Four girls from Jarrow School spent a morning immersing themselves in the latest 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 twenty years. The girls, aged eleven and twelve years, 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', 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 latest technology.

UK Biometrics Technical Director Jon Telford said: "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.

In addition to being the youngest entrants in The Big Ideas ICT Youth Challenge 2008, the girls are the youngest entrepreneurs to receive assistance from enterprise agency TEDCO.

TEDCO Enterprise Champion Carol Metcalfe said: "The girls' enthusiasm for their project rubs off on everyone they contact. They have already beaten off competition from much older groups during the early stages and will present their idea at ‘The HotHouse Event' to be filmed by the BBC between 30th June and 4th July where the girls will present to a panel including judges from Microsoft and BT."

Source: Info4Security