Among the bright ideas: showerlight water –saving device for fitness centers, dog leashes integrating excrement collection, and recycling bank
Two students chosen to represent Israel at the International Finals in Serbia, April 2010.
The British Council, partnering with Bank Leumi, Junior Achievement [Israel], Microsoft and Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network recently launched the 2010 Skills@Work competition in high schools across the country.
This year’s competition will focus on environmental quality in daily life. More than 100 Israel Sci-Tech Schools students were offered the opportunity to improve our quality of life through original ideas for innovative products or services using advanced technology.
February 10th saw these students teamed up at Microsoft Israel headquarters, channeling their talents into designing products or services that could contribute to raising awareness and changing our daily lifestyle schedules. Their challenges were revealed to the students only on the actual competition day, necessitating creative thinking and problem solving within defined time limits. Senior Microsoft professionals joined the competing teams, contributing their time and expertise to build a viable business plan for each product.
The committee of judges was composed of representatives of the four sponsoring organizations; their task was to evaluate both the creative process and the business plan parameters, based upon criteria of quality, innovation and creativity. The committee noted the exceptionally high level of inventiveness, ultimately choosing the Showerlight gym shower, the dog leash with its in-built excrement bags, and the recycling bank as winning ideas.
Two members of the winning group will represent Israel at the international finals in Serbia, April 2010.
Over 100 competitors were chosen from among dozens of groups participating in the Doing Business program of Junior Achievement Israel, which is active in schools across the country – including 13 Israel Sci-Tech Schools.