Start-up of the week: Hackney college kids come up with products of the future
Hackney Community College students who have come up with Scrinkey. - Credit: Archant
Every week, we take to the streets to find a start-up business right here in Hackney. This week, we speak to the youngsters looking to become the next generation of tech.
The team from BSsix. Picture: London Met - Credit: Archant
A device to replace front door locks with smartphone fingerprint readers and emergency charging booths. These are the two start-up ideas from Hackney students in the running for a major business prize.
Budding entrepreneurs from Hackney Community College and BSix are hoping to win London Met’s Big Idea Challenge and on Friday got tips from Microsoft and Nike workers.
The community college kids created “Scrinkey” – doing away with locks and replacing them with smartphone-activated fingerprint recognition. BSix want to make physical charging pods in major cities.
Bsix student Trisha Mercado said the challenge had given them more confidence. “We were thinking about the common problems people face in daily life and we all agreed running out of mobile battery was one.”
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Her counterpart at the comunity college, Emmanuel Yetbarek, said: “It’s something we’ve all had practical experience with; everyone loses their keys at some point. We saw there was a problem and used our previous tech experience to try help solve it.”
Quinland Anderson, a teacher at BSix College, said: “Taking part really helps boost students’ skills – a student can be the most confident person in a classroom but it doesn’t always translate to the working world. It’s great to take part whilst still learning.”
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Eighteen colleges from across London are taking part in the challenge.
