The Science Fair Foundation BC has just announced the semi-finalists for the 2021 Youth Innovation Showcase competing for $5,000 in two age categories: 12 to 15 and 16 to 19. The showcase is now in its third year and has grown every year, with 71 projects submitted.
The Youth Innovation Showcase exists to help youth refine their innovative ideas and showcase their solutions to industry, academia and investors. Youth from all areas of BC and the Yukon are invited to take part in monthly virtual mentorship workshops, founder talks and site tours. The Showcase brings together experts from different innovative industries. Over the course of the year, youth can refine their ideas, products and pitches and submit them as a part of the 2021 Youth Innovation Showcase for a chance to win one of three $5,000 awards.
The semi-finalists in the 12 to 15 age category are:
Javeria Ali – Single Use Biodegradable Mask; Luc Austin – Carbon Capture; Sajan Bui – Microbial Fuel Cells; Keanu Chan – Novel universal Design Internal Spine Concept (NuDISC); Dianna Hu – Self-Watering Plant Pot; Harjas Kanwar – PürHydro; Ishan Leung – Stuck In The Middle With You: A Project About Crossing The Midline; Sathvik Vinnakota – The Kangaroo Distance Pouch; and Nathan Yeung – Hyperfocus: A New Kind of Timer.
The semi-finalists in the 16 to 19 age category are:
Jai Bhatia’s Lakebook: A Novel Application to Protect and Conserve Water Bodies With a Tap of a Finger; Timothy Cai – Reusable, Biodegradable, Custom-Fit Masks; Braxton Chan – Long-term Results of a Novel Surgical Procedure for Osteochondral Defects; Caio de Figueiroa – UV-C Sanitizing Box, Saving Lives and Keyboards Too; Kristina Garagan – Frilled Explorer Drone; Taya Lee – Recycling Oil from Contaminated Water using Azolla filiculoides to Create a Biodiesel Blend; Ruth Nahmad Hamui – CUBE; Hayden Persad – Development of a Pathogen Barrier Device For Use in Hands-Only CPR; Michela Stillwell and Antonia Tannert – Impact and Solution; Jessica Tang – A Novel Deep Reinforcement Learning Controller for Indoor Farming; William Zhang – Waterborne Partially Crosslinked Polyurethane as Textile Auxiliaries.
The semi-finalists will be taking part in interviews with judges with finalists announced May 21. Finalists will go through another round of judge interviews with winners announced at an awards show June 10.