A TEAM of girls from Alton Convent returned victorious from the

national finals of Cisco’s Little Big Awards, having won the award for Best Business Case.

Molly Steven, Ella Coomer, Phoebe Hulbert and Ella Dodgson – who competed under the name Team EcoScan – were among 10 teams who fought their way through from an initial line-up of 250 schools, having secured a place three weeks earlier against a competitive field at the regional finals at Winchester Science Centre.

The Little Big Awards is an out-reach programme for schools which aims to encourage students to get involved with technology, through challenging them to come up with a technology innovation that ‘connects the unconnected’. The schools’ ideas were judged on a number of criteria, including the business case, creativity and usability of the design, presentation skills and documentation.

The Alton Covent EcoSan product identified a gap in the market to significantly reduce food waste, save money and make the world a better place.

In the run-up to the final, the team worked diligently to fine tune their presentation and develop their product further before presening it.

The girls presented with aplomb in a packed auditorium against the backdrop of Cisco’s state-of–the-art giant screen, during the finals, which were held at Cisco’s UK headquarters at Bedfont Lakes Middlesex, before moving on to an exhibition area for the judges’ questions.

They were judged by a formidable team including: Cisco’s UK & Ireland CTO, Alison Vincent; Jacqueline de Rojas, Citrix’s vice-president and general manager for northern Europe; Damien Mulcock, director of business bevelopment, SPVSS, Cisco and CSE technology services managing director Justin Harling.

After lunch and a dynamic microbit demonstration, the team returned to the auditorium where they and their teachers and supporters were delighted to hear Alton Convent School announced as the National Winners of the Best Business Case.