The finals took place in London last week and saw 20 prizes on offer to young inventors and innovators across a range of categories, from wearable technology to healthcare, energy and transport.
The competition challenges teams of up to three students, aged 11 to 18, from schools across the country to research and develop solutions to real-world problems.
The students must carry out market research and seek expert industry advice before finalising their designs.
Thanks to the involvement of real businesses, previous winners have seen their ideas developed into actual products.
This year’s finals took place at the Royal Society in London last week and saw more than 140 students qualify. They won the chance to present their projects and ideas to a panel of expert judges.
Among the winning ideas this year was “Bras with Benefits”, an idea developed by Alexandria, 15, from Alton Convent School in Hampshire. The product is a cancer-detecting bra, designed to identify early stage breast cancer before outward signs are visible. The idea won the wearable technology category.
Alexandria said of her win: “Everyone knows someone affected by cancer and what’s more it’s not just the person diagnosed who suffers – it’s their friends, family, and loved ones too.
“So when we were asked to ‘solve a problem’ that seemed a good place to start.”
Innovators: Students Niamh and Tia from Notre Dame School with their Trolly Knowledge product (Image: Big T Images/TeenTech)
Other innovations among the 20 winning ideas included:
- The Medivest (Loughborough Grammar School): A piece of wearable technology designed to combat cases of severe epilepsy, allowing patients to monitor and send their vital signs to their doctors (healthcare category).
- Sensosafe (Caterham School): A bike light that senses when a car is approaching and notifies the cyclist (transport).
- GreenNet (James Allen’s Girls’ School): A biodegradable fishing net that will break down in water after two weeks (environment).
- Trolley Knowledge (Notre Dame School): A built-in tablet for your shopping trolley which navigates you through the store to help you find your products (retail and finance).
- Emergency Necklace Bridge (Westminster Academy): An emergency bridge that can be transported to and assembled at sites experiencing critical conditions such as damaged infrastructure (design and construction).
TeenTech runs a series of regional events each year across the UK offering hundreds of pupils access to hands-on exhibits and challenges run by leading organisations in the world of science, engineering and technology. For more information on the competition and events, visit www.teentech.com