Creative teams from the five primary schools assembled at Abbeyfield School for the final of Change 2018, the enterprise competition devised by 7BillionIdeas for Creative Education Trust. David Harkin, the impresario behind the agency, welcomed pupils and their teachers in dynamic style, before leading warm-up exercise in ingenuity and problem-solving. Next, each team set up a stall to present their ‘world changing idea’ for the appraisal of three panellists – Paul House, Assistant Principal of Abbeyfield; Marc Jordan, Chief Executive of Creative Education Trust; and Emily Campbell, its Director of Programmes.

7BillionIdeas was established on the principle that everyone on the planet has an idea; they just need help making it materialise. Their competition supported the process with some useful practical rules and common resources – for example, a cardboard box for each team to use as material for their prototype.

The finalists demonstrated an incredible range of thinking on diverse issues from personal finance to assistive technology, health and the environment. Here are the Change 2018 winners:

Best Stall: Queen Eleanor Primary Academy with their amphibious wheelchair, Water Whizz

Best Poster: Three Peaks Primary Academy for RIP Allergy, a handheld scanning device for all known allergens in the environment which matches them to data inferred from the user’s skin

Best Model: Three Peaks Primary Academy for Superstars, a battery that generates energy from food

3rd Place: Harpfield Primary Academy for Moving House, a house on wheels so you never have to move house again. No need to pack your things – you just take them with you, in the moving house, to your next neighbourhood.

2nd Place: Wroughton Junior Academy for Lightbulb, a steering wheel cover that senses the driver’s heart rate, breathing and other physical changes to identify risks such as illness, alcohol or injury and transmits them to the mechanics of the vehicle to prevent it starting.

1st Place: Woodlands Primary Academy for Sea Saver,  remotely operated underwater robot, disguised as a sea creature, that sucks up plastic from the ocean floor and transports it back to port for recycling