Schneider Electric South Africa has hosted the Low-Technology Innovation competition, where the winners stand a chance to win €500 in prize money.
The competition was opened to students from Vaal University of Technology (VUT), the only university in South Africa with a science and technology park.
The Low-Technology Innovation competition is in partnership with the Schneider Electric Foundation and Nomade des Mers Expedition.
Launched by the Low-Tech Lab, the Nomade des Mers expedition is a three-year sailing expedition around the world to promote, test and prototype low-technologies, as well as to develop the international low-tech stakeholder and user community.
Low-technologies, also known as appropriate or frugal technologies, are simple DIY systems that meet basic needs such as access to water, energy and food.
With many homes still using fuel-based lighting solutions including candles and kerosene lamps – the innovation from the students is expected to help solve problems impacting South Africans today.
The students, in teams of up to 3 members per team – have been challenged to create a low-tech environmentally friendly innovation using natural, recycled, used or new components to provide a lighting solution.
Students assembled their low-tech lighiting solution and showcased how it works in an hour – and with the panel of judges adjudicating, the winners were announced.
Nomade des Mers Expedition
Launched by the Low-Tech Lab, the Nomade des Mers expedition is a three-year sailing expedition around the world to promote, test and prototype low-technologies, as well as to develop the international low-tech stakeholder and user community.
Low-technologies, also known as appropriate or frugal technologies, are simple DIY systems that meet basic needs such as access to water, energy and food.
The crew of Nomade des Mers is therefore experimenting self-sustainability on a boat thanks to those systems.
At each stopover the crew is organising workshops and conferences to share knowledge about technologies. T
hey also meet with local inventors who developed low-tech systems to tackle issues in their community.
Each discovered system is then tested on the boat and documented in order to share it online on the Low-Tech Lab website.
The nal goal is to create a global database of low-tech systems as well as a global community of designers, engineers and handymen to work collaboratively on the improvement of existing systems or to solve eld issues raised by partner NGOs.
Schneider Electric Foundation
Schneider Electric is building sustainable communities through energy knowledge and leadership thanks to the Schneider Electric Foundation.
Its aim is to contribute to the development of people and societies through education, innovation, aware- ness-raising and vocational training related to energy.
It acts anywhere in the world where the company is present, through its three programs – Access to Energy, Tackling Fuel Poverty and Sustainability Awareness.
The Schneider Electric Foundation supports the Nomade de Mers Expedition as part of their Sustainable Awareness program.