When a global innovation contest was brought to the attention of Loxley Browne, Athena Racing Founder, Browne immediately entered her young all-female team to compete in this global competition. The Ingenuity Cup started with eleven teams and has now been shortlisted to six. For the past forty days, the collaborative learning experience provided by Blue Callom has seen competing teams assist each other and their goals to innovate.
“As a student on the build team, I am learning what it takes and how much effort is involved in taking an idea from concept to market,” said Mihima Tiwari, a proud Athenian. “It’s extremely fun and exciting to learn with a hands-on methodology because I actually get to do things and get my hands dirty.”
As the only team composed of middle and high school students along with a few college interns, Athena Racing’s team is now shortlisted to pitch in the global competition on Tuesday, June 22.
“The work that our students have accomplished in this 40-day competition is truly showing them what it takes to create a company from concept to viable product,” noted Browne. “Our team has been there working diligently to bring this product to life. On May 5 this was just an idea, we now have a working prototype and are seeking seed capital to take it to market. Our education innovation will change and improve lives in the same way the personal computer did when it was introduced to the world in the 90’s.”
From concept to market in such a short amount of time has been an eye-opening experience for this teenage team.
“It has been an amazing experience to come up with an idea and see it actually come to life,” said Akshaya, a 10th grader on the Athena Racing team. “Working together, we have discovered adjustments as we have built our prototype that improves the performance. We are all learning by innovationing and coming up with new ideas! Being able to build this has helped me learn so much more and I have been able to get so much hands-on experience! The fact that we can build something out of absolutely nothing is honestly surreal!”
“We are very excited to have some of the youngest innovators in the World Innovations Forum 2021 Ingenuity Cup,” said Chairman, Axel Shultze. “Thanks to Athena Racing, who are helping children develop their cognitive abilities rather than just become a human robot with the conventional ‘Learn & Repeat’ model.”
On June 22, a global community of VCs, industry experts and entrepreneurs, will come together virtually to support and evaluate the next generation of innovators. Teams will pitch their start-ups and it will be up to judges and the public to determine who will win the prestigious Ingenuity Cup, the cash prize, and the opportunity to compete for the 2025 Space Award.
