The sixth edition of the Youth Innovation Challenge, organised by the Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE) at Singapore Management University (SMU), came to a successful conclusion on 21 April 2018 with Queensway Secondary and Hwa Chong Institution emerging tops in the Junior and Senior category respectively.

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.

year, a total of 77 teams (277 participants) from 26 schools participated in the competition. The secondary schools were grouped under the Junior category, while junior colleges, centralised institute and Institute of Technical Education were grouped under the Senior category.

The competition theme was Smart Cities, in line with Singapore’s move to become a Smart Nation by harnessing technology to improve living, create economic opportunity and build a closer community.

Mr Hau Koh Foo, Director of IIE, said, “Innovation and Entrepreneurship is one of the Areas of Excellence at SMU. To spread the entrepreneurial spirit and support young innovators and entrepreneurs, the competition will empower youths in Singapore to showcase their talents, meet other like-minded youths, and learn more about Smart Cities.

“With the conclusion of another successful edition of the Youth Innovation Challenge, we are proud to note that this year has seen an exceptionally high participation rate from youths in Singapore. The spirit of entrepreneurship is growing amongst youths and we are happy that the Challenge offers them the opportunity to nurture their talent and kickstart their entrepreneurship journey. We hope the Challenge will continue to inspire youths to think entrepreneurially and be more aware of the various Smart City-related innovations in our daily lives.”

The semi-finalist teams attended a full-day Design Thinking and Lean Startup Methodology Workshop conducted by co-organiser Reactor Industries on 7 April 2018 during which the teams learned how to ideate through a comprehensive framework and methodology, and to turn their ideas into a lean business model canvas.

On 14 April 2018, the teams refined their ideas and presented them to SMU alumni who are established entrepreneurs and business owners. The feedback and mentoring provided by the SMU alumni were useful in helping the teams strengthen their business pitch.

The Semi Finals and Grand Finals took place on 21 April 2018. After an intense round of pitching in the morning, the top seven teams from each category were selected for the Grand Finals held in the Mochtar Riady Auditorium.

The judging panel for the Grand Finals comprised of Elim Chew, Founder of 77th Street, David Yin, Business Development Manager at Google, James Bitanga, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Joint Ventures of REAPRA, Delbert Ty, Head of Marketing for Circles.Life, and Teng Yun Wei, Student Venture Capitalist (SMU) from Protege Ventures.

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

Caption: Ms Elim Chew, Founder of 77th Street and a member of the judging panel, presented the top prize for the Junior Category to Queensway Secondary.

In the Junior Category, Ecoworld from Queensway Secondary emerged as champions and walked away with $2,500. They came up with the idea of biodegradable food packaging that has dining utensils embedded in the lid of the box, hence the name ‘EcoBOX’.

Caption: Team Headers from Hwa Chong Institution, who won the Senior Category, received their award from Professor Gerard George, Dean of SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business.

For the Senior Category, Team Headers from Hwa Chong Institution clinched the top position and took home $4,000. Called ‘The Butler’, the team came up with a pressure-based smart sensor for inventory tracking in refrigerators. The data can be synced to the users’ device to alert them of items that need replenishing.

The other winners were:

Junior Category

Senior Category

SMU extends its heartiest congratulations to all the winners and looks forward to greater participation by more secondary schools and junior colleges for next year’s competition.

We would like to thank all the teachers, judges, mentors, participants who took their time to help make this event a tremendous success.

For more information about the Youth Innovation Challenge, please visit https://smu.sg/yic2018.

[Featured photo: The top seven teams from the Junior and Senior categories with Professor Gerard George, Dean of SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business, at the 6th Youth Innovation Challenge organised by IIE.]