High school students from Gipuzkoa, Navarre and La Rioja were the finalists in the Ingenuity and Design Competition organised by Tecnun, School of Engineering of the University of Navarre. The initiative, which seeks to encourage the imagination of young people through the application of innovative ideas, was sponsored in its 15th edition by the companies IKOR and Laboral Kutxa.  

It should be noted that 52 projects were submitted to the competition, 12 of which were selected by the jury at Tecnun and three went on to the final. The deliberation of the competition, which took place today at the School of Engineers of the University of Navarra in San Sebastian, awarded first prize to the Iturrama Secondary School in Pamplona, second prize to the Herrikide Ikastetxea school in Tolosa and third prize to the Las Fuentes-Alcaste school in La Rioja. 

The jury, made up of the teachers of Tecnun Asier López and Juan Villarón, awarded 1,500 euros to the first group, 1,000 to the runners-up and 500 to the third place winners. 

Beñat Baines, Markel Iruretagoyena and Aitor Muro, from the Iturrama Secondary School in Pamplona, surprised the jury with their project "Tunel de Vinto", especially for the originality with which they sold their idea. The main objective of this project is to study the relationship between the number of blades and the angular speed in vertical axis turbines: "To do this we have used the application of an external casing to direct the wind and increase the angular speed", explains the pupil Beñat Baines. The students from IES Iturrama were accompanied by Jose Miguel Zabaleta Trecu, a teacher at the same school.

The students Leire Estanga, Jon Agorreta and Leire Enrique, from Herrikide Ikastetxea in Tolosa, have been awarded for their project "Mowite": "It is a programme that allows us to know the amount of energy that a plug is using, by means of a small USB that is connected to the computer", explains Leire Estanga, one of the students behind the project. "It also gives you the option of knowing, via an app, what you are using and to turn off and on what is connected", continues the student Jon Agorreta. The students from Herrikide Ikastetxea were accompanied by the teacher Jabi Luengo Errazquin, a teacher at the same school.

Finally, the Las Fuentes-Alcaste school in La Rioja has been awarded for a project promoted by 4th year ESO students; Carlos de Miguel Latorre, César González Cabeza and Pablo Gutiérrez Ubierna. The young promoters have christened it "Ecocharge", and it consists of "an ecological way of obtaining energy to charge our mobile devices". And what better way to do it than with a bike and a scooter. "To be able to use the energy generated by riding a bike, we need a circuit," explains one of the students, "the circuit transforms the alternating current of the dynamo into direct current to charge the phone safely," concludes another of the students from the school in La Rioja. The students from the Las Fuentes-Alcaste school in La Rioja were accompanied by Gonzalo Torroba Aguillo, a teacher from the same school. 

On behalf of Tecnun-University of Navarra, the School's Development Director, Iñigo Gutierrez, the Promotion Director, Mikel Arcelus, and Ainara Diez, also from the Promotion Service, attended. Marisa Cedenilla and Aitor Larruskain attended from Ikor, and Arantxa Olaizola and José Murua from Laboral Kutxa. Some of the students' relatives also attended, such as Itziar Galarraga and Elena Garayalde.