The engineers and scientists of the next decade have been given their prizes from the 2015 TeenTech Awards at Buckingham Palace.
In addition to formally presenting the awards, HRH The Duke of York, KG, patron of TeenTech heard an update on their progress during a special presentation ceremony to celebrate their innovations.
The most creative and innovative ideas were chosen by judges at the finals held at the Royal Society earlier in the summer. 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.
REAL WORLD IMPACT
One winning entry from Park House School, Newbury in Berkshire has already attracted grant investment of around £200,000 to develop their idea. The “E-Water Tap” which monitors the use and working state of each tap remotely, is in final production and the first 200 taps will be installed in The Gambia in January 2016. Fresh water supplies are a crucial part of day-to-day life in many parts of the African continent; the E-Water Tap will help engineers ensure continuous supplies are possible by aiding fault-finding. The technology also allows control over access to the water supplies and using real-time data on usage can also inform stakeholders like suppliers and local government about demand at any given time.
Alison Wedgwood, Chief Executive for Africa Water Enterprises, said: ‘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 winning ideas include a flat-pack disaster home, sunglasses to monitor epilepsy and a guitar with never-ending strings and a wheelchair that drives automatically through sensors on the floor.
Schools are now invited to register for 2016 TeenTech Awards – teams don’t have to have started work on ideas but registering their interest before the deadline of December 1st ensures their place in the first round. The Awards which are are now open for 11-18 year olds 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 and innovation sessions taking place across the UK throughout the year – hundreds of schools now benefit from the opportunity to work alongside industry on real world challenges.
‘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’
“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,” says 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.”
TeenTech CIC run interactive events nationwide which are fun but focussed, engaging young people in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and show them different career paths. The Awards are the culmination of TeenTech’s seven years of hard work in giving young people direct access to leading corporations.