We are loving the new waterside home of Red Dot in Singapore – and we’ll report more on that soon, so stay tuned. The new venue was celebrated this week with the 2017 ceremony for the annual Red Dot Award: Design Concept. And this year’s winners highlight the attention designers are paying to some key emerging issues.

A personal travel device aimed at solving ‘the last mile’ problem of the daily urban commute; an automobile sculpture that explores the future of the user experience in autonomous driving; and the use of an interactive communication system for the dissemination of information and crowd sourcing – these are the issues at the core of this year’s three Red Dot: Luminary nominees.

Congratulations to Luminary winner Beijing Onemile Technology (China) for Halo City, a ready-to-launch micro-electric foldable scooter and personal transportation tool wallowing users to travel effortlessly to and from bus or subway stations.

“We have seen a lot of ideas in the past few years, but here we seem to experience a next-level-solution,” said Red Dot juror Professor Lutz Fügener. “Almost all problems resulting from the challenging compromise between usability, simplicity, aesthetics and attractiveness have been solved. This ‘all-of-a-piece’ product surprisingly communicates self-awareness and the highest usability in all details – from folding to riding, and all the added useful features,” he said.

The other nominees were BMW Group Designworks (USA) for BMW i Inside Future, and the team of Kim Euimin, Kim Heejung and Lee Wonjin (South Korea) for Blood SOS.

This year, 4,724 entries were received from 58 countries. 240 concepts were awarded the Red Dot, with 43 being honoured Red Dot: Best of the Best for its exceptional design excellence. 62 concepts were also credited with an Honourable Mention. Among the 20-strong jury was our very own Indesign Media CEO Raj Nandan. Prof. Dr Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of Red Dot, and Mr Ken Koo, President of Red Dot, Asia, gave out the awards.

Winning concepts can be viewed in the Red Dot Award: Design Concept winners’ exhibition at the new Red Dot Design Museum, which overlooks the waterfront promenade at Marina Bay. They are also presented in an online exhibition here.

Watching the winners strut their stuff down the catwalk at the award ceremony is a highlight of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept every year (along with the entertainment acts), and 2017 didn’t disappoint! Enjoy a gallery of winners below.