eXtensions - Wednesday 4 March 2025
By Graham K. Rogers
Students of Mahidol University have been enthusiastic participants in the worldwide event, Invent for the Planet, which challenges students in universities around the world to develop solutions for far-reaching problems. This year the focus was on food. Despite its proximity to midterm examinations, a good number of students took part. As ever, the skills they take away from such an event are worth more than the prizes.
Invent For The Planet 2026 was held at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University during the weekend of 27 February to 1 March. The students, of course, worked very hard. They always do. But I am going to use this opening section to thank all of the people who helped create the event here. If I leave this to the end, those automatically pressing "Like" on Facebook would probably never read it.
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So, thanks to the faculty members who did an exceptional amount of work to get this event on the road; as well as the support staff who worked behind the scenes to make sure there was enough food, that there were plenty of pencils, stickies, and enough equipment to keep the students working during the weekend. Thanks also to the mentors and to the judges who gave up their time to support the students and Invent for the Planet.
Pre-events were held on the two Wednesdays before Invent for the Planet: "Unlock Innovation with Empathy", and "Strategic Prototyping". I was slightly disappointed by the number of students who turned up for these. Wednesdays are always difficult at the Faculty of Engineering as other activities take place, but those students who attended the workshops on Feb 18 and Feb 25 were obviously keen to be involved. I was further surprised on the opening evening of the event to see almost 20 students attending.
For those at Mahidol University, Invent For The Planet this year was poorly timed as it fell on the weekend before the midterm examinations. There was still a healthy crowd, and the students were keen. A few of our students are not totally dedicated to collecting marks. Some recognize that events like Invent for the Planet give them valuable skills that are not taught in the classroom. A number of students were return visitors. For some it was their third year. Others were attending for the first time so to begin with they were a little lost.
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A couple of the groups had seen the need statements and were early to develop potential strategies for their solutions that they would work on over the weekend. This year the Need Statements were centered on food: growing, harvesting, distribution logistics, and the effects of climate. Other students were still trying to find their feet, but the attention of the mentors and the suggestions they put forward, began to help the students towards possible solutions.
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They worked hard during the first evening finishing around 10 PM. One group continued working a room that is left open overnight. Just before the end of the Friday evening session, one member from each of the four groups that had been formed, made a brief presentation of where they thought they were headed. Input from the mentors help them think and re-think about how they were going to develop their solutions over the coming 36 hours.
By Saturday morning, ideas had begun to gel. Each group was hard at work thinking of how they might develop a workable solution that would satisfy the judges. They also had to produce prototypes and make brief presentations. Each would also include a 90-second video that would precede the presentation. During the early stages when the groups are still forming their ideas, Stickies do a lot of the mileage, helping the groups organize their thoughts as do the whiteboards that are available in the Innogineer studio.
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By lunchtime on Saturday, most had a few firm ideas of where the project idea was headed although the micro-details were still a little vague. Some groups began to develop 3D prototypes to illustrate their ideas more fully. I saw a particularly good example of a geometric construction, using what I was told were Kelvin cells. That particular example of a prototype did not actually make it into the final presentation, but was part of the general development thinking. It was clear that both the videos and the main content still had a way to go. Some of the students had come to ask me about video content and how they would change the AI output they had used into something which was actually workable.
When Sunday morning dawned, a lot more work had been done, although the students still had to add some finishing touches to bring their ideas to the finish line. By the time they made presentations just before lunch, it was clear that much progress had been made. There were still gaps, however, with one or two of the potential solutions from a couple of the groups. All were given advice on how improvements might be made.
Over lunch on Sunday the pressure increased and the students each made a major effort to bring their projects to a successful conclusion. There was some frenzied development of prototypes: one group brought in a selection of fruits as part of their presentation, while others made good use of diagrams and animations.
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The judges listened attentively and each asked questions: confirming ideas, or stretching the students to explain their thoughts. The marks were totaled and the winners were decided. As there were only 4 groups this time, a diplomatic solution was reached with a joint 3rd Prize being awarded. The 2nd Prize was awarded to the group that had come up with a sophisticated solution for transporting fruit that reduced the bruising caused by impacts. The students were delighted with 2nd even though some members had won the 1st Prize the year before. The last group erupted as they realized that they would be awarded the First Prize, and the 2nd Prize winners enthusiastically congratulated them, showing good sportsmanship.
The winning group will now submit their presentation to an international panel of judges. They have a chance to travel to the final presentations, due to be held in Doha this year. However, events over the weekend in the Middle East may cause a change of venue. A bridge we will cross when the time comes.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. After 3 years writing a column in the Life supplement, he is now no longer associated with the Bangkok Post. He can be followed on X (@extensions_th). The RSS feed for the articles is http://www.extensions.in.th/ext_link.xml - copy and paste into your feed reader. No AI was used in writing this item.
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