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Calling young innovators! #YIS2020 wants your big ideas for a better tomorrow!

Submit your 30-second selfie video before April 30!
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Mac Dykeman presented her chick shipping container at the 2019 Youth Innovation Showcase. Submit your innovation for a chance to present at the 2020 Showcase!

Have an idea for the next ‘big thing?’ Think you can improve an existing system? Pssst…. You don’t need to be an established innovator to make that a reality! Reach out, Science Fair Foundation of BC wants to hear from you!

While on her family farm in Abbotsford, 13-year-old Mac Dykeman realized something needed to be done about the injury and mortality rates of baby chicks in transport. So she set out to design a better shipping container to keep day-old chicks warmer and protected from being crushed. That cardboard container idea made her one of five finalists to present at the 2019 #BCTECHSummit. Since presenting, Mac has been working with the Ministry of Agriculture to make her shipping container standard practice and save lives!

Innovation opportunities aren’t limited by geography or resources

Science and technology advancements happen all around us and you don’t have to have deep funding or live in a large urban centre like Silicon Valley to make a difference. Your technology could be inexpensive, like Dykeman’s cardboard chick shipping container; use chemistry, like Prince Rupert’s Aaliyah Mahboubi, who developed a system to harvest electricity from bog bacteria; or improve healthcare, like Victoria’s Nicolas Fedrigo, who redefined Spinal Fusion procedures.

“The innovators last year blew my mind,” says Madeleine Guenette, Executive Director of the Science Fair Foundation of BC. 19-year-old grand prize winner Ray Liu redeveloped 3D printing to reduce waste, while 17-year-old Natasha Burgert got us moving with a solar-powered transportation alternative.

Invention vs. innovation: what’s the difference?

Where invention creates products or processes from scratch, innovation takes existing inventions and improves them or seeks new uses for the technology. Look around you. Is there something you use in your everyday life that doesn’t work as well as it could? Through research, experiments, and problem-solving, you can make it better!

Submit your idea to the 2020 Youth Innovation Showcase for mentorship, workshops and industry engagement while vying for a place on stage to pitch your innovation live in Vancouver. Finalists get to pitch to industry, investors and supporters in June.

“We encourage young people from across the province and Yukon to flex their creative muscles and think beyond science stereotypes. Maybe your innovation is making things more accessible or using existing technology in a new way. Science really is for everyone!” Guenette says.

Submitting your idea is simple! Fill out and submit the online registration form and a 30-second cellphone selfie video to kick things off.

Your selfie video should include:

  • Your name
  • Where you’re from
  • Your age
  • Your brilliant innovation
  • What makes your innovation special, and a perfect choice for the Showcase

“Show us you’re enthusiastic about your solution!” Guenette says. “Show us why it’s important, and why it’s important to YOU.”

The deadline is fast approaching to enter this year’s showcase. Start working on your video today! You have until April 30 to register and submit your selfie video. Finalists will be announced in May for the June Showcase in Vancouver. Entrants will be judged in three separate age categories: ages 12-15, ages 16-19, and ages 20-24. Visit facebook.com/sciencefairs for tips and inspiration!

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Prince Rupert’s Aaliyah Mahboubi (left) explaining her microbe-powered mobile energy innovation (pictured behind her). Submit your selfie video for a chance to present at this year’s Youth Innovation Showcase!