The fourth Raspberry Pi school competition concluded with a festive ending, where four teams were awarded for their innovative and sustainable digital inventions.

After years of operation in the UK, PA Consulting brings the Raspberry Pi competition to our country in 2019. In this competition, VMBO, HAVO, VWO and MBO students from the age of 12 are challenged to realize inventions for social problems with small Raspberry Pi computers.

Just like last year, this competition was held in collaboration with House of Digital. This year, students are tasked with contributing to solutions that promote sustainability.

“With this competition, we want to give students the tools and skills to truly turn their social engagement with sustainability into action,” said Ernst Brand of PA Consulting.

Grand Final

Last week the final took place at Amersfoort. After interactive quizzes and crypto workshops, teams were given the opportunity to present their ideas to the jury in attendance.

The prize for the most creative invention was won by the Liedjestelefoon team from Gomarus College in Groningen. They won with their invention that should make the lives of people with dementia better – which the students also creatively colored outside the competition’s theme line.

The prize for the most worthy invention goes to the Raspberry Pie Team of Buurtcollege Agora Maas en Peel in Panningen (Limburg). The team, consisting of children aged 12 and 16, developed a CO2 meter to monitor air quality in classrooms. “An idea that in principle can be implemented tomorrow,” said the jury.

The award for the most impactful invention goes to the Smart Shower team, also from Gomarus College. This ingenious invention funnels shower water into, for example, a toilet reservoir when the temperature is not yet right. Thus, their invention saves a lot of liters per shower.

Finally, the Triple A prize (incentive prize for the best all-around player and on the rise) was awarded to Team I-SGH of Stedelijk Gymnasium Haarlem. Their smart home device – a combination of a water sensor and a mobile app – allows users to know exactly how much water they are using while showering or bathing. With this, the device increases the awareness of consumers about their water consumption.

“This is why we organize this competition,” said Mark Griep, chairman of the Dutch PA, during the awards ceremony. “Energy, the lessons you shared with us here. Because of what you’ve done, that’s what we do at PA Consulting too: solve problems through innovative collaboration. I hope you use your knowledge, skills and talents in your career to make our world a little more beautiful.”

The Raspberry Pi competition jury consisted of: Volkert Deen (Editor in Chief, AG Connect), Jet Lepage (Head of Processing Financial Obligations, UWV), Willem van Asperen (Chief Data Scientist, PA Consulting), Peter Toethuis (CIO, NN Leven ) , Rian van Heur (Director of Content, VHTO) and Wendy Vierveijzer (Criminal Judge in Gelderland).