Siberian students experienced innovative brainstorming

All-Siberian Innovation Student Competition took place at the end of April in Academpark. It is the second time Novosibirsk State University carries out such an event. Students, post graduates and young researchers were offered to create a gadget to facilitate learning or to develop a concept of an innovative club within two hours, the press service of the NSU reports. Participants believe that problem solution is not uncurious.

The Competition was held in two rounds. 3,000 people participated in the first, correspondence, round. To begin with, the organizers asked them to invent the ways of emergency braking, air purification from dust and soot, removing the ice slick from the steps’ surfaces, creation of briquettes for student feeding, to develop the idea of a smart street in terms of energy and resources saving, and many other conceptual problems.

We went to the streets, marked what was missing, drew attention to the problems that people face every day - and came up with the tasks for the competition. They are designed for participants with no special education, it is just necessary to be able to invent interesting solutions. The ideas themselves are not very much important for us, it is the ability to generate them which is essential. This is the main benefit of the Competition - Vadim Polyuga, the manager, outlined the main purpose of the innovation quest.

Less than 50 participants passed to the on-site round. They showed their creativity in Academpark: they invented a gadget to facilitate learning and developed the concept of an innovative club.

Sergei Kobtsev, the Head of NSU Innovation Development Center noted that novelty and originality are important for the solution of the problem, and the most important is the feasibility of ideas. He also asked the participants to pay attention to the barriers preventing the project appear right now.
No humanists among the participants were observed, but the organizers said that participation is not limited to technical skills: if a student has education in humanities and he is able to create such projects, he has all the chances to win.

The jury remained content by the suggested solutions of the Competition problems. Smart-hand helping to monitor the concentration of attention in class, smart desk, showing the teacher the papers of all students in the classroom on a single screen, a pen that can reformat the notes in a digital format.
These and many other projects were invented by the participants within just two hours and a half. Probably in a few years, we will not be able to imagine our lives without these gadgets.

The winner of the All-Siberian Innovation Student Competition was the team of Alexei Levshakov (the cash prize amounted to 100,000 RUR). The third place was shared by the teams of Nina Andreyeva and Mark Seleznev (the cash prize comprised 50,000 for each team).