The jury, consisting of experts from the CTU together with representatives of GasNet, Plzeňský Prazdroj, DEK, JRD and CITYA.io, selected the three best student solutions from all submitted projects.
The first award-winning project was commissioned by Plzeňský Prazdroj and Asahi, where the theme was to deal with the processing of paper waste from beer labels. The jury was most impressed by the presentations of students Andrea Jeřábková (from Faculty of Information Technology, FIT), Gabriela Blažková and Sandra Halmlová (both students of Faculty of Architecture, FA). Their proposal deals with the creation of a so-called Kozlov paper mill, where a line for the production of recycled paper and beer coasters could be created in the brewery space. Along with this proposal, the students also presented a visitor centre where people could handmake paper or coasters. Andrea Jeřábková, the leader of the competition team, commented on this rendition of the theme: "Making coasters was an obvious solution for us from the beginning, but we wanted to take our proposal a little further. So we came up with a proposal for public workshops that could raise the popularity of the Popovice brewery and at the same time fit perfectly with the current image of Kozl as a 'folk' brand. We even conducted a test workshop, which confirmed our hypothesis that such a centre has great potential."
The company's representative Tomáš Dupal also gave his opinion on the possible establishment of the Kozlov paper mill: "The team came up with an interesting solution for the use of waste, but also brought ideas for its upcycling. We like the combination of sustainability with other fun elements and opportunities for tourism and opening up to the public. We could imagine implementing a similar workshop on a smaller scale."
The jury was also very impressed by the team consisting of Šimon Kochánek from Faculty of Biomedical Engineering (FBMI), Pavel Svoboda (FA) and Richard Šedivý (FIT), who, as part of the CITYA start-up assignment, dealt with measuring traffic intensity in suburban regions. The measured data could then be used to develop shared passenger transport. "We were looking for a simple, inexpensive solution that is particularly adapted to measuring vehicle flow outside cities. In the end, we came up with a concept that uses a smart sensor with two microphones to classify vehicle type and direction of travel using a neural network. We can then collect and merge this data into a model that can analyse the mobility requirements of the population in real time, which can then be used to further develop alternative, green mobility."
A proposal for the development of regenerative technologies in the construction industry was received from JRD. Here, the experts were interested in the HEXECO solution presented by students Josef Kovařík from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FS), Jiří Budil from Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FEL), Cristina Perulero Cabrera (FIT) and Teresa Jeřábková from Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering (FJFI). "In our proposal, we sought to optimize the housing units and address the current problems of urban areas, especially the high energy demands of buildings, air pollution, overheating in the summer months and drought. We came up with the concept of hexagon-shaped living cells to reduce the wall area, and consequently reduce heat loss. We tried to keep the technical solutions low cost and low energy. For cooling, a combination of adiabatic heat exchanger, WAHX concept, or radiant heat emitters was used. We also designed special slatted equipment for solar energy management. Since even a smart building with a "dumb occupant" can be far less energy efficient than a conventional building, we supplemented the whole proposal with a mobile app that motivates the occupants to be more efficient and informs them about their energy consumption," said Josef Kovařík, a representative of the working group.
All of the above projects will go forward to the international competition EuroteQaThon, which will take place on 10-12 June in Prague. Teams from all EuroTeQ partner universities - Technical University of Munich, Technical University of Denmark, Technical University of Eindhoven, École Polytechnique, Tallinn University of Technology, CTU in Prague, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and Technion Israel Institute of Technology - will compete in this competition.
A presentation of all the challenges that CTU students could solve in the current round of EuroTeQ Collider is available at web EuroTeQ CTU.