TOKYO - Toshiba Corporation’s (Toshiba) capabilities in designing and applying infrastructure solutions that improve quality of life has been recognized at iF DESIGN AWARD 2025. The award is for the Delighting Everyone Project, an innovative approach to bringing electricity and a services support infrastructure to communities on small unelectrified islands in the South Pacific. It was made in the Service Design Concepts category in the Professional Concepts disciple.

iF DESIGN AWARD, one of the most prestigious international competitions for excellence in design, is held annually by iF International Forum Design GmbH, the world’s oldest independent design organization, based in Hanover, Germany.

A project that aims to delight and strengthen communities

The Delighting Everyone Project aims to bring the empowerment of electricity to small, often remote islands not yet reached by electrification. The project’s focus is on the South Pacific, where strings or archipelagos and hundreds of islands present a unique challenge. The guiding concept is to promote improved quality of life for island communities by realizing wide access to affordable solar power and the use of rechargeable products.

Toshiba started to assess needs and test approaches in 2019. In 2023, it initiated a trial in the Republic of Vanuatu based on sharing LED lanterns and batteries. This allowed the company to develop and refine a support infrastructure built on its digital service for energy, TOSHIBA SPINEX for Energy, which can remotely monitor and support the operation of the service through a dedicated smartphone app.

The project understands that island stores are often at the center of the community, the place where people go to buy goods in cash and get the latest news and information, and it makes stores the base for infrastructure that can be accessed and used by the entire community. Residents can rent charged products, including LED lanterns, while the store uses the smartphone app to monitor demand and usage. 

Ready access to electric power is a game changer for island people, giving them not only lighting that will allow kids to study and people to enjoy leisure, but access to products that can contribute to improved work and agricultural productivity, and even help to generate surpluses for sale. This personal empowerment, plus the sustainability of the project, its social benefits and the ability to directly address regional issues, contributed to selection for the iF DESIGN AWARD.

Established in 1954, the iF DESIGN AWARD is today recognized as a leading arbiter of design, and as one of the world’s most important design prizes. It honors design achievements in nine areas: product design, packaging design, communication design, service design, interior architecture, professional concept, service design, architecture, user experience (UX), and user interface (UI). This year’s award winners were chosen by a jury of 131 global experts and presented to participants from among almost 11,000 entries submitted from 66 nations.

Details of the Delighting Everyone Project: 

• Co-creating a New Economic Sphere in Unelectrified Regions -Contributing to productivity improvement in island countries through electric product sharing services (Toshiba Clip)