The Puranik Foundation is working with High School students to innovate alternative energy technologies to be implemented locally through youth activism. Students will form teams to learn design thinking methodology and work together to design innovations for five arenas of innovation; Water Sustainability, Food Systems, Power Generation, Waste Management, and Urban Design. We are awarding one winning innovation a $15k grant to bring the product to market.
The 2023 cohort collaborates with the Energy Institute High School in Houston, Texas, and Camden Hills Regional High School in Camden, Maine. Students meet after school to learn Design Thinking from a professor at Stanford University d.school. Periodically meet with Rice University MBA mentors & WOM engineers. Leading up to build week, students spend 40 hours prototyping their ideas at the TXRX maker hub and concluding their journey, putting it together in a business plan with Junior Achievement for the final pitch competition presented at the ION, Houston.