THIS YEAR’S edition turned its attention to Africa, challenging participants to rethink logistics systems in a region marked by complex infrastructure, accessibility, and affordability challenges.

Held biannually, the Toyota Logistic Design Competition challenges students to send in innovative, creative concepts that provide sustainable solutions for different problems in logistics.

Category Product Design 

Winner: ATTA – Irene Ponteduro & Matteo Marinaro, University of Bologna, Italy

ATTA is a human-powered cargo tricycle with an integrated forklift, inspired by leaf-cutter ants, that improves banana harvesting, transport and loading in Kenya by increasing efficiency, reducing damage, and strengthening smallholder farmers’ livelihoods.

Category Digital Platforms

Winner: Farm to Table – Gichuki Harrison, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Juja, Kenya.

This category proved particularly competitive, with the final decision reflecting a very close call between two standout digital solutions. Farm to Table is an app that connects stakeholders in Kenya’s agricultural supply chain to streamline logistics and reduce food waste caused by inefficiencies.

Category Business Innovation

Winner: EveryLink – Sihyung Kim, Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea

EveryLink is a community-based hub-and-spoke delivery system that improves last-mile logistics in rural Africa by reducing costs, increasing reliability, and expadning access through local agents and centralised village hubs.

Open Category

Winner: MaternLink – Reva Rajgarah & Tulsi Nyati, Avantika University, Lekoda, India

Considered the overall winner of the competition, MaternLink stood out for its holistic vision and strong societal impact. MaternLink is a maternal-health logistics system for rural Nigeria that connects mothers, community workers, drivers, and health centres via digital and offline tools to improve emergency transport, care coordination, and reduce preventable maternal deaths.

Special mentions

In addition to the category winners, the jury also recognised two exceptional projects. In the Product Design category, “One Flow Logistics” by Kim Dongkun, Ryu Jiwoong and Seong Woojin – Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea – stood out for its strong vision and thoughtful approach to streamlining logistics flows.

In the Digital Platforms category, “PortLink” by Bawan Ghorbani, Kaisa Almquist and Julie Hjellegjerde Martinsen – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway – impressed the jury with its innovative and highly relevant digital solution. Both projects demonstrated outstanding creativity and real-world potential, making them worthy of special recognition within an already highly competitive field.