Singapore, 9 April 2016 (Saturday) – The fourth edition of the Youth Innovation Challenge, organised by the Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at SMU (IIE), came to a successful conclusion today with Raffles Institution emerging tops in both the junior and senior categories.

Launched in 2013, the Youth Innovation Challenge was organised and designed by IIE as a means of encouraging an innovative mindset among students from secondary schools and junior colleges.  The Ministry of Education was consulted on the format and the content of the competition. This annual contest is open to all secondary schools, ITE and junior colleges in Singapore.

This year, a total of 69 teams from 29 schools participated in the competition. A marked increase was observed in the junior category meant for secondary schools in which 33 submissions were received from 19 institutes, compared with 24 submissions from 16 institutes last year.

Professor Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Director of IIE, said “Innovation and entrepreneurship are critical to the continued success of Singapore. It is best to start nurturing innovators and entrepreneurship from a young age by exposing students to relevant concepts and best practices through various means, including competitions.

We are pleased to note that the Youth Innovation Challenge has gained traction among the secondary schools, junior colleges and ITE in Singapore, and are confident that the competition will continue to attract high quality submissions from the participants.”

Secondary schools participating in this year’s competition were grouped into the junior category, while junior colleges, centralised institute and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) were grouped into the senior category.

The competition started with a briefing and training workshop attended by 150 students in October 2015, 79 from 14 secondary schools and 71 from 11 junior colleges. Junior Achievement Singapore conducted the workshop for both the senior and junior categories. The participants in the senior category were also trained by two faculty members from SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business. The 24 semi-finalists, 12 from each category, received mentorship through a boot camp in March 2016 to help them with their preparations for the semi-final and finals.The semi-final round was held on 8 April 2016. Six teams from each category progressed to the finals today.

The judging panel comprised of Dr Virginia Cha, Entrepreneurship-in-Residence,Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship of SMU; Ben Hamilton, CEO, Wise.Net Information Systems; Mr Ronnie Wee, Founder and Managing Partner, Incuvest; Christopher Quek, Director, Angels Gate Advisory Pte Ltd; Mr Clarence Hoe, Group Director, Human Resources of International Enterprise Singapore

The finalists for each category were judged on their business plan’s market fit, market potential, unique selling points, financials and operational plan.

In the junior category, Team CollaborART from Raffles Institution emerged as champions and walked away with $4000. Team The Fiv5 from Gan Eng Seng Secondary School, and Team DiLite from Westwood Secondary School claimed the first (cash prize of $2000) and second runner-up (cash prize of $1000) positions respectively.

Team CollaborART aims to be the Google Docs for artists by creating a platform that encourages creative collaboration, providing digital artists with the tools they need to come together and create artwork that becomes a sum greater than its parts. Through the implementation of elements of social media and interactive entertainment, the team seeks to create not only a platform of utility, but also to foster a vibrant online digital art community.

[Photo: SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong presented the top prize to Team StepCharger from Raffles Institution which emerged as champions in the senior category at the SMU Youth Innovation Challenge 2016.]

For the senior category, Team StepCharger from Raffles Institution clinched the top position and took home $7000. Team PillPal from Raffles Institution and Team Ebbys from River Valley High School claimed the first (cash prize of $3000) and second runner-up (cash prize of $1500) positions respectively.

Team StepCharger developed an energy-generating sole that will convert a person's footsteps into chargeable electricity. Convenient, mobile and integrated, StepCharger seeks to ease the frustration of limited battery power in mobile devices.

In addition, IE Singapore sponsored a special prize called the IE Internationalisation Award based on a team’s market insights and internationalisation strategy. Team CollaborART from Raffles Institution won the award (cash prize of $700) in the junior category, while Team Ebbys from River Valley High School did the same (cash prize of $1000) for the senior category.

SMU extends its heartiest congratulations to all the winners of the fourth edition of the Youth Innovation Challenge, and looks forward to greater participation by more secondary schools and junior colleges for next year’s competition.

[Featured photo: SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong presented the top prize to Team CollaborART from Raffles Institution which emerged as champions in the junior category at the SMU Youth Innovation Challenge 2016.]

For more information, please contact:

Teo Chang Ching (Mr)

Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communications

Office of Corporate Communications & Marketing

DID: 6828 0451

Email: ccteo [at] smu.edu.sg