We are happy to inform you that the evaluation of the ideas received under the covIDEJA 2020 initiated by UNDP and BIT Alliance and supported by all of you has been finalised and the expert jury has selected 6 top winning ideas out of a total of 109 submitted ideas.
We take this opportunity to thank all partners that designated representatives in the honorable jury.
Before presenting the highlights of top six ideas, it is important to note that the platform gained a lot of interest from the public (more than 175,000 page views, 75,000 visits on the web platform and 46,300 votes for best ideas) and generated 109 innovative ideas to fight the COVID-19 crisis. A lot of young energy in the call – the average age is 25 years!
You can review all ideas here: https://covideja2020.digitalnovrijeme.ba/galerija-ideja/ (submissions are in the languages of peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina). Please let us know your reflections on the process and the ideas.
Please reach out to Marina Dimova from UNDP and the Accelerator Lab in case you would be interested to support (financially, mentorship, or otherwise) some of the ideas you find exciting – from the 6 top ones or other ideas from the total pool submitted. UNDP will be happy to facilitate interaction with applicants and mobilize support for the realization of as many good ideas as possible! We will also continue to promote the ideas in the media to encourage their support.
The winning ideas are as follows:
Category: “Act now!”
- First place: Dženan Kovačić (21 years old), “Vault Nanoplatform as a Vaccine for SARS-CoV2 Infections and Therapeutic for Potential Activation of Tuberculosis in COVID-19 Infected Patients”. Vault nanotechnology is an ideal platform for the development of vaccines and therapeutics for intracellular pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. The platform can be used, with appropriate modifications, to deliver the components needed for immunization and to target the treatment of intracellular pathogens such as SARS-CoV2 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
- Second place: Kenan Suljić (19 years old), “D-App”. A digital solution (application) that can potentially support mental health issues, depression, and mental disorders. This application will provide a direct link between professionals at mental health centers and citizens. In addition to the contact with the experts, users will have sections for education, animation, research, and learning.
- Third place: Dino Trampa (39 years old), “Ultra Violet Tunnels for Sterilization of Shopping Carts”. The idea is to make new or upgrade existing places for the disposal of shopping carts inside and outside the shopping malls. The locations for the storage of the shopping carts would become closed tunnels with integrated ultraviolet led lights, which will be used to illuminate and disinfect the shopping carts.
Category “Re-Imagine the Future”
- First place: Nermin Dedukić (26 years old), “MaskMachine – Turn your Recycling Into Protection”. How to connect effective distribution of protective masks and responsible disposal of plastic bottles? The MaskMachine aims to solve both problems, the vending machine would collect PET bottles as a “currency” and in return, provide citizens with a medical protective mask. Citizens get a mask without contacting other persons and waiting in lines, and at the same time, contribute to the reduction of used plastic bottles going to landfills.
- Second place: Branko Petrović (29 years old), “Educor (for Bosnia and Herzegovina)”. A free digital learning platform in local language designed to enable schools across the country to have a collaborative multimedia on-line learning process while digitizing data for all students, exams, school registers, and educational materials, adaptable to specific schools’ programmes and content.
- Third place: Lamija Džaferović (20 years old), “Buy More so BiH Can Thrive!” / “Kupi više da BiH diše!”. This solution will support your appetite and the local economy! Every time you buy local food, products and services, you support local economy, save jobs and help the country’s resilience during and post-COVID-19 pandemic. The idea is to set in place a system that will support buying local products and services by accumulating purchase points in an e-card titled “387”, which later can be exchanged for discounts on domestic goods and services.
Thank you once again for standing behind this initiative,