Redesign Everything is an initiative by Amsterdam-based design platform What Design Can Do (WDCD) together with IKEA Foundation. The challenge is supported by our global partners and our country partners.

Learn more about Our Partners

Redesign Everything is open to everyone around the globe. Designers, start-ups, students and entrepreneurs alike are invited to submit creative solutions that pave the way for a fair and circular future. By the end of the challenge process, our goal is to find 10 dedicated teams or designers who will benefit from our accelerator programme.

Of course! Projects of different stages of development are welcome — from new ideas to market-ready enterprises. The important thing is that your project suits one of our global design brief goals.

Yes, you can participate in the Challenge individually.

Yes, you can. When you create a profile, we would like to know who the project leader of your submission is. Then, you can add your team members to the submission form and upload a photo or logo of your collective.

Due to the international nature of the challenge, all projects need to be submitted in English. If you are applying as a collective, at least one member of your team needs to speak English, so we can contact you in case we have questions about your submission and for your team to be able to join the development programme. We know that English is not everyone’s first language; application will not be judged on English grammar.

During the submission process, we will ask you to indicate which creative discipline best describes your project (Products, Materials, Communications, Spaces or Systems & Services). Though we understand that many projects are multidisciplinary in nature, please select the one that you feel is most appropriate.

We will also ask you to tell us which of the 8 redesign strategies are most relevant to your project (Reduce, Recycle, Repair, Refuse, Reconnect, and Restore and Reimagine). You can select more than one tag at a time.

As soon as an entry is submitted, it needs to be checked by a WDCD moderator to see if it is complete. Your project may not be approved if you are missing information on your profile, on your idea, or if your idea is not relevant to the Challenge. You will receive a notification as soon as your submission has been approved. During the entire Open Call (until 13 March) you will be able to edit your submission.

As an entrant, you retain full ownership (Intellectual Property) of your idea. Should you choose to share your proposal on our online platform, you give WDCD and its partners the right to publish your idea on all possible media channels throughout the Challenge. Should you choose to make your proposal available exclusively to the jury, and you are amongst the shortlist of finalists, we will share your proposal for publication to the press. Should a potential implementation partner or investor express an interest in developing or supporting your idea (even if you are not among the finalists), you are free to decide how to share your intellectual property. If so desired, we can assist and advise you.

Learn more about our Terms & Conditions

In the submission form, entrants must indicate whether they want their idea to be visible only to selection committee and  jury members or to the public. You can adjust your project settings at any time during the Open Call. Once a project moves into the next phase of the Challenge: ‘Nominations’, WDCD will update the terms and conditions and automatically publish all nominated projects. If your idea is still not visible after changing your settings from private to public, it may have been put on hold due to language identified by the platform. If a problem persists, please contact us at challenge@whatdesigncando.com

Once the Open Call is closed, a review phase will begin. If your project is selected to move on to the next phase, you might receive feedback from the selection committee, which will help you to further develop your application.

If you’re looking for practical or technical support, you can find a step-by-step walkthrough of the application process in this guidebook. You can also bring your questions to one of our scheduled webinars with the WDCD team. Please note that we cannot give direct input on the contents of your submission form or with the direction and development of your idea.

Absolutely! You can submit more than one project. You will be able to see all your projects on your dashboard.

After the initial approval, entries that are made public will be added to the platform’s Entries gallery. On March 13th all approved entries will be closed for editing and moved to the Nominate phase, where a selection committee will judge the entries and establish a shortlist. All nominated projects will be announced in April 2023.

The Challenge selection committee is composed of creatives, experts and entrepreneurs from all over the world. During the Nominate phase they will put together a shortlist of top ideas. Every entry will be considered and evaluated on the judging criteria. Please visit the How to Apply page to review the selection criteria. The nominees will be announced in April 2024.

From the list of nominated projects, an international jury of leading experts representing different expertises and nationalities will select a minimum of 10 winners. WDCD will announce the winning projects end of May 2024.

Ideas that have not been selected for nominations will not move to the next phase, and will be labelled as ‘Archived’. They will still be visible in our Entries gallery, unless you have indicated otherwise. Projects which have been ‘Archived’ are no longer editable, but you can always contact us if you have any special requests.