Caithness Map :: Links to Site Map Great value Unlimited Broadband from an award winning provider THU 10TH JUL 2025    5:45:49 AM BST
This site uses cookies, by continuing to use this site you accept the terms of our privacy policy
Back To Top
Caithness.Org Quick Links
Home
Construction
Leisure
Manufacturing
Misc.
Primary
Professional
Public
Retail
Tourism
Transport
Site Map
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Feed 2.0 Loading...

Winners Announced In The North Atlantic Corona Challenge

5th June 2020

Photograph of Winners Announced In The North Atlantic Corona Challenge

The 48-hour challenge was aimed at 18-30-year olds from the north Atlantic region (Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Coastal Norway and Scotland).

Their task was to come up with ideas and develop solutions to save communities, save businesses and save lives during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has been working with NORA to extend the initiative to the region. The event had a high take-up from all five countries and 17 teams were created.

Twenty-nine people took part from across Scotland with 16 from the Highlands and Islands. Each team was allocated a mentor to coach and guide ideas development throughout the weekend.

The winning idea was developed by a team of two people from the Highlands and Islands - husband and wife Samuel Warnock and Rachel Bews. The remote shopping app, called ‘Shop With Me' provides a solution for small rural retail businesses to continue operating during the pandemic.

Rachael from Evanton said:"I have loved participating in the North Atlantic Corona Challenge. It has been such a rewarding experience for us to really focus on a current problem in such a short space of time and develop innovative solutions. Our mentor has been fantastic and the whole organisation has been faultless. We would love to participate in any future 'hackathons', and we are so thrilled to have won. We are really excited to explore applying our project in reality."

The runner-up prize was won by a transnational team from Scotland and Iceland, which included two participants from the Highlands and Islands. Their idea was an app called ‘ParentEd', which is a new and original solution to support parents with online education for their children.

The third prize was claimed by an Icelandic team. Their project, called ‘DIMAI' - a web-based system, which is a medical image diagnostic that uses artificial intelligence. The top three winners were awarded cash prizes of £1,200, £2,400 and £3,600.

The prize of entrepreneurship support from HIE was awarded to a Scottish-Faroese team for their project, called ‘Tour'st’, which is a platform aimed at connecting tour guides to their customers during the pandemic while also creating scope for future face-to-face clientele.

HIE’s innovation team will provide support to develop this idea further to realise its commercial potential.

Kateryna McKinnon, European manager at HIE, said: "We were really pleased that such a high number of creative young people took part in this online event. All the teams delivered very exciting innovations, which address our region’s specific preconditions. This was a fantastic opportunity to generate great ideas and prototype solutions which could be developed into commercial products, but also help ‘save lives’. It was great to work with NORA on this initiative and connect our young people from Scotland with like-minded young people in other parts of the north Atlantic, to bounce ideas and exchange experiences. I hope the success of this event would mean more collaborative initiatives between NORA and Scotland to follow."

Øystein Andresen, Advisor from NORA, said: "The North Atlantic Corona Challenge was a great way for NORA to bring forth the best of our youth. The sparsely populated areas in the north Atlantic are not exempt from the crisis, even though the number of infected have been relatively low. We wanted to inspire the young generation to work together to combat the pandemic and we were blown away with their amazing ideas."

PHOTO

Rachel Bews

Photographer - Sarah Morgan McDowell

 

Related Businesses

 

Related Articles

Salmon farm company to convert waste to useable product
A project to recycle waste at an aquaculture hatchery in Wester Ross has secured up to £630,290 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).   Bakkafrost Scotland limited is leading the project, which has a total investment value of more than £2.5m.  
Renewable energy firm ENERCON welcomed to Wick Business Park
Wick Business Park has welcomed wind energy technology company ENERCON as the first occupant of one of four new units completed last year.   ENERCON specialises in designing, producing, installing and servicing onshore wind turbines and has been operating in the Caithness area since 2013.  
New recruits at HIE Caithness and Sutherland teamThumbnail for article : New recruits at HIE Caithness and Sutherland team
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has appointed new members to its Caithness and Sutherland team as the agency settles into its new premises and works to expand its client portfolio.   Claire Wilson has joined as head of business growth and investment.  
Applications open for the 2025/26 Scottish Rural Leadership Programme
Businesses in the Highlands and Islands are invited to apply to the 2025/26 Scottish Rural Leadership Programme.   The initiative is designed to empower rural business owners and senior leaders across Scotland with the skills, confidence and strategic insight needed to drive innovation and growth in their communities.  
Recruitment under way for next Chair of Highlands and Islands EnterpriseThumbnail for article : Recruitment under way for next Chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise
The Scottish Government has begun recruitment to appoint a new Chair for the Board of development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).   Applications are currently being invited through the government's public appointments website with a closing date of 7 July 2025.  
Renewable energy training centre officially opened in InvernessThumbnail for article : Renewable energy training centre officially opened in Inverness
Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, has officially opened Aurora's pioneering Renewable Energy Training Centre in Inverness - the only facility of its kind serving the Highlands.   The £1.2m training centre has already demonstrated its importance to Scotland's net-zero ambitions, training to more than 1,000 people in its first year and gearing up to train more than 2,000 workers annually who will be central to the country's renewable energy future.  
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will invest up to £24 million at Kishorn Port
A multi-million pound investment is being made in one of Scotland's most strategically important ports.   Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will invest up to £24 million at Kishorn Port in the west Highlands to enhance its capacity and capabilities, with an expanded dry dock and land reclamation enabling the manufacture of floating offshore wind foundations.  
Commercial diver training company in Argyll to scope expansionThumbnail for article : Commercial diver training company in Argyll to scope expansion
A commercial diver training company in Argyll is exploring the potential to expand the business to include closed bell diver training.   Dunoon based Professional Diving Academy (PDA) has secured £5,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to help cover associated market assessment consultancy costs.  
New green training skills facilities open in Stornoway - Fosgladh Goireasan Trèanaidh Sgilean Uaine ann an SteòrnabhaghThumbnail for article : New green training skills facilities open in Stornoway - Fosgladh Goireasan Trèanaidh Sgilean Uaine ann an Steòrnabhagh
The new, state-of-the-art Technology and Innovation Centre at UHI North, West and Hebrides' Stornoway campus officially opened following a £2.3m investment.   It is the first capital project to be delivered under the Islands Growth Deal, a ten-year package that seeks to drive economic growth and the creation of sustainable jobs across Shetland, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides.  
Operator sought for new innovation centreThumbnail for article : Operator sought for new innovation centre
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is looking to contract a specialist operating company to run a new multi-million-pound innovation centre under development in Moray to support manufacturing.   The three-year contract will involve developing and managing the service offering of the new Manufacturing Innovation Centre Moray (MICM), as well as stakeholder engagement, marketing and promotion of the facility.