KUCHING: The innovative solution by four Swinburne students towards solving the global ocean crisis has placed them in the winning shortlist of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Global Challenge for the year 2018/2019.
The IET Global Challenge is an exciting competition for teams of young innovators aged 18 to 35 to solve real world problems using their engineering, technical, and commercial skills.
This year, the competition partnered with two charities, Greenpeace and GreenSeas Trust, to challenge contestants in developing ideas towards engineering a better future for the world’s oceans.
Swinburne’s team KaBoom, comprising engineering students Lee Zhe Wei, Jason Pei Shun Fui and Chua Wei Long, as well as biotechnology student Gan Ger Yuan, competed against 150 entrants worldwide in the competition.
Among the four entrants shortlisted under the Greenpeace challenge was KaBoom’s proposal titled “Liquid Product Dispensing Machine and its Transportation System”.
The team’s solution which utilises new technologies and alternative delivery systems to reduce single-use plastic packaging successfully advanced the team to the final stage of the competition.
In the first round, teams were evaluated by the judging panel based on the technical feasibility, efficiency, innovation and commercial viability of the proposals, and the quality of their submissions.
For the final stage to be held in August, teams will be judged on an elevator pitch and thereafter, celebrated at the IET Innovation Awards on November 13 at The Brewery, London.
Although KaBoom’s members are from different disciplines, they were gathered by their common goal to lend a hand in the conservation of the environment and solve one of the world’s major problems in the oceans.
