Winners Crowned as Samsung’s Most Promising Tech Innovators for the Future in ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ UK Programme

Samuel Mo and Dexter Rigby of team Optimum, alongside Anjali Benny Devadasan and Yu Gu of team Treeva, have won Samsung’s fourth national UK Solve for Tomorrow Competition, in their 16-18 and 18-25 categories, which aims to foster and encourage the best innovation across the UK and Ireland

The winning ideas focused on creating renewable energy from passing cars and using AI to reduce the energy used by home devices. Both teams received a £10,000 cash prize, alongside three months of expert mentoring to help bring their ideas to life

Nearly 600 young innovators entered this year’s competition, with finalists including submissions like AI assisted smart glasses, a wearable device to improve the quality of life for stroke victims and a home communication device to reduce loneliness

LONDON, UK – 27^th June 2024 – Samsung Electronics Co. (UK) Ltd has announced the winners of its fourth annual Solve for Tomorrow competition. The competition uncovers the most promising tech invention from young people by asking 16-25 year olds to come up with ideas that help solve societal challenges.

In the 16-18 category, Samuel Mo (16) and Dexter Rigby (17) of team Optimum were announced as the winners. In the 18-25 category, Anjali Benny Devadasan and Yu Gu of team Treeva, both 22, were announced in first place. Both teams took home the £10,000 prize pots alongside three months of further Samsung mentoring and support.

Samuel and Dexter’s winning submission was a mobile app that uses AI to schedule when smart devices need to use their energy. Then, when scheduled, the app also helps ensure the energy is from renewable sources – helping to phase out fossil fuels.

Anjali and Yu’s winning submission is a windmill style device that generates energy from passing vehicles on roads to provide affordable reliable power and help create safe net zero transport systems.

This year’s awards focused on themes of Education, Health & Wellbeing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Sustainability. Originally judged by a panel of Samsung colleagues and tech-for-good founders, nearly 600 applicants from across the country were whittled down to a shortlist of 24 teams in January.

In line with the programme’s objectives of encouraging people from diverse backgrounds to pursue their passion in technology, of the near 600 entries, 59% were from BAME or mixed ethnic backgrounds, and 60% of the final 24 were female – a 21% uptick from the previous year.

These 24 teams took part in six weeks of design thinking, market research and a newly introduced physical and digital prototyping workshop to bring their designs to life. Led by industry experts, teams were guided with additional support from on-to-one Samsung mentoring, before ten finalists were chosen for the penultimate stage for three weeks of further training on pitching and funding for their potential businesses. Finally, a panel of senior Samsung colleagues and external experts selected the category winners following an in-person pitch and presentation day.

Speaking about the winners, Soohyun Jessie Park, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Samsung Electronics UK said: “In its fourth year, Solve for Tomorrow has fostered another set of potentially game-changing ideas to help our participants take their next steps. It’s a tribute to the enthusiasm, innovation and commitment of our finalists that they’ve managed to yet again raise the bar. Congratulations to Anjali, Yu, Samuel and Dexter, for winning, as well as all our participants who entered. We’ll be back next year, and we can’t wait to see another set of outstanding ideas take a step closer to reality.”

Dexter Rigby, from team Optimum, said: “It’s been a really great opportunity, and it feels even more exciting now. We thought the pitch went well and we are glad to be involved – and of course to have won! We’ve been at school together for the past five years and have a strong shared interest in technology and making a difference. We found out about the programme through our school and thought we’d enter. The process has been really interesting, we’ve got to speak to investors and many different tech entrepreneurs, and it’s been very thorough in helping us to develop our idea too.”

Anjali Benny Devadasan, from team Treeva, said: “This has been an incredible surprise and we’re super excited to win this; we’re so grateful for the support from the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow team and all the mentors who supported us along the way. The inspiration for our entry is close to my heart as we were inspired to help mitigate climate change after my family were affected by flash floods in Kerala. It means a lot to be able to push forward our idea to generate energy from passing cars. We both have a background in engineering, so we can’t wait to progress this idea further and, with this prize, we’ll be able to start working on pilots and with different transport companies. This amazing support will help us turn the idea we had into a reality.”

The Solve for Tomorrow programme exists to prove that young people from all walks of life can come up with ideas that can make a difference in the world through the use of technology. Our partnerships with organisations like InnovateHer and the Social Mobility Foundation are critical to achieving this mission as we focus on engaging more young people that aren’t currently in education, employment or training.

Entries for next years’ Solve for Tomorrow competition will open in early October.

For more information on Solve for Tomorrow visit: https://www.samsung.com/uk/solvefortomorrow/