Australia’s most innovative student inventors have been revealed, with Berwick’s Haileybury named one of the winners of SAP’s Young ICT Explorers competition.
Now in its 13th year, the national competition encourages primary and high school students from years three to 12 to use their imagination and passion to create an invention that could change the world using the power of technology.
Working independently or in teams of up to four, 723 students from 76 schools across the country submitted technology-based projects that solve a real-world problem – from creating a better way to recycle, to supporting the community’s most vulnerable and emergency and crisis preparedness.
There were 31 finalist teams across five age groups who pitched their projects virtually to an industry judging panel, with the winners and runners up then crowned at a virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday 2 March.
In the Year 7-8 category Haileybury’s Chengyun Xu, Nabhanya Gupta, Vinay Raghavan and Sanjay Parappat took home a top prize for their Bushfire Recovery AI Drone (BRAID).
The drone utilises artificial intelligence to analyse acreage and provides data on what it has observed, for harvesting purposes and the examination of land for water or dried leaf patches.
SAP Australia and New Zealand head of industries Pete Andrew said he was amazed by the creativity, passion and professionalism displayed by all the students who participate.
“This year’s competition was particularly meaningful, given the challenging circumstances both students and teachers have dealt with throughout the pandemic,” Mr Andrew said.
“It is so inspiring to see that these youngsters’ passion to invent and create has not waned but grown.
“I’ve seen an impressive array of skills like coding, robotics and understanding of engineering being applied to tackling big societal and environmental issues.
“At SAP we’re proud to play a part in helping more Australian students from diverse backgrounds understand how they can leverage the power of technology to change the world and improve people’s lives”.
