OCAD U alums named Canadian winner of 2026 James Dyson Award for smart vest to help people manage stress

What if the solution to managing rising stress looked like a hug?

That’s the idea behind Proactive Project, a smart wearable vest invented by Marzuq Vohra and Vienna Pighin, graduates of OCAD University’s Industrial Design program.

And this innovative idea has led them to being named as Canada’s national winners of the 2026 James Dyson Award, for an invention that provides individuals experiencing sensory challenges with responsive support when stress is detected. 

The $9,000 national prize will support Proactive Project’s next steps in development and commercialization. Plus, the project advances to the international competition where they will compete alongside Canadian national runners-up AnemoSwab and SoleTrace for a place among the international shortlist of 20 projects and opportunity to win the $56,000 global prize.

Proactive Project is rooted in personal experience for both inventors. Growing up with sensory sensitivities, Pighin experienced firsthand the challenges that unpredictable and uncontrolled environments can present in everyday life. For Vohra, the inspiration came from watching his autistic brother navigate sensory overload. To those around his brother, it may have appeared as a moment of anger, but in reality, it was a call for support. 

These experiences led the designers to ask how technology and design could provide support before sensory overload becomes overwhelming. They recognized a gap in existing solutions, finding many products either ineffective, overly intrusive, or unable to address the unpredictability of day-to-day environments.

The result?

An innovative vest is designed to provide discreet, responsive support when it is needed most. Using skin-contact sensors, the vest continuously monitors biometric signals associated with rising stress levels.

When signs of heightened stress are detected, an integrated compressor gently inflates air bladders within the garment, delivering a calming, hug-like deep pressure response. The adaptive system remains active until biometric readings return to a baseline state or the user chooses to disengage it, before gradually deflating to ensure comfort and ease of use.

Unlike traditional sensory regulation products, such as weighted blankets, compression garments, and sensory wraps, the vest delivers an intelligent, responsive solution that automatically adjusts to the wearer’s needs in real time. Designed for comfort, discretion, and everyday use, it offers a wearable alternative that supports sensory regulation both at home and in public settings.

“We’re incredibly proud of what this recognition means for us and our company,” say Vohra and Pighin. “We hope it brings greater validation to the work we’re doing, but more importantly, greater visibility to the community we’re working to serve.”

The recognition is also meaningful to the designers as OCAD U alums, who graduated in 2025.

“We’re proud to be helping open new doors and bring work coming out of the University onto larger stages,” they say. “We hope this encourages other students and alumni to think bigger about where their ideas can go.”

Their James Dyson Award win builds on recognition they received while at the University, including the 2025 People’s Choice Award from the Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario (ACIDO) and OCAD U’s 2025 CBOE Canada Awards for Disruptive Design.

“Ambition matters. Don’t hold yourself back,” they say. “As artists and designers, ownership is everything. Own your work, put it out into the world, and push it as far as you can. The possibilities are much bigger than they often seem.”

For Vohra and Pighin, Proactive Project is now one step closer to an international audience — and a larger stage for an idea that began with two designers asking how design could offer people support when they need it most.

ABOUT THE JAMES DYSON AWARD

The James Dyson Award is an international design and engineering competition that recognizes student and recent graduate projects that address real-world problems through design and engineering.

Entries are first judged at the national level by a panel of external judges and a Dyson engineer. Each participating market selects one national winner and two national runners-up.

The national winners then advance to the international stage, where a panel of Dyson engineers selects 20 projects for the international shortlist. Sir James Dyson makes the final selection of the global winners, who each receive $56,000.