The fourth Raspberry Pi schools competition ended with a festive final, where four teams won prizes for their innovative and sustainable digital inventions.

After years of operating in the UK, PA Consulting brought the Raspberry Pi competition to our shores in 2019. In this competition, 12 year old VMBO, HAVO, VWO and MBO students were challenged to realize inventions for social issues using tiny Raspberry Pi computers .

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

“Through this competition we want to equip students with the tools and skills to turn their social involvement in sustainability into action,” said Ernst Brand from PA Consulting.

Grand Finals

The final took place in Amersfoort last week. After an interactive quiz and crypto workshop, teams had the opportunity to pitch their ideas to the judges in attendance.

The prize for 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 lines of the competition theme.

The prize for the most worthy invention was awarded to Team Raspberry Cake from Agora Maas en Peel Neighborhood College 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 could be implemented tomorrow,” said the jury.

The prize for most impactful discovery was awarded to the Smart Shower team, also from Gomarus College. This ingenious invention channels shower water, for example, into the toilet tank when it is not yet at the right temperature. Their discovery saved many liters per shower.

Lastly, the Triple A prize (encouragement prize for the best all-rounder and emerging talent) was awarded to Team I-SGH from 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 use when showering or bathing. Thus, these devices increase consumer awareness of their water consumption.

“That’s why we organize this competition,” said Mark Griep, chairman of PA Netherlands, during the awards ceremony. “The energy, the lessons you shared with us here. Because what you do is what we also do at PA Consulting: solve problems through innovative collaboration. I hope you will 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 Financial Obligations Processing, UWV), Willem van Asperen (Chief Data Scientist, PA Consulting), Peter Toethuis (CIO, NN Leven ), Rian van Heur (Content Director, VHTO) and Wendy Vierveijzer (Criminal Judge in Gelderland).