University of Otago student wins national tech award
A digital refurbishment initiative, co-chaired by University of Otago student and YES alum Owyn Aitken, received national acknowledgement at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards in Christchurch last week
Recycle a Device (Rad) received the Spark Best Hi-Tech Solution for the Public Good award in front of a record crowd of more than 1000 people, including Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
Set up during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Rad had the goal of closing the digital divide for school pupils and young people in New Zealand by not only redistributing used laptops, but also teaching the engineering skills needed to refurbish the laptops, which also reduced e-waste.
The goal was to have 17,000 laptops distributed by 2024.
Mr Aitken, who grew up in Porirua, was partly responsible for the inception of Rad, which grew from an initiative he created as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme in his school days at Aotea College in Wellington.