Combating climate change on the world stage

Just out of school, two BGS Old Boys from the Class of 2019 are already tackling climate change through innovation.

In their first year at The University of Queensland, Tom Bizzell and Jack Anderson won the international Ericsson Innovation Award 2020 for a software solution to reduce greenhouse emissions in the global shipping industry.

This global competition challenges university students to find a solution to climate change using technology. Tom and Jack’s startup WakeShare received the top prize of 25,000 Euros ($40,000), beating approximately 500 submissions including another finalist from Stanford University. Tom, a commerce/law student, heard about the competition and approached Jack, whose engineering course work in fluid dynamics got him thinking about shipping. The pair started to research ways to reduce fuel consumption and the feasibility of what’s known as “platooning”.

“It started as a joke about how ducks fly in formation, and thinking about how boats should travel like ducks,” Tom explains. “Platooning is used in cycling, or like Mario Kart, where you hop behind each other to get into the slipstream. Applying that principle to trucks and boats, you’re providing a drag reduction, which increases fuel efficiency.”

Since winning the Ericsson Innovation Award, Jack and Tom have recruited a software engineering student to join WakeShare and have shifted their focus from shipping to the trucking industry.

“The fuel efficiency gains for trucks compared to ships is greater, and trucks are constrained to specific highways and channeled into specific bottlenecks,” Jack says. “Safety is also a big issue, and large truck manufacturer Scania is working on semi-autonomous technology to make platooning in trucking more viable.”

“Our solution provides a network to facilitate coordination between competing companies,” Tom says. “We provide the means to share information required for platooning, without competitors having to share sensitive cost modelling and scheduling data. There could also be a savings-sharing transaction between parties.”

Tom and Jack are currently working on their business case and technology design so they can approach the trucking industry for capital and advice. They have also made the finals of another international competition, the Real Impact on Society and Environment (RISE) Awards. An initiative of Universitas 21, a coalition of universities, it gives WakeShare access to mentors in industry and academia.

But WakeShare is not just an academic exercise devised to win university competitions. Tom and Jack have big plans to make their startup a reality. “By swapping to trucks, we’ve offloaded the hurdle of safety – by passing it on to companies like Scania,” Tom says. “Now we’re focused on building up the network, we need to reach a critical mass of companies.”

Jack adds: “We’ll start with Australia, because having the one main highway is a big advantage and it’s one of the largest countries with just one set of laws and such a heavy reliance on trucking. After that we envision a country-by-country rollout.”

Image: Tom Bizzell (left) and Jack Anderson.