The winning team of Ethan Tilney, Christopher Blignaut and Talha Niazi
The other members of the team were Christopher Blignaut, an honours student in computer science at UCT and Talha Niazi, who is studying medicine and surgery at Wits.
The friends competed against more than 170 teams from all over the world at the Sustainability Institute at Stellenbosch University, where the challenge was hosted.
“We created a groundbreaking, energy-efficient, and portable cooling solution for storing vaccines in rural areas of Africa, with no access to electricity or cellular connection.
“Once connected, users can control the temperature of cooling devices via a local network, ensuring vaccines are kept at the right temperature where it is needed most”, Ethan said.
The team of high school friends, which called themselves Nexura, joined the challenge to reconnect and work together again. They started working on the proposal and presentation in October 2024.
After struggling with a foam-board prototype, they pivoted to a smaller CAD design and 3D-printed the entire model, optimising thermal insulation in the process, Ethan said.
The Nexura team was first selected as one of the top 10 finalists and then had to present their solution in front of a global panel of judges, winning first place entailing R35,000 and a three-month internship and training programme at TCS in India.
The journey is far from over as the team plans to manufacture a final prototype and enter it into a trial phase.