The winner of the Challenger Ideator accelerator program 2023 is WeAreTeam!
On 30 May, the final event of the Challenger Ideator accelerator programme took place in Kasárne / Kulturpark with the participation of the expert jury, the competing teams and the general public.
The event, which was officially opened by Martin Mudrák, Commissioner for Innovation and Economic Development of the City of Košice, was the culmination of three months of intensive work of 10 competing teams, which were composed of students and workers.
During the finals, each team had 3 minutes for a final presentation of their project and competed for the grand prize of the Acceleration Progress Award coupled with a financial prize of €10,000 from the City of Košice. The main criteria for selecting the winner were: relevance, presentation of the solution during the finals, innovativeness and potential contribution to the city. The jury also took into account how each team progressed during the programme.
The winner of the main prize was the team – WeAreTeam – Laura Murínová, Patrik Kraviar, Marek Kováč from Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia, who proposed a solution for the city of Košice to raise more than € 1,000,000 in 1 year. The solution connects the cadastre with the city of Košice and enables tracking of unrecognized property taxes. The idea, which is feasible in all cities, solves a problem that has existed for a long time and, once successfully implemented, can bring money to the city that can be used for further development.
As Eva Šimeková, Associate Partner at CIVITTA said, “We are very pleased that we, together with our partners CIKE, IT Valley and East Coast, have been able to organize three editions of this program in Košice and accelerate the growth of 30 Slovak and foreign innovative projects that improve the quality of life in the city.”
In addition to the main prize, there was also a People’s Choice Award, based on a vote of the guests present. This prize was also awarded to the team – WeAreTeam, which won the audience’s sympathy.
Other solutions, among many interesting ones, were offered for example by the AINGELS team, composed of students from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of TUKE – Roman Hudák, Katarína Istonova, Ján Šverha, Martin Katona a Maryna Tsvietaieva. They developed a project of an innovative parking lot with solar panels providing protection from bad weather with charging stations for electric cars, green areas and a rainwater collection system for continuous irrigation of greenery and cooling of the surroundings. The Atlantis team – Ján Hrabovský, Marek Petrinec a Ján Majoroš, employees of Siemens Healthineers, had an idea to use an integrated IoT system with thermal imaging sensors to optimize public lighting.
“Thank you for organising a programme like this, where with your help we have the opportunity to develop ideas that can change the way the world works,” says one of the participants.
More photos are available here.
