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We are delighted to inform you that the 2013 Social Innovation Relay (SIR) has been won by the Youth Innovators team from India!
SIR is a global competition organized by Junior Achievement in collaboration with HP that challenges secondary school students to develop an innovative business concept addressing a social need. The Social Innovation Relay was first launched in 2010, with the idea of bringing innovative technology and hands-on educational programs to schools. The students get the opportunity to develop technological and entrepreneurial skills to succeed in school and beyond, through virtual and face-to-face mentoring with experienced executives. Over the past three years more than 67,000 students and 800 HP mentors from 19 countries have participated. This year, the competition saw nearly 1,600 teams register from around the world.The students were in 19 countries making their presentations live online. 42,000 students were in the program this year (20,000 more than the prior year).
India's Youth Innovators team, composed of Bisman De u, Ekambir Singh and Rayvin Thingnam, from Strawberry Field World School, Chandigarh, worked with their HP e-mentor Radhika Chhabria, on their idea of developing a revolutionary, eco-friendly and low cost building material out of rice husk waste. They aim to buy rice husk from farmers and manufacture rice husk boards called 'Green Wood', which are sound absorbing, water-proof and economical, thus forming an excellent substitute for wood and reducing deforestation. Green Wood will also prevent pollution as farmers will no longer burn rice husk and instead profit from it, while the availability of low cost building material will lead to more affordable housing, thus reducing homelessness. "We, the youth, are the future of tomorrow, and it is in our hands to make the world a better place", say this team of three. You can read more about them here and watch their video.
The runners-up in the competition were Cyan, from Malaysia, who proposed a solution to battle mosquito-based diseases and Hospitaleiros, from Brazil, who developed a concept for an application for information on medical services in Brazil. All the 3 teams will be given HP tablets and the winning team will join the JA-YE Europe 10th Alumni Conference in Tallinn, Estonia in August 2013.
Congratulations to the Youth Innovators on their achievement! We hope this will inspire many more students from India next year, to participate in the Social Innovation Relay, with their ideas for a better world.
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