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 showcased by talented teenagers at the 2015 TeenTech Awards. . Every year the finalist projects get more and more impressive. Some teams built full working prototypes, others shared exciting new concepts and our industry judges were bowled over by the creativity and skills shown by young people across the UK.
Many thanks to our Award sponsors Airbus, Atkins, Cranfield University, CILIP, EDF Energy, Google, JVCKenwood, Maplin, National Grid, Network Rail and OCR for making all this possible.
One concept idea which has captured the imagination of the world’s press is for a condom which changes colour if it comes into contact with a STI. The team of boys from Isaac Newton Academy in London, who were judged by Dr Christian Jessen in the Ā Future of Health category, have spent the day talking to people from across the world. They’ve now been approached by a condom manufacturer, impressed by their determination to tackle a sensitive issue.
Daanyaal Ali, 14, says 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.”
ThisĀ idea was one of many seen by TeenTech patron HRH Duke of York KG whoĀ 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.
Over 100 young innovators travelled to London to present their pioneering ideas to teams of judges made up of industry experts, celebrity science presenters, journalists and eminent academics including Top Gearās James May, BBC Clickās Kate Russell, BBC Bang Goes The Theoryās Dallas Campbell, actress Katy Brand, comedian Jon Culshaw,TVās Dr Christian Jessen,Ā andĀ TeenTech co-founder and BBC Tomorrowās World reporter Maggie Philbin.
One powerful innovation was developed by three schoolchildren, Jack, Connor and Lawrence from Park House School in Newbury They clinched the crown in the Infrastructure category, sponsored by Network Rail, for their design of the E-Water Tap. Taken to full prototype stage, this is a new way to help improve water distribution in Africa. 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. The students stretched their programming skills to develop a way of monitoring water distribution to help improve the sustainability of water provision in rural Africa. Often water is collected by young children and they have incorporated imaginative learning opportunities into their system.
Speaking of the new venture, Alison Wedgwood, Chief Executive for Africa Water Enterprises, said: āAWE 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 āhidden crisisā. While many charities install new taps, there is no way to currently monitor and fix the many broken ones ā 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.ā
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 Britainās food-chain, shoes designed to harness energy generated by walking to charge devices on-the-go, a āfloodless futureā defence system for rail links, to an app that calculates the monetary value of household chores.
A brand-new award for 2015, the āConsumer Innovationā category challenged participants to use tech to solve an everyday problem. Event sponsors, Maplin, will now work with winners from James Allenās Girlsā School on their product Indicate, to see if the LED fluorescent jacket for cyclists can be made, marketed, and sold in their stores ā with all profits going back to the winners.
Our full list of winners follows.
Retail and Finance Category
Notre Dame School, Greenock – Lucy, Lucy and Bethany for “Money Manager
International Collaboration
The King Edward VI SchoolĀ ā Tom, Alistair and Jack forĀ āAidshipā
Future of Food Category
Birkdale School āĀ Lewis, William and Pablo forĀ āBetter Dinnersā
Research and Literacy Award sponsored by CILIP
Birkdale School āĀ Harvey, David and Will forĀ āPsijure Wearable Technology
Healthcare Category
Isaac Newton Academy ā Muaz, Daanyaal and Chirag for āS.T.EYEā
Safety & Security Category sponsored by Symantec
Sandbach High SchoolĀ ā Rosie, Isabel and Ella forĀ āEmergency Street Lightingā
Energy Category sponsored by National Grid
The Costello School –Ā Raphael, Ashesh and James forĀ āTE.E Energyā
Digital Skills Category
Loreto Grammar SchoolĀ ā Lucy and Josie forĀ āElementsā
Transport Category sponsored by Airbus
Ysgol Glan-y-Mor āĀ Lewis, Charlie and Bradley forĀ āSmartChairā
Manufacturing Award sponsored by Cranfield University
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School ā Will, Sam and Alexander for āGuardianā
Environment Category sponsored by EDF
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School ā Will, Sam and Alexander for āGuardianā
Design & Construction Category sponsored by Atkins
The Hayfield School ā James,Ā SiĆ¢n and Luke for āEasehallā
Music, Media and Entertainment Category sponsored by JVC Kenwood
Okehampton College ā Sam and Reece for āReel Stringsā
Infrastructure Category sponsored by Network Rail
Park House School āĀ Jack, Connor and Laurence forĀ āe-water dispenserā
Wearable Technology Category sponsored by Maplin
Loreto Grammar School – Emma for āPhotoglasā
Consumer Innovation Award sponsored by Maplin
James Allenās Girlsā School – Alice and Iona for āIndicateā
Education Category sponsored by Google
Birkdale School ā Shahid, Alfie and Jacob for āExplain!ā
Teacher of the Year Category sponsored by OCR
Daljit Kaur ā Loughborough Grammar High School
Peopleās Choice Award
Alton Convent School āĀ Lauren, Lucy and Gabriella forĀ āmShuttleā
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 ā seeing hundreds of schools benefit from hands-on exhibits and challenges.
āEvery 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.
āWe know thereās 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 todayās has proved that our exam system needs to embrace this creative talent and encourage even more life-changing inventions of tomorrow,ā says TeenTechās founder and CEO, Maggie Philbin.
āBy taking their ideas out of the classroom and putting them face-to-face with industry professionals, weāve 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.ā
Dr Jane Secker, copyright and digital literacy advisor from CILIP said: āThe 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.ā
I feel it’s a shame that children cannot attend with a parent as many schools do not have teachers who want to do a trip out or be involved, this leads to some children having no access to tech events.
Hi Fiona
Many thanks for your message. Parents can bring their children and at many events we have several tables of home schoolers or teenagers accompanied by parents. As with schools, the places do need to be booked in advance. The large scale events are for a specific age group which means that all the activities are age appropriate and more effective. If your children are older/younger than this then we have award schemes in place which have supporting ‘Innovation Sessions/Days’ throughout the year. We’ll email you to find out where you are.
All the best
Maggie
My son James Duffy was one of the winners of Teen Tech 2015 & attended the award ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 4th Nov 2015. I am very proud of his achievement but as I wasn’t invited to attend (teachers not parents invited) I obviously have not seen anything of him receiving his award. I was wondering if there is any official photographs of this event & him receiving his award? And if not as a parent this might be something to do in the future, as I would happily pay for an official photograph for such a prestigious event.
Thank you
Hi
There are some lovely pictures which are being uploaded to Flickr so you will be able to download them.Every year We make the entire set of pictures available to schools and parents. They will be up very shortly.