Student innovators highlight this generation’s social anxieties

Out of the 13 venture ideas developed during the Centre’s latest programme ‘Idea Bootcamp’, five addressed environmental issues and three dealt with social interaction and mental health and wellbeing. Programme Manager Sinead Watson says “The continued themes we are seeing coming through from our student participants are symptomatic of the anxieties of the current generation around the state of the world and the burning desire to do something about it all.

Concerns about the environment are to perhaps be expected, but a surprising trend that has come through in recent venture creation programmes is a yearning to address the difficulties that the current generation experience over social interactions.

“If you speak to parents or any mature person really, you will often hear exasperation about young people navigating traditional social interactions like being able to make a phone call. In modern times the current generation may not see social scripts like how to conduct a phone call valuable or relevant, however we see students self-identifying social interaction in general as an area of difficulty. People are more connected than ever through technology yet there is a sense of isolation. And the way that students choose to address the problem is through applying technological solutions with a humanistic framework”.

During Idea Bootcamp one venture idea was around building empathy and support strategies through an immersive VR experience of mental health symptoms. Other venture ideas included a platform for interacting with lecturers and an app for meeting like-minded students.

At another Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship programme, Summer Lab, a group of students came up with the idea of using virtual reality to help people with autism practice social interaction. The groups venture, Socious VR, was so compelling and internationally relevant that they won the mSchools SDG Challenge – an international competition for students to design innovative solutions to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by applying digital technology. As a result they were flown all expenses paid to Barcelona to pitch their idea at an influential tech start-up event 4YFN.
 

Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Wendy Kerr says “Our students are thoughtful and aware global citizens. Through offering programmes such as Idea Bootcamp and Summer Lab we are offering students an outlet to nurture positivity, practice creative problem solving and facilitate the first step in generating tangible solutions to these global issues. Participating in these programmes also gives students the opportunity to connect with others and form a community of like-minded social warriors”.

2019 Idea Bootcamp venture ideas

Beeware: Tracker system to monitor bees overall health as a way to maximize honey production.

Engage Me: A SaaS platform that allows lecturers to interact with their students during lectures.

Enviro Light: An awareness Application that educates consumers about environmentally friendly products.

Finders: A SaaS platform that prevents customers from losing their item through a geo-location tracking system.

Hitch: A SaaS platform to connect drivers and riders who are going the same way.

Kintsugi: An educational immersive VR platform for those who struggle with social interactions.

Luckia Student Help: A mentoring service for international students who are new to New Zealand.

Meta-CV: A Saas platform to analyse and add individualised and tailored value to job seekers during the recruitment process.

Plastic 2 Life: A company that aims to recycle waste and turn it into valuable solutions such as insulation boards for the housing sector.

Team5: A GPS and tracking technology that precisely geo-locates solutions for businesses who need high accuracy for logistics.

Team ATE: A drone service to track litter at New Zealand beaches as a way to monitor waste.

Unibuddy: A SaaS platform that connects new students to each other a way to increase social engagement.