The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and the Faculty of Engineering at the North-West University (NWU) and its partners understand that it is necessary to equip the youth with skills that will benefit them in the long run.
In 2019 the Faculty of Engineering and the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (merSETA) joined forces to develop and support future female innovators through the Modiragatsi Youth Innovation Competition.
This year, Siemens and KISCH IP came on board to further augment the experience. Prof Leenta Grobler, director for business development and stakeholder engagement at the Faculty of Engineering, then expanded the initial offering into a fully-fledged innovation incubator for South African youth.
During this year’s winter recess, 120 high school learners between the ages of 15 and 18 as well as 80 university students completed an extensive online course in design and computational thinking, user experience design, mobile application development, intellectual property protection and start-up conceptualisation and pitching training.
Learners then had the opportunity to enter the Modiragatsi competition in any of the five categories, with the top spot of overall winner also up for grabs.
Each of the category winners walks away with an intellectual property evaluation by KISCH intellectual property director Ursula Baravalle, who leads the Patent Department, and Izaan Kuschke who is a senior associate.
The category winners will also be aided in the development of a prototype of their idea by the NWU’s Faculty of Engineering, and will receive entrepreneurship mentoring by Prof Grobler. They also win free attendance to one of the Faculty’s Engineering Saturdays and two short learning programmes of their choice presented by the faculty.
Paballo Diyase from the High School for Girls in Potchefstroom came out on top in the Healthcare category and was also announced the overall winner. In addition to the prizes she won as category winners, she walked away with a R80 000 scholarship from Siemens to study engineering, and an all-expenses-paid technology tour to Europe for her and her teacher.
“Throughout the competition, I was challenged to push my innovation and creativity to the next level with regard to problem solving. I also enjoyed interacting with the other young ladies who were just as driven to address the problems faced by our society,” says Paballo.
“This competition has allowed me to make new friends from all over the country. Karin Schutte, an NWU mechanical engineering student, was my mentor. She helped and guided me and was pleasant to work with. Overall, the experience was empowering and insightful.”.
Here are the five category winners:
- Food, Energy and Water category: Onkagile Baraganye and Refentse Lekgoane from Setswakgosing Secondary School for their Agro-Tswaing Food Security App. In this category, honourable mention was made of the Smart Water Meter concept of Christine Esterhuizen and Emma Nel from Eunice High School for Girls.
- Gender-based Violence Prevention category: Neo Thobejane from Marobathotha High School for her GBV navigator.
- Healthcare category: Paballo Diyase from The High School for Girls in Potchefstroom for her Nutri-spoon.
- Nature Conservation and Tourism category: Hesme van Aswegen and Isabella Ramos from Eunice High School for Girls for their home-use waste to energy concept.
- Township Economy category: Hannia Kempen and Kerryn Hodgson from The High School for Girls in Potchefstroom for their sorting plastic collection trolley.
Paballo Diyase from the High School for Girls in Potchefstroom is the overall winner of the 2021 Modiragatsi Youth Innovation Competition.
2020 winners announced
The 2020 Modiragatsi Competition was postponed due the Covid-19 lockdown, and therefore these entries were evaluated in conjunction with the 2021 entries.
The overall winner for the 2020 Modiragatsi competition was Amy Vockerodt and Nina Mertz from Hoërskool Waterkloof for their illuminating safety glove for car guards.
The top four entries were:
- Amy Vockerodt and Nina Mertz from Hoërskool Waterkloof
- Caitlin Stapelberg from Leeuwenhof Akademie
- Caleigh Avery from Edenvale High School
- Thobeka Mkhonza from Thanibezwe High School
The winners of the Student Accelerator competition where NWU students had to solve various problems using technology, were Maiar Ahmed for her Smart Purifying Facemask, and Nelize Van Schalkwyk for her Nova Workout Management App.
The NWU applauds the Faculty of Engineering and merSETA for a job well done. We look forward to the future innovations the annual Modiragatsi Youth Innovation Competition will yield.
