Four girls from Jarrow School spent a morning immersing themselves in the biometric technology at Newcastle upon Tyne based UK Biometrics Ltd as part of their entry for The Big Ideas ICT Youth Challenge 2008 competition.
The competition calls for new business ideas based on information and communication technology from young people up to the age of 20. The girls aged 11 and 12 are the youngest entrants in the UK.
Their idea is to market a mobile telephone especially for children. The girls surveyed over four hundred of their school friends and parents to determine what concerns they had. These included text bullying, unwanted calls from sales people, parental control so parents could determine which numbers and websites could be accessed, the ability to call family members or teachers in an emergency when their credit had run out, mobile ‘Chat Rooms’ to bring back the art of spoken conversation and a biometric device that would end mobile phone theft and mugging for mobile phones. The four approached UK Biometrics to find out about the technology.
UK Biometrics Technical Director Jon Telford says: “We spent a morning with the girls and were impressed with their grasp of the technology. We have been researching biometric security for palm held devices including mobile phones for over a year and many of the features requested by the girls are achievable with available technology. We wish them every success in the competition and look forward to signing contracts with our youngest ever technology partners in about four years time when they turn 16."
