The winners of the third edition of the INDEX Award, a competition that focuses on designs to improve life, were announced today in Copenhagen, as part of the city’s design-week festivities. This year’s competition received more than 700 entries from six continents and 54 countries. The organizers give out a whopping 500,000 euros in prize money, making it one of the world’s biggest, if not the biggest, design award. This year’s five winning entries are a diverse group, ranging from a fetal heart-rate monitor that works off the grid and a stove designed to limit smoke in indoor cooking to a micro-lending Web site and a book tracking all the products made from a pig.

Here’s a rundown of the five winners, which fall under the categories of body, home, work, play, and community:

Freeplay Fetal Heart Rate Monitor
Category: Body
A fetal heart rate monitor that works off the grid, designed by Freeplay Energy (South Africa)

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Chulha
Category: Home
A low-tech, low-smoke biomass stove designed to create a safe environment for indoor cooking, by Philips Design (The Netherlands)

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Kiva.org
Category: Work
The world’s first person-to-person micro-lending Web site, designed by Kiva.org (USA)

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Pig 05049
Category: Play
A book that tracks all the products made from a single pig (The Netherlands)

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Better Place Electric Vehicle Service
Category: Community
An electrical-car infrastructure focused on the effort to move drivers, the automotive industry, and energy-distribution past the internal-combustion engine

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Read more about this year’s jury, nominees, and winners on the INDEX Web site.

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