Wales future inventors recognised at 21st annual Innovation Awards

Budding inventors from across Wales were recognised for their exceptional creations at this year’s WJEC Innovation Awards ceremony at the Pierhead Building.

Lucy Clarke, 16, from Howells School in Llandaff won the CAD/CAM prize (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing) for her invention to help refill large water bottles.

Welsh inventors have been instrumental in bringing the world some of its most game-changing inventions including the modern microphone, X-ray and radar technology. The annual Innovation Awards, in partnership with the Welsh Government, aims to encourage future generations to continue this legacy by challenging the design of everyday products and services, and finding innovative solutions to problems we face each day.

Lucy said: “My friends and I have become really conscious of how much plastic we use, so I wanted to create a product which would help tackle plastic pollution.

“We often found that water bottles, whether they were durable or single-use plastic, were really difficult to refill and so a lot of people end up buying new bottles of water instead of sticking to one.

“My design used 3D printing to create a new bottle top which would sit in any kind of single-use plastic bottle and could then be extended to bend to the shape of the gap between the bottle and the tap. It means that no matter what size or shape your water bottle is, you can be sure that it can be re-filled anywhere.

“The product is so easy to use, and so if it went to market I feel like it would become popular among people of all ages who want to do their bit to help reduce our plastic waste.

“I was so excited to win the CAD award as I really enjoy working with 3D printing, my teachers were so supportive, and I couldn’t be happier with the finished design.”

Other awards went to Jack Hughson for his Fencing Pro device to help farmers be more efficient, Q Misell for their ingenious recycling bin design, Morgan Rhys Clewer-Evans for his farmgate safety device and Amy Owen for her interactive activity book encouraging young people to grow sunflowers.

GCSE Prize

Budding inventors from across Wales were recognised for their exceptional creations at this year’s WJEC Innovation Awards ceremony at the Pierhead Building.

Q Misell, 16, from Ysgol Bro Edern in Penylan won the GCSE prize for their smart recycling bin, which allowed people to scan the barcode on their rubbish to see which recycling bin they should use.

Welsh inventors have been instrumental in bringing the world some of its most game-changing inventions including the modern microphone, X-ray and radar technology. The annual Innovation Awards, in partnership with the Welsh Government, aims to encourage future generations to continue this legacy by challenging the design of everyday products and services, and finding innovative solutions to problems we face each day.

Q said: “Given the climate emergency we’re in, I knew straight away that I wanted to create something which would help people protect our environment.

“It bothered me that recycling can be confusing to people who didn’t know what they could or couldn’t recycle in their local council, and I felt like it could risk putting some people off recycling altogether. Labels may say ‘widely recycled’, but many people aren’t sure how they’re supposed to recycle different materials.

“To try and solve this, I went through extensive research and created a database of objects such as plastic bottles, tin cans and packaging, making a note of each individual barcode.

“I then fitted an old webcam to a smart screen, and coded the two of them to read the barcode, show the user which bin their object should go into by writing appearing on the screen, and I also wired the device up to some lights so that the corresponding section of the bin would flash.”

The Innovation Awards, in partnership with the Welsh Government, recognise the most original project work by students studying Design and Technology and all these designs were formulated in class taking into consideration product testing, market research along with production.

Q continued: “Overall, I wanted to simplify recycling for everyone in Wales so that anyone could walk up to a bin, scan their product and then know instantly where it should be placed. In the future, I see that this product could even be connected up to an app and you could have competitions between friends and neighbours to see who has done the most recycling that week – making it fun could encourage even more people to take part and make Wales even greener.”

Other awards went to Jack Hughson for his Fencing Pro device to help farmers be more efficient, Thomas Jenkins for his design which solved the problem of how to move stacked chairs, Lucy Clarke for her aid for refilling large water bottles, Morgan Rhys Clewer-Evans for his farmgate safety device and Amy Owen for her interactive activity book encouraging young people to grow sunflowers.

This year’s awards ceremony at The Pierhead Building was attended by students, parents and teachers who came along to see the most original project work by students studying Design and Technology at GCSE, AS and A level.