From solar phone cases to robotic cars for reforestation and furniture recycling platforms, the innovative ideas of high school students from technical schools impressed the expert jury!
Sustainable solutions for everyday needs have long been in the spotlight, but today innovative solutions to ecological problems are more popular—and necessary—than ever. Green technologies include innovations such as clean energy, wastewater purification, waste management, and more. Recognizing the importance of green technologies, Lean Startup Croatia collaborated with Startup Macedonia to launch the GreenTech Entrepreneurship Challenge. A total of 200 students across two countries and 10 schools in Macedonia and Croatia presented their green solutions and prototypes.
The GreenTech Entrepreneurship Challenge is a competition for senior students in technical high schools aimed at designing innovations in green technology and fostering entrepreneurial thinking through hands-on work. The project is simultaneously conducted in Croatian and Macedonian high schools and co-financed by the EU Erasmus+ program.
Infobip’s campus wows students
The competition took place at the stunning Infobip Campus in Zagreb. Infobip’s Director of Global Internal Communications and ESG, Martina Rizman Matić, welcomed the students, while Tihana Tea Mušica guided the young innovators through the campus. The students were thrilled with the modern open-space offices, beanbags, large terrace, cafeteria, and Infobip’s green initiatives and socially responsible business practices.
The expert jury included:
- Predrag Samardžija, Zagrebačke Otpadne Vode – Operations and Management
- Tihana Tea Mušica, Infobip
- Erica Svetec, Green Energy Cooperative
- Goran Ladišić, Project 02
- Mario Špadina, SeaCras
The jury took their task seriously, asking the teams numerous questions. For instance, Goran Ladišić, who raises awareness about forest conservation, had questions about the Karpling reforestation car. The students joked about their device potentially becoming “competition” for his valuable project, and Goran shared some advice in return.
Mario Špadina, an innovator in the green tech field, expressed enthusiasm about the projects and the students’ dedication to solving these challenges. As a chemist and innovator, he highlighted the need for more events like this, emphasizing that such educational initiatives represent the future of learning.
Erica Svetec from the Green Energy Cooperative discussed the “vicious cycle” of human impact on climate change and vice versa, stressing that this isn’t a future problem – it’s a current issue that requires awareness through such projects.
Highschool students find solutions for today’s challenges
In Croatia, five schools participated in the challenge: Krapina Secondary School, Čakovec Technical School, Varaždin Electromechanical School, Slatina Industrial and Craft School, and Virovitica Technical School. Students had the opportunity to choose one of three challenges and, over five weeks, develop solutions to the following questions:
- How can unused energy from wastewater be utilized?
- How can forests be protected and reforestation increased using technology?
- How can the use of renewable energy sources for electricity production in Croatia be increased?
After five weeks of training on the fundamentals of entrepreneurial project development, innovation creation, and understanding the role of green technologies in their education and profession, the grand finale of the project – GreenTech Entrepreneurship Challenge Demo Day – was held at the Infobip campus. Students from the 12 most successful teams from school competitions competed against selected teams from other schools for cash prizes worth €5,000, sponsored by Zagrebačke Otpadne Vode – Operations and Management, and Infobip.
Innovation development through the project
Students devised numerous solutions, including a solar phone case, a building heating system utilizing wastewater, the Carpling reforestation car, and an app that leverages the circular economy to recycle furniture while simultaneously promising to plant one tree for every order.
The students didn’t stop at presentations, however. They went a step further and created prototypes, enabling the jury to verify whether the solar phone case could actually charge a phone, to assess the design of the reforestation car, and to understand how the innovative building heating system powered by wastewater operates.
Although the decision was far from easy, three teams ultimately took home the awards: Fu(rni)ture!, GreenPipe, and GreenHeat. Beyond the idea itself, the decisive factors for victory were the thorough development of the concept, the presentation’s appearance and quality, the skill of the presenters, and their ability to answer the jury’s questions.
After the awards ceremony, the expert jury briefly commented on the projects. Each team received their award from a representative of a company that saw potential applications of the project within their business operations. For example, Predrag Samardžija invited the students to visit the Zagrebačke Otpadne Vode facility – management and operations – to see a system similar to the one they had designed and explore potential career opportunities. Other jury members supported his initiative and also invited these young innovators to spend a day at their respective companies.
Filip Stipančić from Smion (ex. Lean Startup Croatia) concluded the GreenTech Entrepreneurship Challenge by thanking all the participants. He also announced that the project would continue in 2023 on an even larger scale and encouraged younger generations of technical school students to become the drivers of the positive changes they wish to see.
You can watch a video from the event below.
More photos from the event:
You can learn more about the entire project on the official website.
