Team TiC, comprising 13-year-olds Tomi Baikie, John Coghill, Declan Mackay and Donnchadh Pellow, won a trip to the Microsoft campus in Seattle, USA, at the final of the ICT Youth Challenge last week, when their innovative KiS (Keep it Simple) Tablet was deemed to have the best commercial potential.

In winning the trip, the pupils became the youngest team to take a major prize in the history of the challenge.

The pupils were joined by teams from Ullapool, Keith, Dornoch, Sanday and Plockton in the Hot House final, after being whittled down from a record 150 entries.

Overall winners of the competition and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Award for design and innovation were Passion from Ullapool High School, who will get a trip to MIT in Boston.

The BT Scotland-sponsored award for the idea demonstrating the best use of communications went to Visual Radiance from Keith Grammar School. The pupils will visit BT's European research and development headquarters in East Anglia as part of their prize.

Team KLACH from Dornoch Academy won the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute award and will head off to a UHI institution.

Alistair Trail, Wick High School rector, made the 210-mile round trip to see the awards ceremony and support the Wick pupils.

Team TiC's mentor, Professor Iain Baikie, said he was very proud of the boys' achievements. "It's a fantastic effort, It shows they can hold their own," he said.

Showing off their winners' certificates are (back, from left) Donnchadh Pellow, John Coghill and Tomi Baikie, along with Declan Mackay

Prof Baikie, whose own firm KP Technology helped the team, said the pupils were "a bit stunned" when they won. "It's a great achievement for Wick High," he said. "It'll be the adventure of a lifetime."

The team members will go on the trip in September, and hope Microsoft may help in developing their design into a real product.

The computer, a touch-screen tablet with a simple user interface, is designed primarily to help elderly people. Features include medication reminders, an alarm for the emergency services and internet access for communicating with friends and family. The product has gained praise from a variety of high-profile figures after the team wrote to them for advice ahead of the challenge final.

Dame Joan Bakewell, a government-appointed "voice for older people", Kenneth Clarke MP and ex-NASA astronaut Duane Carey were all impressed with the KiS Tablet.

Prof Baikie now hopes the idea will become a commercial product within the next year, and is looking for funding to help achieve that.

The inventors have presented the tablet to venues in Caithness, including the Laurandy Centre in Wick, and plan to make a presentation to the town's Riverview medical practice.

David Manion, chief executive of Age Concern and Help the Aged in Scotland, has invited the team to do a presentation at the charity's regional assembly meeting.

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