This is the fourth year that we have run the prestigious Coresteel Innovation Award in South Canterbury. We were delighted to receive 12 entries from local students who submitted creative design projects which were a part of their school curriculum this year. These were whittled down to 6 semifinalists who joined us on the Coresteel Innovation Tour visiting 4 outstanding local businesses. From there, 3 finalists were interviewed by our judging panel
Our winner, Bam Na-Ranong from Craighead, submitted a thoughtfully designed Suicide Prevention Device. After identifying a possible gap in the market, she was able to study those around her and engineered a wrist-worn device. It featured an aromatherapy diffuser, emergency button and music player along with other anxiety-calming functions. Bam proved to posses higher-level thinking as she was able to explain, in depth, the research and reasoning around her project. What stood out to the judges was that she was able to participate greatly in the Innovation Tour, asking questions to broaden her perspective and gain insight. She could provide critique about her own project and showed that she was still searching to improve the device.
Runners-up, Ava Venn of Craighead and Nubthong Harborrayathin of Timaru Girls High, submitted thoughtful and creative designs, too. Ava designed a sustainable and eco-friendly drink bottle/food container with a clever re-call system to recycle the used or faulty products. Nubthong (Nahm) developed a sustainable drink bottle that could track the user’s water intake and doubled as a night light.
We look forward to seeing more innovative projects come from Year 12 and 13 students across the board, in all subjects next year and thoroughly appreciate the support of the local schools.
