Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Australia participant made a software platform to help students prepare for exams

Samsung Electronics Australia announced the winners of its 2024 Solve for Tomorrow. The nationwide program invites young Australians aged 14-24 years to develop innovative solutions for real-world issues they’re passionate about, using STEM skills, creativity, critical thinking and collaborative teamwork to bring these to life.

Queensland-based 19-year-old Bradley Cox took home the top prize. His startup aims to provide a question bank in every classroom, built from resources that students and teachers already have. Launched in late 2023, the platform centralized past exam papers into highly accessible question banks specifically for the Year 12 external exams, making them accessible and useful to students and teachers.

After seeing the platform benefit over 22,000 users across Queensland, Brad and co-founder Jason Zhong soon realized they hadn't just solved their own problem - they had created a solution with far-reaching potential. They expanded their solution into a tool that could help anyone organize and align their own resources, reducing the workload for educators and simplifying learning for students.

Brad is planning to enhance the platform with new features and services, expand across Australia, and seek for new strategic partnerships. "What started as a tool to solve our own problem has quickly grown into a platform designed to empower classrooms everywhere,” he said. “Being selected as a winner of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is an incredible honor and validation of our work and impact on students and educators alike. STEM is an incredible field where curiosity and creativity come together to create solutions that matter. To young Australians interested in studying STEM, I say start small, learn as you go, and don't be afraid to fail - it's all part of the process. Most importantly, focus on how your skills can help others. That's where the real impact is, and that's what makes the journey worthwhile.”

Queensland-based 22-year-old Keziah Furnell was awarded the Runner-Up 19-24 prize for her business that aims to encourage greater participation in STEM for girls and women through a series of workshops exploring different STEM fields, problem solving and collaboration - with a particular focus on access for girls and women in regional areas. Keziah is planning to develop a new series of workshops that will expand to more regional cities, purchase more science equipment for the workshops, and enable further engagement with female STEM professionals to host the workshops and connect and collaborate with students.

Keziah said, "I was inspired to address the issue of underrepresentation of female STEM students in regional and public schools when I walked into my first university engineering class and discovered only 12 women out of 120 students. I wanted to show girls from a young age that the "play" they were engaged in was science, and that there were real scientific careers available. My workshops focus on exploring chemistry through the wonderful world of bath bombs or kitchen chemistry. I am so grateful to have participated in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and would advise any young Australian interested in studying STEM to go for it - your ideas are valid and important, and everyone has the capacity to change the world.

Sydney-based 16-year-old, Shuwei Guo is the minor winner within the 14-18 year-old category with his personalized education platform concept – an innovative, free and AI-powered short-form platform designed to make learning addictive by tailoring education to each individual’s knowledge level, learning type (e.g. visual learning vs. kinaesthetic) by harnessing specific nomenclature and proprietary AI models to gamify traditional education. Shuwei will establish a pilot program within local schools, libraries and community centers, as well as working with educators to refine the platform and establish a volunteer program of tech-savvy individuals to assist those using the platform.

Shuwei said, “I was inspired to tackle educational inequality after seeing firsthand how limited access to quality learning resources can impact students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Something imperative to my design and iteration processes was making a product that you and your friends would genuinely and consistently use – not ‘just’ another mediocre GPT wrapper. My formative experiences as a student taught me examples of how much personalized, engaging educational content can have a poignant impact in helping students reach their full potential, and I’m grateful to Samsung for the opportunity to showcase how technology can be used to create positive change in our communities.”