Team “Practical Solutions Group”, composed of young researchers from the Petnica Science Station, is the winner of this year’s “Tech Case Study 2022” competition. In addition to the first prize and scholarship for studies, this team also won the newly established award for the most innovative solution.
The competition, with the slogan “Test your engineering skills” was held for the fourth time, organised by the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the University in Belgrade, at the initiative of the Faculty’s Students’ Association. In addition to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, which traditionally supports this competition, this year’s competition was also supported by the Embassy of Sweden and Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade in cooperation with projects “IED Serbia” and “eVOC Serbia”, both implemented by the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy.
The final event was officially opened by Mr. Dragan Satarić from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, Ms. Karin McDonald, Head of Development Cooperation Section at theEmbassy of Sweden in Belgrade, Mr. Nebojsa Cvejanov, Program Coordinator at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade and Dr. Petar Uskoković the Dean of the Faculty. Keynote speakers emphasized the importance of young people and their role in the development of green technologies and transition toward a circular economy.
The audience was able to follow this year’s Tech Case Study online. The final competition was streamed on the official YouTube channel of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy. Viewers were able to vote and support their favourites, and the popular vote was taken into account when deciding the final ranking, together with the opinion of the expert jury. The expert jury was comprised of Mr. Zlatan Milosevic, Trade and Economic Officer at the Swedish Embassy in Belgrade, Ms. Aleksandra Vucinic, Head of the Group for Circular and Green Economy at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Prof. dr Maja Radetić and prof. Dr. Mirjana Kostić, full professors of textile engineering at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy and Vladimir Smuđa, president of Students’ association of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy.
The goal of the “Tech Case Study” competition was to get the high school students from all over Serbia acquainted with the work of technologists, and to try their hand at solving real problems in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development testing their engineering knowledge. Ten teams took part in the final competition, each comprising 3-4 students who worked on the assignment with the help from their mentors. This year, the assignment was to propose a technological solution to the problem of waste textiles with the aim of improving the circularity of the process.
The winning team, “Practical Solutions Group”, is comprised of Đorđe Nožanić, Nevena Ilić, Goran Knežević and Teodora Pecarski graduates of the Fifth and Fourteenth Belgrade Gymnasium, as well as the High School “Miloje Vasic” from Veliko Gradiste. According to the votes of the expert jury and the audience, the second place went to the “VUMT” team, which also consists of young researchers Vukašin Lalović, Tamara Orlović, Maša Radisavljević and Una Gajić from the Petnica Science Station. This team also won the newly established award for the best presentation.
The third-placed team is “Renergy Fusion”, which consists of Ana Krunić, Marija Krunić, Teodora Jolić and Ana Ćalić, students of the First and Fourteenth Belgrade Gymnasiums with their mentor Goran Milićev.
