I met a couple of students and their teachers and their enthusiasm was evident. I particularly enjoyed an anecdote from Kevin Jarvis, an englishman, who told me that when they had solar panels installed on the school roof they grabbed the opportunity to discuss the technology with the students and that, as a result, the Solar Impulse aircraft represents quite an achievement in their eyes.

It was also good to hear teachers say that their students are very environmentally conscious. Apparently there was much interest in the lead up to the school trip and their enthusiasm was fuelled by the Solar Impulse teaching notes downloaded from the website.

Bertrand Piccard reminded students that the future belongs to them. He told them to learn how to think, not what to think: "You must free yourselves of prejudgment and certainty and understand that you can shape your future."

André Borschberg reminded the audience of the Solar Impulse goals: "The aircraft is an ambassador for new technology and for reducing energy. The innovations have been developed in partnership and are owned by our project partners, they can therefore commercialise them for the benefit of everyone. The batteries that Bayer and Solvay developed are a good example of the transfer of technology. We might one day find them being used in cars."

During the course of the evening, Benjamin Van Oudenhove, president of the Belgian Harvard club presented André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard with the prestigious Harvard Leadership Price Award. For André, the award provides encouragement for the team as they enter phase two of the project and start building the second plane which is destined to fly around the world.

Bertrand also trained his sights on the future and said that receiving awards before flying around the world is a great vote of confidence in the project and gives the team huge encouragement.