Invent for the Planet 2019 was a three-day intensive design event at Habib University’s Playground, an interdisciplinary and flexible space, over the weekend, from 15 February to 17 February 2019. Students Participants were given the challenge of coming up with solutions of a range of real-world issues which included improving the quality of life, advance personalized learning, providing access to clean water, preventing loneliness, enhance virtual reality, smart elderly care, equipping rural medical workers, connecting the world and aircraft structures.
The students had faculty and industry mentors to guide them through the intense 48-hour challenge until the final presentation. The idea behind the whole event was to provide the students with the right skillset that is imperative to gain success in innovation, leadership and to help them shape their futures. Habib University is the only institution in Pakistan that collaborated with Texas A&M University and 31 other universities worldwide for this two-day long competition. Twelve teams from Habib University came up with twelve different solutions for pressing global issues. These included web and digital applications to solve issues like problems students have with standardized curriculums, for preventing loneliness and to help in preparing cities for health epidemics and problems. They also tried to figure out a way to solve the growing problem of fake news. There were also some solutions to help farmers in rural areas despite connectivity limitations. Even though this event was for a small period but solutions that students came up with can have practical implications on the real world.
Mostly all the teams came up with brilliant solution but the team that stood out was Team Zindagi. They presented a solution for improving the quality of life by insulating households in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner. Team Sehraab was the runner up. They attempted to solve the issue of irrigation and communication in remote areas of Pakistan without cellular coverage with emerging, internet of things (IOT) technology. Team Shaffaf was the second runner up. They presented a prototype for a system to clean water in low-income areas by treating sewage. #ShapingFutures
