A student team from Palawan National School brought home the grand prize in the recently concluded Shell NXplorers: The Bright Ideas Challenge (TBIC) for their revolutionary agricultural innovation concept which seeks to address the three problems in agriculture — surplus, shortage, and supply of produce.
Team FarmHer Innovators’ project consists of the Veggie Crate Tracker which measures the weight and freshness of produce and the Mark-It App that notifies the market vendors about the description of the harvests and tracks the surplus and shortage in each cluster.
“Our project aims to solve three problems that we have identified through our ocular surveys and observations in our community,” said Anna Leonora Rodriguez, a member of the all-women team.
FarmHer Innovators received P100,000 while the school received P 50,000 to improve their STEM program.
Meanwhile, Team Maomag from Tagbilaran City Science High School in Bohol was the first runner-up, taking home P70,000 while the school received P35,000.
Team Maomag’s project converts seawater into drinking water. This prototype incorporates rotating mesh panels inside the container to increase the rate of condensation from the water vapor.
The second runner-up team, Team Portabio from Gusa Regional Science High School in Cagayan de Oro showed the possibility of creating a portable power bank using wasted food as an energy source. For their efforts, they took home P50,000 and their school also received P25,000.
One of the teams that received the Merit Award and received P20,000 are Team Intellihenyo from Philippine Science High School- Cagayan Valley Campus in Nueva Vizcaya.
Their project is a device that can remotely control electrical appliances at home, anywhere, and using any gadget with Internet access. The project can measure how much electricity is being used by an appliance. The appliance can then be remotely switched on or off using the messaging app Telegram.
Another team given the Merit Award is from the province of Palawan, Team Thinkerbells from Puerto Princesa City National Science High School who developed cement utilizing discarded seashells as replacements for the raw materials, such as limestone, used in traditional cement production.
This year, Shell NXplorers gathered ten teams identified as finalists out of the 30 that sent their proposals. Each team focused on solving food, water, and energy problems through innovative projects that are made sustainably.
Among the panel of judges were Business Advisor for the Office of the Country Chair of Shell companies in the Philippines, Paulo Gavino, Sustainability Manager for Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Stanley Siahetiong, Senior Education Program Specialist of the Department of Education (DepEd), Eliza Peralta, Program Director of the Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), Zen Dimalanta, and the Senior Science Research Specialist of Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Engr. Marvin Dela Cruz.
“To our participants today, you are this country’s next generation of scientists and engineers. Equipping yourselves with strength in these subjects is tantamount to possessing the power to change the world. Serge Bernal, Vice President for Corporate Relations of Shell Pilipinas Corporation said. “I look to you to use that strength to become changemakers that help the Philippines and the world move forward.”
