YES Feeder Programs Te Tauihu Innovation Challenges

Year 10 students in our region were provided an amazing learning opportunity to develop their innovative skills and learn about local industries during two YES events run in both Nelson and Marlborough.

The YES Innovation Challenge is a fast paced, one day event where students are given a real-world problem from local industry, they brainstorm a solution in teams, quickly create a basic prototype, then pitch to judges.

In Nelson, MPI sponsored the event bringing scientists and aquaculture experts on board to mentor and inform the students for the day. Stephanie Hopkins from Aquaculture New Zealand, Bailey Lovett and Jess Ericson from Cawthron Institute and Carol Jakob, Sarah Cumming and Finn Sumner from MPI were amazing.

Mark Unwin from Marlborough City Council was the driving force to bring the event to the Marlborough region and brought in local businesses Sanford, Indevin and Autoline. Students were mentored by Morgan Burkett Sanford Innovation Project Manager, Jason Cook Indevin Production Winemaker and Autoline engineer Hari Bejishkumar.

The highlights of the student feedback included how much they enjoyed meeting new people, working in teams and with the mentors, problem solving and learning about the different industries.

The teachers loved the format saying, “This exercise built on students' knowledge of science, technology, commerce and social studies from the classroom and then added industry knowledge and expertise which is a priceless experience for students”.

Student teams needed to develop an innovative idea using technology enablers to help the industries deal with real world problems such as adapting to climate change, deal with waste, water conservation and up and coming mega trends.