Open Innovation Challenge |05 January 2021

Mr Estico during the meeting with the winners of the Open Innovation Challenge 2020 (Photo: Anel Robert)

Winners urged to bring their project ideas to life

The National Institute of Science, Technology and Innovation (Nisti) held an Open Innovation Challenge follow-up meeting last week for the 2020 winners of the competition.

The aim of the meeting, held at Nisti’s headquarters, La Fontaine Holiday Apartments, Bel Ombre, was to introduce to the first, second and third place winners of the different categories of students from primary, secondary and post secondary schools, who took part in the Open Innovation Challenge pitching competition in August 2020, on the numerous opportunities that exist within Nisti for further incubation of their projects.

In all, sixteen viable projects out of the eighty projects from the 2020 Open Innovation Challenge competition, which were in relation to developing solutions for a post-pandemic Seychelles, have been chosen by Nisti for incubation.

Nisti’s chief executive, Xavier Estico, said that the institute wants the students to see their 2020 project ideas materialise as motivation for them to participate in the 2021 Open Innovation Challenge.

He further said that some of the participating projects were viable and can come to life, hence the reason why the institution wants to keep them alive as they can contribute to the safety of the country or even to saving lives directly.

He noted that by making the students’ projects come to reality is recognition by the institution of their efforts.

“We don’t just want to have a publicity stunt and to give you a certificate and prizes and be over with it. We want you to see that your efforts go as far as to become a reality,” Mr Estico told the participants, noting that the institute would not like to see the competition as just an exercise where after it’s over the young innovative ideas are placed on a shelf and forgotten.

Apart from gaining access to working space, facilities and resources at Nisti, the students will also be connected by the institution to organisations and financial sources to make their projects more implementable.

Abigail Azemia, Vivvi Marie, Anil Elizabeth, Leyla Sofa from Bel Ombre primary school with their overall winning star prize project of an ‘Automated Sprayer’ (disinfection) for public transport, is among those chosen for incubation by Nisti. Others chosen in the primary category include Tyra Telemaque (La Misère primary) with her ‘Self-Screening machine’, Anand Narayan (Mont Fleuri primary) with his ‘Natural Hand Sanitizer’ project, Noah Nalletamby (Bel Ombre primary) with his project ‘Foot operated liquid soap or sanitizer dispenser’, Asher Vidot (Au Cap primary) with ‘Keeping safe at a distance’ and Adrian Antony (Independent School) with his project ‘My Personal Space’.

For the secondary category, the projects chosen are: ‘SOLVE’ by Sophie Servina, Antoinette Solin, Laura Pool, Hazel Rachel (Anse Boileau), ‘Reaching students without school’ by Shakthi Alexander (International School), ‘Bar/QR code reader for easy data collection’ by Jade Arrisol (Pointe Larue), ‘E-Seyfish’ by Maryam Henrie and Mandy Shilwatso (Anse Boileau) and ‘A New Approach To Teaching Children About Programming, Robotics and Technology In Seychelles’ by Mikhail Rudchenko (International School).

Projects taken for further incubation in the post secondary institutions are: ‘Lavatory Hygiene’ by Clara Melanie, Julia Fabien and Natty Radegone (Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education), ‘Mobile APP’ by Natasha Charlette (Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education), ‘Sanitizer Wristband’ by Martina Luther (Seychelles Tourism Academy), ‘Work place innovation’ by Myra Georges (University of Seychelles) and ‘Food Industry’ by Kurstina Esparon, Clara Melanie, Petrina Louis and Debra Leon (Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education).

Mr Estico also mentioned that Mikhail Rudchenko (International School secondary), Jade Arrisol (Pointe Larue secondary) and Anand Narayan (Mont Fleuri primary) will represent Seychelles next year (2021) in the Commonwealth Innovation Hub competition. Arrisol is at the moment working at Nisti as an intern to develop her project. Two other participants from the private sector are also expected to participate in the competition.

The entry deadline is by January 2021.

Furthermore, the institute has also launched its second ‘Open Innovation Challenge to Develop Innovative Solutions for Climate Change’ under Nisti’s STEM programme for 2021. This initiative is a call to action for Seychellois (primary, secondary, post-secondary and general public) to join forces to tackle one of the most challenging phenomena of our times, and co-create impactful and innovative lasting solutions towards climate change.

The last date of registration is May 31, 2021 before the announcement of selected projects on June 30, 2021 and the pitching competition for all categories on September 6-10, 2021. The award presentation will take place on September24, 2021.

Patrick Joubert