HIGH-flying students have seen their game changing idea win them a place in a competition to win £25,000.

A group from Colchester County High School for Girls has secured their place in the Longitude Explorer Prize.

The team developed Project Assist, an AI enabled sensor network which tracks vulnerable elderly people in their home.

It then alerts a family member if something is wrong for example, if their relative has had a fall.

The programme also communicates with the vulnerable person during times of crisis via speech recognition and text to speech to reduce panic.

It will connect them to professional who can give advice and contacting emergency services with all the details.

They will do battle with 39 other groups of youngsters aged between 11 and 16.

They will receive resources and expert mentoring to develop their concept ahead of a Dragons’ Den style pitch later this summer.

The prize recognises tech solutions to some of the big challenges of our time.

The winning team will be awarded £25,000 for their school or youth group in July.

Three runner-up teams will each also receive £10,000.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “It is incredible to see how these finalists have thought up innovations to tackle global challenges, from devices that detect health problems to robots which can remove plastic waste from our seas.

“Technological innovation is important to grow the UK economy and we are supporting young people to pursue careers in this area.”

Constance Agyeman, head of international development and communities, Nesta Challenges said: “It is abundantly clear our young people are passionate about the great challenges of our time and have the capacity, creativity and power of thought to make the world a better place.

“The significant emphasis on STEM education in recent years is hugely positive. Now we need to supercharge those talents by embedding entrepreneurial skills in the classroom too.”