On Thursday 28 June, five Bedlington Academy Sixth Form students headed to the UK Space Agency event, SatelLife, to present their winning idea to a panel of experts in a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style event.
Megan Goss, Jasmine Hurley, Kieron Robson, Matthew Jones and Jack Whinnom form Team Higgs. They won £5,000 in a national competition in April after developing an idea about using satellites to benefit humans. The idea called ‘Displaced Persons Aid’ focusses on the aftermath of a natural disaster. Many people who are forced to leave their home are overlooked while people who are injured are supported. Their idea was to make an app and a website that tracks people who register themselves as being displaced using GPS signals to a satellite, enabling them to find places they can go for safety, support, food and supplies.
Miss Windass commented: “They really have done exceptionally well as this was a national campaign open to all age groups, including adults.”
The event, held at the Satellite Applications Catapult Offices in Didcot Oxfordshire, allowed the team to gain valued feedback from specialists in business, space and space applications to help further develop their idea.
"Participating in the event was amazing, we met lots of inspiring people who gave us tips on how to develop our idea in order to produce a working product.” - Megan Goss
“It was a fantastic opportunity to hear real feedback from industry experts.” - Jasmine Hurley
“The expert advice was helpful. We appreciated how in-depth the feedback was, it could be used to eventually make our project a reality.” - Kieron Robson
“The experience was incredible. It was great to learn about how science could be used to help people in need and also to make a profit.” - Matthew Jones
“It was a very good experience, it was great to hear about the other innovative ideas.” - Jack Whinnom
Congratulations Team Higgs!