Top student inventors awarded in ICT comp

The winners of the SAP Young ICT Explorers competition have been announced after a virtual finals event.

Now in its 13th year, with the support of CSIRO Digital Careers, The Smith Family, Kinetic IT and School Bytes, the national not-for-profit competition encourages primary and high school students from Years 3–12 to use their imagination and passion to create an invention that could change the world using the power of technology.

Victor Dominello, NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, opened the event.

“We know the future of work will continue to rely more and more on ICT skills, that’s why it’s so important we encourage children to explore technology from an early age. I welcome SAP and its partners’ efforts to continue to facilitate this opportunity for our next generation,” he said.

“If this year’s finalists are anything to go by, we can look forward to many talented young inventors pursuing promising careers in ICT in the future.”

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.

31 finalist teams across five age groups pitched their projects virtually to an industry judging panel, with the winners and runners up then crowned at a virtual awards ceremony last night. Two NSW young inventors (Years 3-4 and 11-12), a Victoria-based team and Victorian independent entrant (Years 7–8 and 9–10) and a Queensland team (Year 5–6 category) took home the top prizes.

SAP has an existing partnership with The Smith Family to help narrow the digital divide through SAP’s Young ICT Explorers Accelerator Program. The initiative is designed to provide schools and teachers in low socio-economic communities with the resources and knowledge needed to prepare more young Australians for the digital careers of the future. This year, a record 30% of participants in the Young ICT Explorers competition came from The Smith Family partner schools.

“It’s vital that students experiencing disadvantage are given support to access the technology and training they need to fully participate in their education, and an increasingly STEM-focused labour market. We’re grateful to SAP for investing in our students, allowing them to strengthen their digital skills, improve their educational outcomes and create better futures for themselves,” said Judy Barraclough, Deputy CEO, The Smith Family.

“Well done to all the incredible students who participated in the Young ICT Explorers competition this year.”

The winners include:

Year 3–4 category: Medibot 2.0, by Sol Crisp, West Pymble Public School, NSW

A pill reminder system based on voice recognition technology, allowing a carer to enter the pills a patient needs to take and record whether they have been taken.

Year 5–6 category: Stretchy 365, by Lucinda Coyle and Lincoln Rucker, St Joseph's Bardon, Queensland

A micro-bit that detects the amount of tension in a stretch sensor to indicate if a potential asthma attack could be coming on.

Year 9–10 category: The Giraffe Walker, by Rebecca Paratz, Bailik College, Victoria

A self-levelling, intelligent, all-terrain walker which allows the elderly to safely travel up and down stairs and traverse uneven surfaces.

Year 11–12 category: SatAlight, by Dong Duong (Dylan) Nguyen, St Andrew's Cathedral School, NSW

An AI system built to rapidly assess the bushfire-proneness of land areas, using satellite imagery to accurately classify vegetation based on its bushfire risk.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Maksim Kabakou