Product Design students' talent rewarded in 2025
Throughout the year, prestigious national and international competitions, such as the Crystal Cabin Awards, the IDA Design Awards, the SIT Furniture Design Awards or the Biodesign Challenge, have awarded projects developed by UDIT students.
The year 2025, the year of its tenth anniversary, has been a very special year for the Official Degree in Product Design and Development at the University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT) in Madrid. Twelve months in which the talent of the degree's students has been recognised, both in national and international competitions and by renowned companies, which have not only rewarded the proposals of the university's young designers, but have also backed them to apply them in their own businesses.
Winning at the Crystal Cabin Awards
The R.A.I.S.S. project. (Restroom Autonomous In-Flight Sanitising System), by Jaime Campos, Mateo Magaz, Guillermo Fernández Arias, Pablo Gil García de Viedma and Antonio Alejandro González, who graduated this year, managed to qualify, in the University category, for the final of the Crystal Cabin Awards, the most important competition in the world in the field of innovation in aircraft cabins.
It is an innovative hygiene system that incorporates an autonomous robot that cleans the floor after each use, guaranteeing an optimum level of cleanliness throughout the flight .
Oranges from Seville travel to New York
Another of the area's successes in 2025 has come from the team formed by Pablo Pesqueira, Javier Villasevil, Marta Poy, Aaron Truzman, Carmen Carranza and Diego Rodríguez, who, with their project 'Sombra y Brisa', managed to qualify for the final of the Biodesign Challenge, held in New York.
Their project is based on the massive waste of bitter oranges in Seville, a raw material from which they developed a biodegradable polymer which, in this case, they used in the manufacture of traditional fans, with which they wanted to vindicate design as a tool for local, cultural and ecological regeneration .
In addition, the students continue to work on the development of this material, which they have christened Biopeel, with the aim of finding other marketable applications for it .
Winners of international competitions
The level of the projects developed by the students of the university'sDegree in Product Design throughout 2025 has also been endorsed by many other awards obtained in different national and international competitions .
One example is the work of Jerónimo Fernández and Sofía Martín, ION and NexoGIo, winners at the prestigious IDA Design Awards. The former, silver in the Health&Life Science / Other category, is a service designed to simplify and improve the medication experience for people with chronic diseases through innovative 3D printed medication technology. NexoGIo, which received an Honourable Mention, is a smart jewellery project dedicated to wellbeing, designed to promote self-acceptance and reduce the stigma around mental health.
Another of the competitions in which UDIT's talent stood out was the SIT Furniture Design Awards. In them, Knett, the chair by Begoña Sunyé de Terry and María Sánchez Sierra, inspired in the art of weaving, won first prize in the Outdoor Chair category; Ava 3D, the modular system that can operate as a side table, stool or television stand by Miguel González Ugarte and Beatriz Panduro Peiró, did the same in the Coffee Table category; and Ángolo, the stool by Diego Rodríguez Klecker, which received an Honourable Mention.
Paula Machado and Andrea Torralba, students of the Degree in Product Design,also received awards at the prestigious FIT Sport Design Awards. SPLICK - Tu compañero de aventuras, Paula Machado's project, an innovative accessory for backpacks, was the winner in the Sportswear Design - Mountaineering, Climbing, Hiking category. Andrea Torralba'sR4 Project, a modular climbing holds made from agricultural waste, won first prize in the Sport Equipment Design - Mountaineering, Climbing, Hiking category.
Finally, Marta Poy, with her Sparkproject , a light bulb-shaped container, won the Verallia Competition, while Begoña Prendes won the Social Networks Award thanks to her Espina de Oro project , a mezcal bottle inspired in the agave leaf .
Collaborating with renowned firms
Throughout the year, the students of the Degree in Product Design at UDIT have had the opportunity to work hand in hand with top brands, who have posed various challenges that have allowed them not only to apply what they have learnt in the classroom, but also to connect it with the reality of the industry .
This is the case of the challenge posed by Hyatt Hotels, which proposed to the students the design of exclusive packaging for VIP gifts at the Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid and Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower hotels. Marta Poy, with a Backlet accessory for mobile devices, was the winner of the challenge, accompanied by Iria Herrero, Valeria Trasviña and Javier Villasevil .
The same happened with Parfums Christian Dior. On the one hand, the brand set the challenge of designing a corporate gift with available recycled materials, to which Álvaro Navarrete and Catalina de la Guardia, selected by the firm from among all the proposals, responded by designing a tote bag made from the brand's advertising canvas.
Sofía Ruiz Brenlla, meanwhile, worked on the creation of totally sustainable and environmentally friendly side decorations for the photobooth of one of the firm's events.