Solutions for the Planet run an annual enterprise competition called the Big Ideas Programme. This is a STEM-focused programme with an emphasis on sustainability and entrepreneurship. It is delivered in partnership with companies based locally, who support teams of pupils (in KS3) to generate solutions or Big Ideas to sustainability issues. These Big Ideas are submitted to the competition with semi-finals held at traditionally at a regional university and finals, traditionally held, at the Houses of Parliament in London.
This year the semi and nation finals were held virtually. We sat in on the national finals of the Big Ideas Programme and were incredibly impressed with the creativity and innovation demonstrated by some brilliant young people to solve incredibly important sustainability issues.
The national final welcomed 12 teams from schools across the UK who had to provide innovative ideas to solve their chosen sustainability issue.
The winning team was the Bannockburn High School, Stirling with the concept of Food for All. Their idea is to tackle food waste and poverty with a café that re-distributes food to people in need, and a campaign to educate people about healthy eating.
We look forward to welcoming 20 mentors for the 2021 programme.