I BELIEVE the children are the future of entrepreneurship in Scotland. And I’m not the only one. Myriad schemes and initiatives have been launched over the years to encourage young people to start their own businesses.
The latest – Venturejam Scotland – has been a resounding success; the hackathon-style event, delivered by Young Scot and Glasgow City of Science and Innovation, attracted a record number of applicants to tackle this year’s challenge - to re-purposing existing products and technology to develop new ways of using energy more sustainably.
The final three teams aged 14 to 20 pitched their innovative ideas to tackle future energy challenges in front of Scotland’s leading investors last week.
The teams’ ideas included genetically modified moss that glows to reduce the need for energy-guzzling street lights, an overhaul of the sewage system combining existing clean energy technologies, and a personal energy tracker app which promotes positive behaviour change around energy use by rewarding good behaviour.
The winning idea was invented by Susan Chen, 17, Nevin Pillai, 16, Adnan Bakar, 16, Mhairi McCann, 18, and Mary-Jane McNally, 17, of Fishing for Fusion.
Susan explained their thinking: “We started by exploring the different problems we are currently facing regarding energy needs and began with a few questions like: Can we improve the efficiency of energy generation? Or, is there a better way of gathering waste energy and put it to good use?
“One aspect we considered was the vast amount of wasted energy in the sewers – we used this as a stepping stone to come up with innovative ways to utilise both the heat and kinetic energy entering the pipes which would otherwise be lost.”
Mhairi said the team discovered that 30 per cent of all the energy in the world ends up in the sewers, so a sewage-based solution was a good option.
“We then started looking at some of the existing green energy technologies, to see if there are any that we could implement in the sewage system. In the end, our idea was a combination of existing clean energy technologies, implemented in the sewage system.”
The team is considering entrepreneurship as a career.
Susan said: “We need innovation more than ever, in order to drive the advancement of civilisation. In a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology, I believe this is something that entrepreneurs need to focus on.”
Nevin wants to learn how to run an engineering business, whether it is applying it to recovering energy or solving problems, while Adnan has an idea to provide 100 percent biodegradable packaging to eliminate the use of plastic.
Louise Macdonald, chief executive of Young Scot, said Venturejam gave Scotland’s young innovators a chance to shine: “It is inspiring to see young people in Scotland so invested in promoting a sustainable environment.”
Michelle Rodger is a communications consultant
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