National Sci – Tech Challenge Competition

Students suggest green ideas for e – commerce

 

On Thursday, April 22, the first National Sci-Tech Challenge was organized by Junior Achievement Cyprus and ExxonMobil Cyprus. The competition has been held in Europe for 10 years with the participation of more than 60,000 students so far. The aim of the program is to inspire students to consider Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses at the tertiary level and to enable them to understand the wide variety of careers they can pursue through STEM education while leveraging their talents. 

Students from 5 schools in Cyprus had only a few hours to work in groups and propose solutions for the growing use of e-commerce as a consequence of the pandemic, which are environmentally friendly and at the same time consumer friendly. The whole process of developing the ideas was supported by volunteer mentors from ExxonMobil. The winning team that will represent Cyprus in the European Sci-Tech Challenge on May 19-20 was the team of “The Heritage Private School” with students Alexandra Haritaki, Adam Alon, Marino Iliadis, Panagiotis Pappou and Trajan Nader and responsible professor Mr. Petros Panagis “. The team presented a self-financing and environmentally friendly package delivery system via electronic drones and trucks, as well as ways to save space in the distribution channels. The system presented by the students was based on heat engines that generate electricity by isothermal expansion of sodium ions, also known as Na-Tec technology. The second prize was won by the students Kyriakos Dimitriou, Alexandros Kitromilidis, Christos Kladeftiras and Panagiotis Kyprianou of Olympion School, while the third prize was won by Li Zezheng, Halla Zowayad, Agapi Georgiou, Andreas Beasley and Brandon Silver of Silverline School. 

Speaking about the program, the President and CEO of ExxonMobil Cyprus Varnavas Theodossiou stated “New technologies and innovative ideas will be crucial to address the energy challenges of the future.  Supporting the development of STEM skills among young people through programs such as the Sci-Tech Challenge is therefore vital to achieving Europe’s climate goals.”  The Chairman of the Board of Junior Achievement Cyprus, Andreas Papadopoulos, indicated “The least we can do as adults who are responsible for the current unfavourable situation on our planet is to raise awareness, encourage and give the right tools to our young people to meet the challenges on the issue of climate change.”