Innovation rewarded

2^nd June 2008

Faculty of the Built Environment (FBE) Industrial Design student, Alicia Mintzes, has taken out the Silver Award in the 2008 Australian Design Awards – Dyson Student Award.

The awards, which were presented in Sydney on Friday 30 May, are selected by a panel of design industry experts and recognise and promote design excellence in Australia.

Alicia’s design, Sharpsafe, is a community needle disposal bin for injection drug users that utilises innovations in materials and technology to improve safety, and familiar street furniture design to enable a better, non-threatening, fit in public spaces.

UNSW consistently excels in the awards, last year FBE students won first, second and third place. This year there were 13 student finalists from all over Australia including four from UNSW.

Alicia recently graduated and is now working with Nielsen Design, a premium design company based in Sydney. She has already received commercial interest for Sharpsafe.