ESTDEV recognises this year’s top young inventors

At the Estonian Research Council’s National Contest for Young Inventors, five student inventors received special recognition from ESTDEV for inventions supporting sustainable development and a sustainable way of life. ESTDEV project manager Annika Leek presented the awards.

The youngest laureate of the ESTDEV prize was Simona Strauss, a second-grade student at Pääsküla School in Tallinn. She invented a frog robot to help frogs cross the road. Leek said that Simona’s project makes us more aware of ways we can protect wildlife. “This inventor has used her personal desire to contribute to improving frog populations by coming up with a solution to use robots to assist with frog migration. It’s worth recognising the way she has linked her knowledge of robotics to a potential solution,” said Leek.

Two fourth-grade inventors won awards for their garbage-themed inventions. Minni Laugen, a student at Saku Gymnasium, invented a smart trash can. According to Leek, “This invention helps garbage companies and municipalities better assess the amount of garbage and plan its handling and recycling more efficiently.”

The other fourth-grade prize winner was Karmen Roht from Viljandi Jakobson School, who invented a garbage compactor to draw attention to packaging problems. According to Leek, this simple idea can be made from readily available tools, and it helps solve global challenges while also addressing the topic of overconsumption within the family.

Aksel Otsing, a seventh-grade student at Tõrva Gymnasium, received an ESTDEV award for his courage app. This app brings together students, teachers and support specialists to address the topic of bullying. According to Leek, this app helps students develop empathy and understand other people’s thoughts, feelings and needs.

A high school senior at Hugo Treffner Gymnasium, Annika Rääbis, tackled one of the world’s biggest problems — food waste. She received an award for inventing a mould growth-inhibiting product for food preservation. “This invention addresses global food security, malnutrition and hunger since about half of the food produced in the world is thrown away either at home or during production, transportation or sale,” said Leek. “This novel invention is simple and easy to implement.”

ESTDEV’s advisor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Kristel Rillo, said that the awareness young people have in Estonia of environmental problems and their desire to solve them is admirable, adding that creating solutions to solve climate problems is an important part of development cooperation. “I am convinced that the combination of cleverness, creativity and entrepreneurship among young people in Estonia will create new unicorns who will contribute to the green revolution,” said Rillo.

The Estonian Research Council gave awards to 37 student inventors and their 29 inventions. They also recognised the supervisors of the first- and second-prize winners with additional awards.

A total of 536 young inventors from 88 schools, kindergartens and hobby schools participated in the National Contest for Young Inventors, submitting 406 inventions offering solutions to everyday problems. The inventions were evaluated by a committee of experts, which included engineers, designers, inventors, teachers, patent officers and others.

Photos of the event can be found here.