Showcasing how youth can make a difference in the world, the winners of the 2009 Invent Your World Challenge are already hard at work showing off their inventions.
Overall winner Javier Fernández-Han, 15, and his VERSATILE system has been featured in a variety of news articles, including Inhabitant.com and Instructables.com. The VERSATILE system is an algae-powered energy system combining a dozen new and existing technologies to treat waste, produce methane and bio-oil for fuel, produce food for humans and livestock, sequester greenhouse gases, and produce oxygen. Recently, Berkeley Lab reports on young Fernández-Han meeting with environmental energy scientist (and Lemelson Foundation Advisory Committee member) Ashok Gadgil and how 6 years ago Gadgil inspired Fernández-Han into inventing for those living in poverty.
About the Invent Your World Challenge
Invent Your World is a partnership between Ashoka GenV and the Lemelson Foundation to inspire and support a new generation of inventors in using technology to create positive social change.
In that spirit, Invent Your World asked young inventors what they could invent to make life easier, the planet greener, and the world better? The Invent Your World Challenge awarded support to 50 young inventors in using their inventions to create positive change – by providing mentorship, seed funding, networking opportunities, and even a $20,000 scholarship.