The youngsters could now be crowned national winners at the Cracking Ideas awards ceremony in Liverpool this Tuesday. Cracking Ideas is headed by Oscar® winning inventive duo Wallace & Gromit and is the largest competition of its type.
Intellectual Property Minister, Baroness Wilcox said:
“There was a fantastic range of entries showing how innovative our children are but as with all competitions, we have to have winners! These young entrants have done themselves absolutely proud to be the winners of their respective regions.
“I am now looking forward to announcing the national winner on Tuesday and wish luck to the finalists.“
The regional winners for Northern Ireland are:
- Antonia Smith, aged 11 invented a sports top with frozen pack slots to help athletes keep cool whilst training.
- Martin Canning, aged 14 created ‘ABC Golf’ a mobile phone application to help golfers choose the right golf club and avoid the bunkers.
Entrants had to come up with a sporty creation and to highlight the four types of intellectual property created – an invention or gadget; the design of the product; a name or logo to trade mark and a copyrighted advertising campaign.
The competition for 2012 is currently running until 30 April 2013. Further details are available at http://www.crackingideas.com/competition/
Notes to editors:
1. Baroness Wilcox is available for interview requests.
2. Any media interested in interviews including speaking to the winners should contact IPO Press Officer, Veena Mapara: veena.mapara@bis.gsi.gov.uk; 020 7215 5614.
3. Children‘s TV presenter, Gareth Jones will be at the awards ceremony on Tuesday 19 June and will be available for interviews.
4. There were no entries for the Northern Ireland age group four to seven.
5. Cracking Ideas is a Government-backed project and uses a combination of lesson plans, activity packs, challenges and dedicated website, to encourage innovation and creativity amongst children aged four to 16 all with links to the UK curriculum.
6. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is within the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS) and is responsible for the national framework of Intellectual Property rights, comprising patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.
7. Its role is to help manage an IP system that encourages innovation and creativity, balances the needs of consumers and users, promotes strong and competitive markets and is the foundation of the knowledge-based economy.
8. It operates in a national and an international environment and its work is governed by national and international law, including various international treaties relating to Intellectual Property (IP) to which the United Kingdom is a party.
9. For emergency media calls out-of-hours please contact the duty press officer at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on +44 (0) 20 7215 3505.
10. BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.
Notes to Editors