How Meg's Idea to Solve the Roadkill Problem Won Samsung's Solve For Tomorrow Competition

Meg takes us through the process of formulating a ground-breaking idea.

This article is presented in partnership with Samsung Solve for Tomorrow.

We’ve all been there – travelling down one of Australia’s long rural roads, and on the side of the road is roadkill.

It’s an unfortunate sight, but it’s something we’ve become accustomed to in Australia.

Solutions have come and gone – road signs, lowered speed limits, improved road skills and more have been trialed but none have been overly successful.

Introducing Meg Phillips - the winner of Samsung's 2021 Solve for Tomorrow Competition.

As an animal lover who grew up in Tasmania, the roadkill capital of the world, the issue has always on her mind.

So, when she became aware of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Competition, it was the perfect chance for her to create real change with a brand-new idea.

Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow Competition is an opportunity for young Australians to share their future solutions for the problems of today.

Meg joined us on How Did I Get Here? last week to share her idea and how her life led up to her idea.

So, let’s take a closer look on how she came up with her idea.

Before arriving at her final idea, Meg brainstormed a wide range of projects stemming from her educational background.

“My background has mostly been in energy and power, and that’s kind of my strong suit,” she said.

“I thought, ‘let’s have a look at some kind of little renewable energy systems’ while I was playing around with ideas.”

But when she hit a wall, she decided to reset and reframe, using her own life as inspiration.

“I thought a little bit more about problems that were specific to Tasmania, and I’d actually just been to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary,” she explained.

“We learned a bit about conservation there and they were talking about roadkill, so when I thought about Tasmania-focused problems, roadkill was the first thing that came to mind.”

@studentedge What’s the idea that won Meg Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition? Find out more on our latest ep of How Did I Get Here? This episode is presented in partnership with Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. #podcast #solvefortomorrow #STEM ♬ original sound - Student Edge

From there, Meg was inspired to create her idea.

By using the world around her, she was able to bring her vision to fruition.

She used inspiration from all around her, including her work sign-on system and electronic parts from an auto store to create it.

From there, she said the submission process was “really straightforward”.

“The whole process of putting the whole thing together took me a good five or six hours one night, with ideating a few days before that.”

“It wasn’t a huge commitment,” she said, “and it was pretty fun to bring it all together.”

A month later, Meg was announced as the winner of the 2021 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, which netted her $10,000 in prize money, a Samsung Tech Pack and the opportunity to take her idea to the next level.

That's just the tip of the iceberg - head here for heaps more info on this year's Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Competition.