MTEC student Silvia Lama receives the ETH Alfred Escher Prize
On the occasion of the 200th birthday of the Zurich visionary Alfred Escher, ETH Zurich has awarded the first Alfred Escher Prize for innovative high school and university students. The two winning ideas both involve motivating learning in playful ways.
“Switzerland needs curious, inventive, meticulous, courageous, creative thinkers and good communicators to keep its position as a technological world leader.” With these words Detlef Günther, ETH Vice President for Research and Corporate Relations, opened the awards ceremony. On 19 February – just prior to the 200th birthday of the Zurich politician and entrepreneur Alfred Escher, who contributed significantly to Swiss technical and economic development – ETH Zurich awarded the first Alfred Escher Prize for young innovators.
55 Entries, 10 Finalists
Grammar-school students or learners between 17 and 20 years of age, and university students up to 25 years of age, were invited to submit their ideas. A total of 55 technical innovations were submitted in both categories. After a preliminary selection by a jury of experts, the best five ideas in each category were given three-minute pitches. The ideas ranged from new solutions for the extraction of solar energy, for food production and transport to virtual learning programmes, treatments for retinal diseases and new ways to produce light.
Smart Learning Environments
In the end, new learning software solutions won the first prizes in both categories.
MTEC student Silvia Lama received first prize in the university student category for “Play-Musa”, a 3-D game through which children can learn to play a musical instrument. “Many children want to learn to play an instrument, but half of them give up after a short time,” said Silvia Lama at the awards ceremony. To keep them from losing their motivation, she made use of children’s enthusiasm for computer games. The jury was especially convinced by the argument that children extend their cognitive capabilities through learning to play an instrument – an important foundation for creativity and ideas in their later lives. For the further development of her project Silvia Lama received the Credit-Suisse-sponsored award of 8,000 francs.
In the grammar-school students category the first prize went to 17-year-old matura student Jeremias Baur. He developed edVR – Educational Virtual Reality Application, a programme that helps students understand material from the natural sciences and technology in an interactive and playful manner.
The Department MTEC heartily congratulates the prize winners.