KAO Data has announced the winner of its recently launched Kao Academy competition to design a data centre. 

Created in collaboration with Cambridge Science Centre, an independent, educational charity, the Kao Academy is an industry-first science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) resource, designed to engage primary and early secondary school-aged children with the purpose and role of a data centre.

First launched in May 2022, it provides educational resources to help teach children aged 7-11 about the role of a data centre, how they are designed, engineered, and constructed, and explain their relevance to our everyday lives.

The winner of the competition, 11 year-old Jasmine Wales from Ely in Cambridgeshire, has created Kao Data’s first ‘Desert Data Centre’ design, which incorporates pioneering sustainability features, including a condensation pit to harvest water for the building, one way glass to reduce the amount of energy needed to power the facility, and solar panels to make it more energy efficient.

It will also encourage greater biodiversity, with living walls to provide a home for nature, while reducing heat levels inside the facility.

As part of the design, Jasmine has also created first of its kind natural security measures, including spiky cacti to stop intruders entering the building and an industry-first snake-pit which circles the perimeter of the data centre!