Design engineers and embedded developers hold a unique place in our society. They develop the products that can make a positive impact on our lives and the lives of generations to come. While you may not understand that power, you should, as it is literally the power to make our planet a better place.

To help establish that point, Embedded Computing Design has partnered with IAR Systems and Renesas Electronics America in a design challenge where we ask you, the engineer/developer, to come up with an idea that will do something to leave the planet in a better position than you found it. To further inspire you, we’re offering up cash prizes – up to $10,500 USD – in the inaugural Make the World a Better Place Design Challenge.

Here’s how it works: First, you come up with an idea. Put that idea down on paper, including a detailed description and a potential bill of materials. Most importantly, tell us why you think your idea will make the world a better place. For example, you could save people, time, reduce carbon emissions or waste, etc. There’s just one catch, if you can call it that — your design must make use of the Renesas RZ/A1LU microcontroller and use the IAR Embedded Workbench tool for development, as well as the FreeRTOS operating system.

From all the “paper designs” we receive, the esteemed panel judges will pick ten that they feel maximize the following criteria:

• Creativity
• Design Efficiency
• Usefulness/Marketability
• Ability to make the world a better place

If your design is picked as a finalist, we’re going to help you out by supplying you with a free download of IAR Systems' Embedded Workbench for Arm development tool and the RZ/A1LU Development Kit from Renesas. From there, it’s up to you to actually build the prototype.

From the ten finalists, the judges will pick three overall winners who will receive $6000, $3000, and $1500 USD for First, Second, and Third prizes, respectively. As an added bonus, the three winning prototypes will be showcased in the Renesas booth at Electronica (November 11-16, 2018 in Munich, Germany).

All the details can be found on the Make the World a Better Place Design Challenge website. That includes the rules, the timelines, the judges, and most importantly, the way that you enter the challenge.