medical’s award-winning medical device aims to save the lives of stabbing victims by stemming bleeding from knife wounds. Follow ACT Medical on LinkedIn for latest updates or email hello@actmedical.co.uk to speak to us directly.