Pupils at six Highland secondary schools are preparing for a week of 'hothousing' from next Monday (June 26), when they go to Fairburn Activity Centre to fine-tune their business plans for the final of the ICT Youth Challenge.

Teams from Farr, Plockton, Campbeltown and Fortrose will be competing for the three top prizes which include trips to IT centres of excellence at Seattle, Massachusetts and another to Ipswich, plus a range of laptops, MP3 players and digital cameras.

The competition is run by a four-way partnership between ITP Solutions; Rural Insights; Atlantic Marketing and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to help youngsters acquire the skills needed to develop brand new ideas in information and communication technology.

Every year local businesses give up their time and expertise to coach keen youngsters on their competition bids. The final six teams benefit from a week of intensive guidance from top experts on issues such as intellectual property rights, prototyping and commercialising ideas, before presenting their invention to the judging panel.

As tension begins to mount, organisers highlighted their gratitude not only to the main sponsors - BT and Microsoft, but three smaller contributors who have supported the event year after year - PCWarehouse which provides prizes and technical support; Edesign Scotland which contributes unique advice on product development and ICASS, funded by the Scottish Executive, which offers support for Scotland's inventors and innovative companies.

"Without the support of these three operations and the voluntary help we receive from small local companies, ICT Youth Challenge just wouldn't happen" said one of the organisers, Bryan Fraser, "Every year they volunteer their time and money to encourage these youngsters to believe in their ambitions. Through their sense of educational responsibility many of these pupils will go on to become the next generation of innovators who can make a real difference to the world over the coming decades."

The competition final takes place at Fairburn Activity Centre in Marybank from Monday 26th May to Friday 30th.

The prize for the team who comes up with the best commercial potential will be a trip to the Microsoft lab in Seattle, while HIE is offering a trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the team which demonstrates the best innovation in design. BTScotland are providing a visit to their Futurology lab in Ipswich for the idea that shows the best use of communications.

Link to page with videoclip ftrom last year's event