Panama wins the ‘Power Pitch Award’ at NASA

After winning the Innova Nation Pitch Challenge, a youth entrepreneurship and innovation competition in Panama, three students represented the country at the Conrad Challenge Innovation Summit, held in the United States.

The summit was held in National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Johnson Space Center and Space, better known as NASA, in Houston, Texas, from April 12 to 15.

For the first time in the country, Isthmus youth are winning Power Pitch Award at the Conrad Challenge Innovation Summit, Energy and Environment category, organized by the Conrad Foundation, created by Nancy Conrad in honor of her husband, astronaut Peter Conrad, who was the third man to walk on the moon.

Ana Paula Duque, Claudia Mejia and Emiliano Arellano They received this recognition for their project Erilux, which seeks to innovate the energy industry with self-sustaining street lamps powered solely by wind energy.

These lights are grid-independent and low-maintenance with a storage system that continuously collects energy to illuminate the streets for the required twelve hours, they explained in a press release.

The coach of the Erilux project i Director of Innovation Nation, Karin Sempf said: “We hope that after winning the Power Pitch award at the Conrad Challenge, more funding will be allocated to education in the country; at the same time to motivate more students and teachers to get involved in educational programs of sustainable entrepreneurship”.

He added: “This victory is an achievement that strengthens the country’s role as a forerunner of initiatives framed in line with the 2030 Agenda, in this case in cleaner energy.”

The winners, who are in their final year, will continue to work on a patent for their innovation.

After the triumph, they have already received a scholarship to continue their university studies in academic centers outside the country. In addition, local and international organizations are interested in the development of Erilux, to improve and change the lives of hundreds of people who do not have access to electricity.

A nation of innovation

For this educational laboratory in Panama, the forerunner of the Conrad Challenge in Panama, winning this award shows that its students have demonstrated a high level of presentation and leadership skills, as well as the ability to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to solve global challenges. .really.