Ten new innovative solutions in the field of environmental protection were presented at the end of the student Think Green hackathon organized on April 13th-15th in the Science Technology Park Belgrade (STP Belgrade).

More than 45 students attended the three-day event, divided into 10 multidisciplinary teams, which created solutions to 6 challenges in the field of environmental protection: from agricultural, recyclable and high-value waste management, to monitoring chargers for electric vehicles and balancing consumption production of electric energy. The challenges were defined by the member companies of STP Belgrade: Atfield technologies, Meter & Control, Charge & go, Hindus, Soma and Referral.

On the first day of the hackathon, the teams were assigned challenges with descriptions of the challenge, and the students then had 48 hours to create their own solutions consisting of technical work and examining market needs.

– The goal of the Think Green Hackathon is to motivate students to think about ecology and green technologies, as well as to get acquainted with the basics of technological entrepreneurship and the ways in which it can solve global challenges. By organizing such events, NTP Belgrade strives to encourage and encourage the development of creative thinking, entrepreneurial spirit and innovative technological solutions among young people – said Bojan Milenković, Coordinator for support of innovation development in the Science Technology Park Belgrade.

Students worked on the development of innovative solutions with the support of 15 technology and business mentors and had the opportunity to hear lectures on current environmental trends in the world, the development of innovative businesses and experiences from global hackathons. On the last day of the hackathon, they presented before an expert jury, composed of: prof. Dr. Ratko Ristić, Vice-Rector of the University of Belgrade and Professor of the Faculty of Forestry, Nataša Ćirović, Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade and Aleksandra Bogovac, Head of the Termovent Academy.

The award for the best solution went to the TerraWatt team, who proposed a solution for the development of an intelligent metering and control system on the electricity grid, which can be used to predict electricity consumption by electricity traders. Second place went to the Wastelocate team for the proposed platform to improve the agricultural waste management cycle and connect farmers with agricultural waste processors, while third place went to Otpadium for an application to establish communication between farmers and agricultural waste collectors.

All three first-placed teams were given the opportunity to continue the development of the business idea with expert support, ie. an innovative solution until they came to the hackathon. The two first-placed teams will also receive a study visit to the European Innovation Capital 2020, Leuven in Belgium, and the third-placed team will be provided with valuable literature in the field of innovative business development and startup companies.

The student Think Green hackathon was organized within the project “EU support to the Science Technology Park Belgrade by providing services for innovative companies”, while part of the awards was provided through the project “Pulse of Europe – EU media visits”. Both projects are funded by the European Union.

Through various projects, the EU has been supporting the reform process in Serbia for more than two decades – among other things, improving the environment, supporting entrepreneurship, and developing innovation. This year, the European Union has declared as the Year of Youth.

– Events like this, where young people express their potential and offer different solutions in a creative way, in this case in the field of environment, are an indicator that young people, with adequate support, can be drivers of change in society. We are glad that as an EU project we can support young people who offered the best solutions and enable them a study trip to Leuven, the city of students, innovations and startups – said Marina Rakić, team leader of the project “Pulse of Europe – EU media visits”.