For the past seven years, the Electrolux Design Lab has challenged graduate and undergraduate industrial design students to think differently about household appliances. This year's competition—"The 2nd Space Age"— asks designers to address the shrinking domestic spaces of the future.

From the brief: Your ideas will shape how people prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes in the homes of 2050 when 74%* of the world's population are predicted to live in an urban environment.  Growing populations living in concentrated areas dictate a need for greater space efficiency. This year, special consideration will be given to designers that submit a design within the context of a range or suite of solutions/appliances. Your design ideas should address key consumer requirements; being green, adaptive to time and space, and allowing for individualization.

€5000 and a 6-month paid internship will go to the grand prize winner, and the 2nd and 3rd prizes aren't too shabby either—€3000 and €2000 respectively.

More info here.

Deadline: May 1st, 2010.