Innovative approaches to recycling and refuse disposal

UCT teamed up with Intel, the US semiconductor chip and inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, to help the company roll out 50 000 Intel Galileo boards to 1 000 universities in the next 18 months.

The Galileo Board offers a simple and cost-effective development environment for the Internet of Things '“ the control networks that integrate and automate everything from kitchen appliances to factories. The project is part of Intel's global outreach programme to spur innovation across the entire computing spectrum.

At UCT, 42 Galileo boards were delivered to the Department of Electrical Engineering for their Innovation Week in July, and will be used in subsequent teaching activities.

Participants included students, high school pupils, alumni, and representatives of industry, all working on general themes of refuse disposal, minimisation, upcycling, recycling and re-use.

Intel engineers from the US and Ireland were on hand to encourage innovation among participants, who used social media and online games to make recycling fun, competitive and attractive to all ages.

Teams were judged for their use of different technologies, for innovation, the potential of their projects to go viral, for technical execution, and for fostering broader audience participation.

Electrical engineering's Samuel Ginsberg, host of the UCT event, said: "It was a great week with so much creative energy and so many innovative ideas."

(Ginsberg headed up the Khusela project , an early-warning system to prevent shack fires, which received the People's Choice Award in the 2014 Global Social Venture Competition.)