Bringing the Ports of Auckland closer to the people of Auckland is one of the winning ideas that Auckland students have generated in an innovation challenge with a total $24,000 prize pool.

The Solve It challenge, run by the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland Business School, invited fresh solutions to gnarly environmental and social problems posed by three corporate sponsors.

Nineteen teams of University of Auckland students entered, testing and developing their ideas with guidance from mentors and advisers over September’s two-week semester break.