Colleges and universities are at the forefront of innovative design. Collaborations linking students, professors, and groundbreaking technology bring seemingly impossible ideas to life.

These schools are not only making rapid advances in sustainability, design, and healthcare but are pioneering spaces where students can experiment and design with hands-on, ideas-oriented approaches—driving the next generation of changemakers.

Winners

Grove, Savannah College of Art and Design
Grove, a project from Savannah College of Art and Design students, is revitalizing urban forestry with a proactive approach to city tree health. Using AI and smart soil censors, Grove monitors soil health, growth patterns, and maintenance priorities, helping arborists prevent problems before they sprout. Grove’s data visualization and predictive analytics eliminate guesswork and manual reporting, making urban greenery efficient and cost-effective. The project implements community engagement tools like Grove Plaque and the Grove Citizen App, where residents can report issues like pests and damage, gamifying tree stewardship. Grove was recognized by the New York Urban Forestry and Trees Atlanta for boosting property values and improving air quality through thoughtful investment in green infrastructure.

Microneedle patch for cardiac repair, Texas A&M University
Some 805,000 Americans suffer a heart attack every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Biomedical innovators at Texas A&M are working to treat and reverse cardiac arrest’s long-lasting damage with a biodegradable microneedle patch. The patch—which delivers a healing molecule directly to injured heart tissue—transforms how patients feel after heart attacks by localizing and sustaining treatment. Paired with AI and statistical modeling, the patch both heals the heart and prevents the onset of chronic heart failure. In the past year, the patch has evolved from a research project to a therapy supported by the NIH and American Heart Association.

Smart prosthetics design project, Autodesk
Students at California State University, Northbridge are designing an affordable, cutting-edge arm prosthesis. Their revolutionary design has an expansive range of unique gestures and features. The team’s wearables use AI to adapt to user habits, visual recognition to identify materials, and feedback sensors to convey texture. In the past year, the team developed a foot-control system for amputees who don’t have enough residual muscle for traditional myoelectric prostheses. The product’s lightweight, detachable design serves amputees and injured users alike, and it costs about $300 to make with a 3D printer.

Speech to reality, MIT
Speech to Reality, created by MIT researchers, turns words into physical objects using 3D generative AI and a robotic assembly system. Unlike other 3D generators, which make models with time- and resource-consuming 3D printers, Speech to Reality works with reusable modular parts to create a product in minutes, reshaping design, assembly, and consumption. Users across all levels of design expertise can speak tables, chairs, and even sculptures into existence—and the project is rapidly expanding to build durable moving objects with hinges, rails, wood, and glass.

Honorable Mentions

COAST, Savannah College of Art and Design

INSIGHT-CPR, University of Michigan Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation

Explore the full list of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas, 191 projects that are making the world more accessible, equitable, and sustainable.