An e-water tap for Africa, a flat-pack disaster home, sunglasses to monitor epilepsy and a guitar with never-ending strings were just some of the winning innovations pitched by talented teenagers on how to use technology to make life ‘better, simpler or easier’ at the TeenTech Awards yesterday (23rd June).
HRH The Duke of York, KG and patron of TeenTech, visited the Royal Society to meet the talented young entrepreneurs and hear more about their cutting-edge ideas into how to make the world better. The winners have been invited to a special reception with The Duke at Buckingham Palace in October.
Over 100 young innovators, who saw off fierce competition from hundreds of teams from schools across the UK, travelled to London to present their pioneering ideas to a team of judges made up of celebrity science presenters, journalists and eminent academics including TeenTech co-founder and BBC Tomorrow’s World presenter Maggie Philbin, TV’s Dr Christian Jessen, Top Gear’s James May, BBC Click’s Kate Russell, BBC Bang Goes The Theory’s Dallas Campbell, actress Katy Brand, and comedian Jon Culshaw.
The students, aged between 11-16 years old were challenged to work in groups of up to three and use technology to solve real-world problems in 19 categories inspired by industries important to the future, including infrastructure, environment, transport, healthcare and wearables.
2015 winners included the likes of:
· Money Manager – an app that compares spending habits and helps people budget wisely
· S.T.EYE – A condom with an inbuilt indicator that changes colour when it comes into contact with common STIs
· Aidship – an airship to transport aid to areas of natural disasters
· Better Dinners – a way to pass on food waste to those who need it and give everyone a daily meal
· Emergency street-lighting for use in disaster-stricken areas
· SmartChair – a wheelchair that drives automatically through sensors on the floor
· An app that calculates the monetary value of household chores
Other shortlisted ideas ranged from hair accessories that can match the colour of any garment you wear using Wi-Fi, a proposition to bring insects into Britain’s food-chain, shoes designed to harness energy generated by walking to charge devices on-the-go, a ‘floodless future’ defence system for rail links, to an app that calculates the monetary value of household chores.
Three schoolchildren, Jack, Connor and Lawrence from Park House School in Newbury, clinched the crown in the Infrastructure category sponsored by Network Rail for their design of the E-Water Tap. The team has a patent pending and has already secured £50,000 investment from leading charity Africa Water Enterprises, and will see 100 taps installed in a number of African villages by January 2016.
Speaking of the new venture, Alison Wedgwood, chief executive for Africa Water Enterprises, said: “AWE is completely overwhelmed by this idea. We think it could not only revolutionise rural water supplies in Africa, but drastically help what the Department for International Development is calling the ‘hidden crisis’. While many charities install new taps, there is no way to currently monitor and fix the many broken ones – so this is a hugely ground-breaking way to make sure the taps stay usable and that a regular water supply is accessible by those who need it most.”
Other winners included Muaz, Daanyaal and Chirag from Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford who won in the Healthcare category, judged by TV’s Dr Christian Jessen, for ‘S.T.EYE’, a revolutionary concept for a condom with an inbuilt indicator that changes colour when in contact with sexually transmitted diseases.
Daanyaal Ali, 14, said of their idea: “We created the S.T.EYE as a new way for STI detection to help the future of the next generation. We wanted to make something that made detecting harmful STIs safer than ever before, so that people can take immediate action in the privacy of their own homes without the often-scary procedures at the doctors. We’ve made sure we’re able to give peace of mind to users and let people act even more responsibly than ever before.”
The awards were set up to excite young people about the ever-expanding career possibilities available in the fields of science, engineering and technology, with TeenTech events taking place across the UK throughout the year – seeing hundreds of schools benefit from hands-on exhibits and challenges.
“Every year we are completely astounded by the quality of entries coming through the awards, and this year has not disappointed. The Awards are without fail the most special day in the TeenTech calendar, and an amazing opportunity for businesses, academics and celebrities to get a genuine insight into just what is going on in classrooms up and down the country.
“We know there’s a huge amount of young talent all over the UK but teenagers are not always clear about the skills they need to succeed, and events like today’s has proved that our exam system needs to embrace this creative talent and encourage even more life-changing inventions of tomorrow,” said TeenTech’s founder and CEO, Maggie Philbin.
“By taking their ideas out of the classroom and putting them face-to-face with industry professionals, we’ve been able to change the way young people think about these subjects and helps to open their eyes to the real potential of their ideas.”
A brand-new award for 2015, the ‘Consumer Innovation’ category challenged participants to use tech to solve an everyday problem. Event sponsors, Maplin, will now work with winners from James Allen’s Girls’ School on their product Indicate, to see if the LED fluorescent jacket for cyclists can be made, marketed, and sold in their stores – with all profits going back to the winners.
Other award sponsors included Google, Airbus, Cranfield University, CILIP, EDF Energy, JVCKenwood, National Grid, Network Rail and OCR.
Dr Jane Secker, copyright and digital literacy advisor from CILIP said: “The CILIP Information Literacy Group are thrilled to be supporting TeenTech today. We got involved in the project because we are passionate about helping to develop young people’s research skills to prepare them for their future careers and lives.”
TeenTech CIC offers one-day interactive science events to schools nationwide to engage young people in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and show them a possible career path. The Awards are the culmination of TeenTech’s seven years of hard work in giving young people direct access to leading corporations.
The winners of each category were awarded thousands of pounds in cash prizes and have been invited by The Duke of York, to a reception at Buckingham Palace in the Autumn.
More information can be found at the TeenTech website: http://www.teentech.com/
