The Scientific Research Council continues to laud over 20 students who were recently recognised for their innovative entries in the 2022/2023 Young Inventors and Innovators Competition (YIIC).

Hosted annually by the SRC, the YIIC helps students to develop an appreciation of key scientific and technological principles and processes.

During the 2022/2023 staging, under the theme ‘Youth-centred Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development’, students across the island were able to pitch their ideas to tackle some of Jamaica’s greatest challenges in health and infectious diseases, energy and environmental sustainability, digitisation and mobile technology, and agriculture and food.

Dr Charah Watson, executive director of the SRC, said YIIC is one of several initiatives the council has undertaken to engender a culture of innovation in Jamaica, especially among the youth.

“Through YIIC, we would have piqued the students’ interest in not just creating solutions but also in entrepreneurship, to ensure they are also thinking of how to their get ideas to market,” she told JIS News.

The competition is open to students in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, who are encouraged to develop innovative solutions of some of the nation’s problems and are assisted to commercialise their ideas.

In addition to the team at the SRC, the participants were supported by science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) ambassadors.

YIIC awardees were recognised at a ceremony held on May 2 at the SRC’s Hope Gardens headquarters in St Andrew.