INDEX: Design to Improve Life is a Danish nonprofit organisation which works towards promoting designs aimed at the improvement of human lives worldwide, both in developed and developing countries. The organization is behind the biennial INDEX: Award, the world's biggest design award.
Established in 2002, INDEX: Design to Improve Life was initially proposed by designer Johan Adam Linneballe and then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs Jørgen Rosted as a world design event in order to promote Denmark on a global scale, as well as attract tourism and investments. However, it soon acquired a global perspective, and its mission has become expressed in its motto: "Design to Improve Life".
The organisation is under the patronage of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark, is supported by the Danish Ministry of Business and Growth. INDEX: Design to Improve Life is promoted by means of a design award, the INDEX: Award, a world-touring exhibition, a summer camp, conferences, and publications. It has since 20 May 2008 been operated by Danish Design Centre, and is headed by Kigge Hvid, former CEO of Øksnehallen.
The biennial INDEX: Award was initiated in 2005, financed by the state of Denmark with a total prize sum of €500,000. It is currently the world's largest monetary award in its area, is widely recognized as the most influential in inspiring life-improving design, and has often been dubbed the "Nobel Prize of design". British design critic Alice Rawsthorn in 2011, wrote for The New York Times, "Not only is INDEX: the world's most generous design prize in financial terms, it is one of the few awards to have made a meaningful contribution to design discourse."
Projects from around the world are entered into competition for the award with finalists and winners determined by an international jury. In addition to choosing the successful designs, the INDEX: Award Jury plays a key role in the organization, discussing, evaluating and advocating for strategies to expand the borders and impact of design in the world. The INDEX: Award Presentation has become a major event, with an exhibition of the finalists sited in public squares of hosting cities.
The first INDEX: Award was announced in September 2004, and the competition received 538 entries representing 50 countries, of which the INDEX: Award Jury chaired by Arnold Wasserman selected 118 finalists to participate in the INDEX: Award Exhibition. The winners, announced at the award ceremony at the Copenhagen City Hall on 22 September, were:
Body Category: Torben Vestergaard Frandsen, Rob Fleuren and Moshe Frommer - "LifeStraw", a plastic straw that cleans contaminated water to prevent diseases such as diphtheria, cholera, typhoid and diarrhea from spreading through drinking water.
Home Category: Stephanie Forsythe & Todd MacAllen of molo - "Softwall", a 100% recyclable wall to generate personal space in larger rooms
Work Category: Fundación Española para la Innovación de la Artesanía - "Observatorio Iberoamericano", a strategy, system, and network designed to help over 40 million craftsmen in Latin America
Play Category: Apple - iTunes, a revolution within the music industry and digital rights management
Community Category: Architecture for Humanity - "Siyathemba – The field of hope", a competition for designers and architects to incorporate football into HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment via a combined football field and health-care facility
People's Choice Award: Apple — iTunes
In 2007, INDEX: Award received 337 entries, of which the INDEX: Award Jury chaired by Nille Juul-Sørensen selected 112 for nomination, and 110 were exhibited on Kongens Nytorv. The winners, announced at the award ceremony at the Copenhagen City Hall on 24 August, were:
Body Category: Sebastien Dubois - "Mobility for Each One", an energy-return prosthetic foot that can been produced for $8 in a local workshop versus the standard $1,300 to $4,000.
Home Category: Alberto Meda and Francisco Gomez Paz - "Solar Bottle", a low cost water purification bottle
Work Category: Philip Greer, Lisa Stroux, Graeme Davies and Chris Huntley - "Tongue Sucker", a simple device, easy to use in an emergency to draw out the tongue of an unconscious person, make the airway unobstructed and hence assist CPR in time-critical situations.
Play Category: Elon Musk, Martin Eberhard and Barney Hatt - "Tesla Roadster" a 100% electrical powered sports car with zero emissions and power cost approximately 2 cents per mile
Community Category: Rebecca Allen, Christopher Blizzard, V. Michael Bove, Yves Behar, Sergio Romero de Azevedo, Walter Bender, Michail Bletsas, Mark Foster, Jacques Gagne, Mary Lou Jepson, Nicholas Negroponte and Lisa Strausfeld - the affordable "XO laptop"
People's Choice Award: Han Pham - "Antivirus", a cap to be placed onto a soda can to be used for safe disposal of hypodermic needles in low income countries, where these needles are commonly found in trash and thus increase the rates of transmission of diseases and needle injuries.
In 2009, INDEX: Award received 720 entries from 54 countries, of which the INDEX: Award Jury chaired by Designit co-founder Mikal Hallstrup selected 72 for nomination and exhibition on Kongens Nytorv as part of the first Copenhagen Design Week. The winners, announced at the award ceremony at Koncerthuset on 28 August, were:
Body Category: Philip Goodwin, Stefan Zwahlen and John Hutchinson - "Freeplay Fetal Heart Rate Monitor", a heart rate monitor to safeguard childbirth for mothers and infants in remote areas of the developing world where expert care and electrical power are in short supply
Home Category: Philips Design - "Chulha", a stove designed to limit the dangerous health issues caused by traditions of indoor cooking in many rural areas of the developing world
Work Category: Kiva.org - "Kiva", a website developed to bring lenders and small entrepreneurs together to aggregate loans into a major center of person-to-person micro-finance
Play Category: Christien Meindertsma - "Pig 05049", a book containing a communications design developed in three years of research to track all the products made from a single pig
Community Category: Shai Agassi - "Better Place", electric vehicle infra-structure to make electric transport convenient and affordable
People's Choice Award: Jean Madden - "Street Swags", a bed and a bag designed to provide more comfort, warmth and protection from weather for people living on the street
The INDEX: Award Exhibition subsequently went on tour to Seoul and Singapore among others.
In 2011, INDEX: Award received 966 entries from 78 countries, of which the INDEX: Award Jury chaired by Nille Juul-Sørensen selected 58 for nomination and participation in the INDEX: Award Exhibition outside the Royal Danish Playhouse on the harbor front in the Frederiksstaden neighbourhood of central Copenhagen. The winners, announced at the award ceremony at the Copenhagen Opera House on 1 September, were:
Body Category: Yves Behar - "See Better to Learn Better (VerBien)", free eyeglasses for thousands of school children
Home Category: Alejandro Aravena, Fernando García-Huidobro and Gonzalo Arteaga - "ELEMENTAL Monterrey", social housing in a ground breaking new way
Work Category: Kiran Bir Sethi & Pranay Desai - "Design for Change", a global movement designed to give children the opportunity to express their own ideas for a better world and put them into action.
Play Category: Anna Haupt & Terese Alstin - "Hövding", a bicycle helmet-airbag to wear as a collar
Community Category: Seoul Metropolitan Government - "Design Seoul", the first ever coherent design based approach to improve life for citizens in a very large city
People's Choice Award: Linus Liang, Naganand Murty, Rahul Panicker, Razmig Hovaghimian, and Jane Chen - "Embrace Infant Warmer", thermal regulation infant warmer for premature and underweight born children
The 2013 INDEX: Award broke all previous records by receiving 1.022 entries for the competition from 73 countries, of which the INDEX: Award Jury chaired by Mikal Hallstrup selected 59 for nomination and participation in the INDEX: Award Exhibition in Rosenborg Castle Gardens. The winners, announced at the award ceremony on 29 August at Kulturværftet in Elsinore under the attendance of Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, were:
Body Category: Laerdal Global Health - "The Natalie Collection", a trio of birth simulating devices preventing child and maternal death
Food Category: Kavita Shukla - "FreshPaper", a simple sheet of paper keeping produce fresh 4 times longer
The Play & Learning Category: Eben Upton, University of Cambridge - "Raspberry Pi", a $25 computer aiming to digitalize the world
Community Category: Daan Roosegaarde - "Smart Highway", intelligent roads that communicate with its drivers promoting both traffic safety and traffic efficiency
Community Category: The city of Copenhagen - "Copenhagen Climate Adaptation Plan", the Danish capital's pioneering plan of how to address the changing climate
People's Choice Award: "Smart Highway" after a close vote on CNN.com
The 2015 INDEX: Awards were presented at Kulturværftet in Elsinore on 27 August, honoring five winners among the 46 shortlisted finalists chosen from a pool of 1123 entries from 72 countries. The winners were:
Body Category: Peek Vision - "Peek Retina", a portable eye examination kit that uses apps
Home Category: Elon Musk - "Tesla Powerwall", a rechargeable battery that aims to revolutionize energy generation
Work Category: Sky Greens - "Sky Urban Vertical Farming System", a low-carbon, water-driven vertical farm that alleviates environmental impact
The Play & Learning Category: Luis von Ahn for Duolingo, free language-learning apps
Community Category: Boyan Slat - "The Ocean Cleanup Array", a system to sustainably clean up plastic pollution from the world's oceans
People's Choice Award: William Janssen - "Desolenator", a mobile, solar energy driven water purifier
