Smart Toilet Innovation Challenge
We collaborated with College of Science and Technology (CST) and Junior Chamber International (JCI) to organize the first ever Smart Toilet Innovation Challenge in the engineering college.
The competition was aimed to serve as a platform for engineering students to practically express their technical knowledge. It was also targeted at initiating the first ever attempt to develop and produce “Made in Bhutan” toilets with Bhutanese architectural elements, promote innovation and investment in toilet infrastructures to draw attention to sanitation.
- Promote innovation among the future engineers
- Deepen knowledge on sanitation and hygiene and its solution.
- Come up with design relevant to our culture and geography
- Promote healthier and more environment focused toilet designs in the country.
Over 40 teams comprising of 200 engineering students applied for the competition; out of that 23 teams were selected to submit their concepts. Based on their concept papers, we shortlisted top 10 teams to work on their designs. Nu.5000 each were provided as grant.
On May 2, 2018, the ten teams exhibited their designs and a panel of jury evaluated the them based on the set criteria; Portability, Durability, Ease of Work, Eco- Friendliness, Cost Effectiveness, Aesthetics and Innovations.
The teams were expected to produce smart working-prototypes but it was discovered that every team has worked on smaller samples with theoretical explanation of how their toilets will function. It was much like a science exhibition seen in the schools, when we actually expected the engineers to break the barriers.
Nonetheless, we awarded cash prizes,
amounting to Nu. 110,000, to top five teams,
knowing that the month-long process
where they were engaged in research and
development, fulfilled most of our objectives.
