The IET Innovation Awards

Software in Design Award

Scope of category

Software is transforming the way engineers and scientists work by moving design, modelling and testing from the lab to the desktop, leading to increased efficiencies, cost savings and reduced development time.

The Software in Design Award will recognise and reward the innovative use of software techniques within an engineering design process.  Entries are welcomed from projects, at any stage of development, where software has been used in the design and test of products, software or services.

The Software in Design category welcomes nominations from projects demonstrating the use software in (but not limited to) one of the following applications:

• Modelling
  Creating mathematical or conceptual models of a product or service using software to gain an understanding of its behaviour or operational environment.

• Simulation
  Exploring the design space of a product or service in a software environment to give insights not possible in the real world enable leading to increased understanding of the achievable performance and to optimise the design.

• Testing
  Use of software to automate or accelerate testing of developed products or services leading to rapid design improvements or identification of issues before full scale production.

• Analysis and visualisation of data in the design process
  Modern development and test processes produce vast amounts of test data. Innovative use of software can find the key pieces of information within the data that will inform the delivery of service or the design process.

• Verification and validation
  Software can be used to help in the verification or validation of designs against requirements or standards.

• Production and delivery
  The use of software for the effective and efficient production of a product or delivery of a service.

Please note

This category recognises the innovative use of software methods within the engineering design process.  Please use the Product Design Innovation category if your innovation is embodied in the delivered product 

See also

• How to enter
• All categories