Sutton pupil named runner-up in UK-wide Alexa Young Innovator Challenge

A secondary school pupil from Sutton has been named as a runner-up in Amazon’s inaugural Alexa Young Innovator Challenge after designing an Alexa Skill that helps suggest the most sustainable and time efficient route to school and then measures the greenness level of the student’s school journey choice. Skills are like apps for Alexa, allowing you to use voice commands to perform everyday tasks like checking the news, listening to music, or playing a game.

Kiyara Wijeratne, a pupil at Sutton High on Cheam Road, created an Alexa Skill called ‘TraGreen’ that provides responses to motivate students to travel green but also arrive to school on time. Kiyara’s Alexa Skill saw the local youngster named as one of the runners-up in the national competition in the 15-18 age group.

Competition entries were picked by a judging panel including STEM advocate Carol Vorderman, computing prodigy Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, YouTuber and computer science graduate Tobi Brown, and Lauren Kisser, Amazon Technology Director and UK ambassador for Amazon Future Engineer.

Kiyara, created an Alexa Skill that saw her win a £500 Amazon voucher for her school, as well as a £250 Amazon voucher for her to use personally. Her skill features time management of journey lengths, consideration of the impact to the environment and an enthusiastic response to the user to support them to travel sustainably.

Speaking after her impressive performance in the UK-wide competition, Kiyara said:

“Participating in this competition has encouraged me to consider how I can proactively use technology and Skills in programming, to create helpful and informative solutions to combat unsustainable threats to our environment.”

To enter the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge, students across the UK were invited to follow a free online learning programme with curriculum-linked lesson plans and resources, created by Amazon to support the development of AI learning in UK classrooms and STEM clubs. Computer science and AI related roles could contribute £71 billion a year to the UK economy to 2030, according to research commissioned by Amazon from Capital Economics, with demand for jobs that require computer science, AI or machine learning skills expected to increase by 40% over the next five years[i]. In order to have enough AI talent in the UK workforce to fill these jobs, students need to experience some form of AI-based learning during secondary school.

“We were blown away by the innovation and imaginative thinking that was evident in many of the entries we received for the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge,” said Lauren Kisser, Technology Director at Amazon and UK Ambassador for Amazon Future Engineer. “The challenge forms part of our Amazon Future Engineer programme, designed to upskill young people in Artificial Intelligence and computer science, and inspire them to consider a career in STEM. If more young people like Kiyara play an active part imagining ways AI can be used to tackle social issues in their communities, just think of the good that technology could achieve in the future.”

Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon said: “The tech revolution never stops and we know that AI is going to be a vital part of the future of the industry so it’s great to see the Alexa Young Innovator Challenge identifying some amazing young people who are taking the first steps on this journey to be our future scientists and technologists.”

Amazon supports the education and skills development of students from all backgrounds through Amazon Future Engineer, a comprehensive childhood-to-career programme. The initiative is designed to inspire, educate and enable children and young adults, particularly those from underserved and underrepresented communities, to realise their potential in computer science through free online coding programmes, teacher training opportunities, and virtual career chats. Since launching in 2019, Amazon Future Engineer has reached over 400,000 students across the UK.

Women are still significantly underrepresented in engineering and technology in higher education. UCAS data on university application and acceptance figures for the 2021 cycle highlighted that women represent just 16% and 18% of accepted applications to computer science and engineering degrees respectively. To help address underrepresentation and accelerate the rate of progress, in 2022 Amazon awarded bursaries worth up to £20,000 each to 31 women students from low-income households studying computer science or related engineering courses at UK universities.