Digital Greenhouse welcomed 33 post-14 students from across three Guernsey schools for the 2025 Digital Innovators Student AI Hackathon.
The event was held on Thursday 12th June and sponsored by 1st Central and run in partnership with University College London.
Students from Blanchelande College, Elizabeth College, and The Sixth Form Centre came together for a fast-paced, creative challenge: ‘Build out a plan for an AI model to predict and reduce energy consumption in school buildings and homes.’
Working in small teams, the students had just four hours to research, ideate, and develop their AI-driven solutions. With support from mentors including Paulius Volskis (UCL/Meganexus), Steph Luce and David Carney (CI Information Security and Data Governance Forums), and Jenny De La Mare and Estelle Moseley (Digital Greenhouse), teams developed impressive proposals addressing real-world energy issues. As well as tackling the challenge statement, the students were expected to manage their time, delegate tasks, conduct research and build a presentation.
The day concluded with each team presenting their solutions to a panel of expert judges – Paulius Volskis (UCL), Paul Torode (1st Central), and Rollo de Sausmarez (UN1TY), who noted the high quality and creativity of all the teams’ ideas.
Judge and mentor Paulius Volskis from UCL said: “It was a real privilege to mentor such a driven and imaginative group of young participants. Their enthusiasm for problem-solving and their curiosity about technology was genuinely inspiring.
“Events like this not only build technical skills, but also spark confidence — and that’s what makes them so powerful.”
The winning team, OptiWatt from Elizabeth College, was made up of Year 10 students Hamish Buchanan, Tibere Le Conte, Benjamin Le Page, Seth Le Tissier, Sebastian Steer and Elliott Tyrrell. They wowed the judges with their innovative end-to-end solution. Judges praised the team for spotting a creative opportunity to combat ‘vampire devices’ – electronics that drain power in standby – helping users save money and reduce waste.
An honourable mention went to The Binary Bros from Elizabeth College, who delivered a polished and insightful presentation featuring a prototype and unique sleep-tracking concept, despite having a smaller team.
Paul Torode, judge and representative from the programme sponsors 1st Central said: “It was great to see the high quality of presentations and the impressive level of thought that had gone into each idea. The students showed real potential in applying AI creatively and practically to tackle real-world energy challenges. Their innovative thinking around reducing energy use in schools and homes was inspiring.”
Dave Costen, Director of Digital Learning at Elizabeth College said: “Participating in the Digital Greenhouse AI Hackathon gave my students the opportunity to tackle a truly challenging, real-world problem, dig deep into their own creative solutions, and receive invaluable feedback from industry experts. The experience not only sharpened their problem-solving and computational-thinking skills but also helped many of them clarify and solidify their future academic and career aspirations.”
