Belonie school team 1 grand winner of Young Innovators Challenge   |27 December 2022

The winners in a souvenir photograph with guests

Team 1 of Belonie secondary was the grand winner of the first ever Young Innovators Challenge organised by the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, while the outstanding performer award went to Joy Holder from Anse Boileau secondary.

Second place was awarded to Anse Boileau team 1 followed by Belonie team 2 in third position. For this first challenge only five teams from three schools participated – Anse Boileau secondary, Belonie secondary and Independent School

The winning team composed of Adelle Bristol, Kelly Esparon, Adrielle De-Letourdie and Jassim Surman felt quite shocked when they heard their name. “Everyone chipped in their ideas and our main objective was to present a project to make the airport sustainable and not causing any damage to the environment,” explained Jassim.

The team received six tickets to any Air Seychelles’ international destination sponsored by Air Seychelles, a cash prize worth R25,000 sponsored by the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, (SCAA), a shield and certificates.

Joy Holder was also shocked to receive the outstanding performer award. “I am in S2 and at the beginning I did not have much confidence in myself. But while doing the project I developed the confidence and I am happy that now I can be a model for all my other friends. Our team also won the second prize and we presented a project using waste management and renewable energy.”

The second place winners received a shield, certificates, a cash prize of R15,000 from SCAA and a voucher for a 15-minute scenic flight sponsored by Zil Air.

The third prize winner ‒ Belonie Team 2 ‒won a cash prize of R10,000 sponsored by SCAA,  and fourth-placed Independent School and fifth-placed Anse Boileau Team 2 each won a cash prize of R5,000 sponsored by SCAA. The fourth place winners also received an addition of R5000 sponsored by Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec).

Chairman of the SCAA board, Marlon Orr explained that the aim of this competition was to present the youth of Seychelles with an opportunity to identify green innovative solutions for our airport.  “They are, after all, the ones who will inherit this most important structure which connects Seychelles to the world. Their voice and ideas on its sustainable development is therefore very important. We are very proud to stand here today to celebrate their ingenuity, creativity and forward-thinking. Through the different projects presented, we are now reassured that the airport of the future will be in very good hands.  The airport of the future, as envisioned by our youth aligns, with the vision of the global aviation community who aspires for a carbon neutral growth. SCAA led by the Minister for Transport is one of the proponents of the long-term aspirational goals for sustainable growth of the aviation industry,” said Mr Orr.

Director general within the department of science, technology and innovation Xavier Estico added that “the aviation industry is one of the most important mobility industries in the world. However, it is also a significant carbon emitter to our atmosphere and a contributor to global warming. To curb the level of carbon emission as demand for air travel increases, many ICAO member states have agreed to concentrate their aviation environmental collaboration on three core areas: Climate change and aviation emissions, Aircraft noise, and local air quality. The SCAA has endorsed this commitment through this challenge bringing awareness and sensitization to our schools. The schools are the cradle of young innovators and you are the future cadres that will be continuing the long process of greening the aviation industry,” said Mr Orr.

The competition was launched by the SCAA in collaboration with the department of science technology and innovation in June this year. The aim of the competition was to encourage students from secondary and post-secondary levels to identify eco-friendly initiative/ green innovative solutions to be implemented at the airport. This follows recent development on the continuous increase in CO² emissions from international aviation. The sector currently accounts for more than 2% of the global emissions. This number is likely to increase with the continuous demand in air travel. Therefore, drastic measures need to be implemented to mitigate the adverse effect this may have on the environment.

 Through this challenge, SCAA wanted to provide students with the opportunity to identify solutions to achieve a green airport and make use of these ideas at the airport.

To do so, participants had to present their green solutions through the submission of a prototype or a maquette, additionally prepare a power point presentation to explain the green solution.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Louis Toussaint