PA Raspberry Pi Competition

Our annual PA Raspberry Pi Competition gives schoolchildren, aged 8 to 18, the tools and opportunity to invent products that will benefit society. The competition forms part of our ongoing commitment to encourage and expand access to skills and careers in STEM related fields.

In its tenth anniversary, we put this year’s theme to a public vote, asking teachers, students, and our partners what would inspire. They chose ‘innovations to save the planet’. To build engagement, our in-house design team created two sustainability-themed animations and launched them on social channels to encourage entries and offer guidance and support.

The results were remarkable, with designs ranging from a data-driven robot to make smart environmental choices for farmland irrigation, an Ai-led rubbish sorting bin, to a sea capsule to protect and sustain coral reefs.

To celebrate the Finalists’ ingenuity, we built the ‘PAPiVerse’, a custom, 3D, online platform to showcase all the innovations. Each Finalist’s icon (coded to an area of sustainability) led to a unique habitat, from jungle to an eco-village, with animations and clickable elements to display the team’s invention summary and entry video.
The in-person ‘PAPi’ Awards Day was located at the London Science Museum:
• We built 14 fully sustainable stands for our finalist teams (re-used in 2023) with space for personalisation and for the inventions to be displayed – allowing judges to assess teams at their stands.
• A VIP judging panel of business leaders from across the UK decided the winners.
• Speed Networking sessions gave the young people opportunities to receive support and inspiration from business leaders and technology experts.
• Students toured the Wonderlab experience – igniting their imaginations with interactive experiences and science demonstrations.

The day ended in an Awards ceremony with living, biosphere trophies and hosted by The Gadget Show’s Ortis Deley.

The event was a smashing success!