Kiwi Kid's Innovation On Display As Samsung Celebrates Solve For Tomorrow Winners

NEW ZEALAND – 27 September 2024

Another excellent year of Kiwi kids demonstrating innovation, culminated in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow champions for 2024 being announced last night. Caring for both the environment and local community emerged as leading themes not only in the finalists, but throughout the entries.

Solve for Tomorrow is a nationwide competition, delivered in partnership with Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), that challenges New Zealand’s next generation of innovators to unleash their creativity and use STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) to help improve their communities.

Entries were assessed by an expert judging panel of Dr. Joel Rindelaub, Dr Siouxsie Wiles, MOTAT’s Head of Education, Julie Baker, and Sarah Washbrooke, Deputy Chair of TENZ.

Now in its fourth year, Solve For Tomorrow broadened entries to cover two age categories, years 7-10 and 11-13. The widened age categories allowed NCEA level students to take part, showcasing their inventive thinking across a range of issues and repurposing school projects for the competition.

First place in the year 7-10 category was awarded to Year 8 student Gabriel Anthony from Whitby Collegiate in Wellington, who designed an AI medication identifier for the visually impaired inspired by his grandmother.

“We were so impressed by Gabriel’s project! His Grandmother has accidentally given herself the wrong medication before, so Gabriel’s project was created to stop it happening again. He’s trained an AI bot to recognise different pill types, and then verbally speak each name so as to avoid confusion. He refined the concept by consulting stakeholders and going through experimentation and testing. This is a great example of harnessing STEAM to make a positive change, and how great ideas come from considering the needs of our communities,” says Dr Siouxsie Wiles.

Year 11 student Logan Gardiner from Burnside High School was awarded first place in the years 11-13 category. Logan developed Enviro-Saver, a contraption to clean rubbish, leaves and other pollutants from his local Christchurch waterways.

“Logan’s entry stood out to us because he showed advanced, out-of-the-box thinking and used all elements of STEAM theories to design a solution. Enviro-Saver can sit in any waterway, and uses clever engineering to power itself off the flow of the water, whilst also catching any rubbish or pollutants. It’s an innovative way to tackle environmental management in the community and preserve our waterways, and Logan even considered how the debris is dealt with once collected ” says Dr Joel Rindelaub.

Carlos Tait, a year 8 student at Howick Intermediate, was awarded second place in the junior category for designing a scale to measure bait for conservation volunteers in the Hunua Ranges, saving them precious time that can be used for other things.

Second place in the senior category was awarded to Ashley Beaton of Mount Aspiring College, who showed a really impressive use of STEAM principles to design a customisable and ergonomically designed gear stick for car drivers.

Opening the competition to Aotearoa's secondary students gave the judges a range of in-depth projects, showcasing their impressive understanding of STEAM and design thinking.

Judging was a difficult process, as both age levels contained a multitude of outstanding entries. The junior category showed incredible problem solving with projects to address produce loss, water clarity, eye tests, biodegradable bottle caps, water irrigation, and a new medical stretcher design. The senior category covered innovation in stove design, a security robot, and an interactive world map.

“Solve For Tomorrow captures the creativity of our tamariki and rangatahi, and we’re thrilled that the future of innovation in Aotearoa is in their very capable hands.

“We look forward to seeing our entrants continue to follow their passions and keep finding ways to address issues in their community through STEAM,” says Simon Smith, Head of Marketing at Samsung New Zealand.

Solve For Tomorrow has reached thousands of students via the competition and Samsung’s sponsorship of MOTAT’s STEAM Cell trailers over the past four years.

The winners celebrated their achievements with an event at MOTAT last night, joined by their families and the judging team. Each winner will take home their share of a $24,000 cash prize pool, as well as the latest Samsung tech for each student and their school.

About Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 

Delivered in partnership with the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), the Solve for Tomorrow competition is designed to build interest and proficiency in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). The nationwide competition tasks students in years 7-13 to identify and create a solution for an issue important to them and their community, which are then judged on creativity and originality, relevance to the community, feasibility of the solution, presentation, and application of STEAM. This is Samsung Solve for Tomorrow’s fourth year in New Zealand. Launched in the US in 2010, the competition has been hugely influential internationally, with more than 1.7 million students and teachers participating across 20 countries. 

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. 

About the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)

MOTAT seeks to use the past, present and future technology and ingenuity of Aotearoa to educate and inspire the innovators of tomorrow. MOTAT provides multi-platform learning opportunities, offering STEAM Cells programmes in schools, onsite education programmes at the Museum, micro-credentials and online workshops direct to the classroom. Experience interactive learning and exploration through exhibitions, events and education programmes.

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