OREANDA-NEWS. The inaugural, Formula E-inspired Blue Sky Transport Design Award from DHL, the global leader in express and logistics, has seen a huge level of global interest and attracted a phenomenal response with entries submitted from across the world.

From the UK to Ukraine, Canada to China, the response to the competition has been truly global with over fifty established and aspiring designers and engineers submitting ideas on solutions with the potential to shape the future of the transportation industry.  Based on the vision of the FIA Formula E Championship, the world's first fully electric racing championship, entrants were invited to design an electric transportation vehicle for private, public or commercial use.

Submissions for the Blue Sky Transportation Design Award were evaluated based on criteria including their originality, functionality, aesthetics, commercial feasibility and potential to solve the problems they are intended to address.

The judging panel chaired by UK designer Paul Priestman, and made up of executives from FIA Formula E, DHL, the Andretti FE racing team and Wired magazine have now identified six finalists who will be invited to Berlin for a Dragon's Den-style final presentation on May 21, where the ultimate winner will be decided.

The selected finalists are:

  • Maximilian Bakalowits (student, based in UK): "London's urban vehicle of 2065"
  • Sanal Galushkin (designer, Russia): "Cargo-passenger airship"
  • Philippe Hohlfeld and Oliver Lehtonen (students, UK): "DHL water strider"
  • Song Wei Teo (student, UK): "Nature express"
  • Svetlana Tkachenko (designer, Russia): "Light commercial vehicle"
  • Yibo Wu (student, UK): "Happie the self-driving car"

Ken Allen, CEO of DHL Express said: "We see a growing demand for sustainable transport solutions in our increasingly urbanized world, and we recognize the great potential of electric vehicle and transportation technologies, as exemplified by the FIA Formula E Championship. With the Blue Sky Transportation Design Award, we wanted to encourage everyone who shares Formula E's vision of a sustainable future to apply their creative talents and come up with a design that could shape the transportation of tomorrow. Entrants from across the world have responded to this challenge, and we have been extremely impressed at the high quality of submissions we have received, and in particular by our five finalists. The Blue Sky Transport Design Award has struck a chord across the world and has elicited some truly promising ideas on how transport can develop and become more sustainable in the future."

The winning design will be presented at the final race of the FIA Formula E Championship in London, UK on 28 June, 2015, and will receive a grant of GBP 10,000.