Hackathon 'My Business Idea'
Hackathon 'My Business Solution', a competition in business ideas for young people as an activity of the Youth4OpenInnovation project was organized by the Business Start up Center Bar in cooperation with the Municipality of Bar from 16.02. to 28.02.20022. The participants in the hackathon were young people aged 15 to 30 who had the opportunity to express their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
Teams of up to 5 members could apply for the competition, who will try to solve certain problems with their business ideas, in the following areas:
1) Smart tourism
2) Smart agriculture and
3) Innovative solving of social problems in the local community
Therefore, the ideas that the teams will choose were to represent innovative solutions to certain problems of the local community, to be applicable and entrepreneurial.
To participate in the competition, it was necessary to send a recorded video material lasting a maximum of 3 minutes that will present: the team, business idea, the problem it solves and the target group to which it relates, as well as how to implement a business idea. When preparing the idea, it was necessary to pay special attention to the aspect of innovation, but also to design an adequate marketing approach.
We sent an invitation to participate to all participants in the project's activities so far, as well as to other young people from high schools and colleges.
The first day of the hackathon was held on February 16, 2022 from 10:00 to 14:00 in the Business Start Center - where BSC staff provided support to teams in developing business ideas and presenting them. After this day, young people came to us for consultations and worked independently on the development of their ideas and preparation of videos.
Public presentation of ideas - broadcasting of videos and defense of business ideas by teams in front of members of the Expert Jury - prominent businessmen from these areas, ranking of teams and awarding of prizes was held on February 28, 2022 in the Great Hall of the Municipality of Bar.
On behalf of the Secretariat for Culture, Sports and Youth of the Municipality of Bar, the competition was opened by Irina Dabovic, MA, Secretary, while on behalf of the Business Center, the director Ivana Tomasevic had a welcome speech.
All teams presented their business ideas through video or other presentations, but also through direct communication with the jury chaired by Mihailo Vukic, owner of Allegra, while members were businessmen from Bar Almir Cantic, Vesna Ilic, Mirjana Babic and Darko Jankovic. Although the jury had a difficult task, after harmonization and scoring, the three best ideas were selected with the perspective of sustainability and further development. According to the jury's decision, the first place went to the business idea 'Lavender Plantations', through which the goal is to plant lavender plantations in the municipality of Bar, from which essential oil for the production of medicinal and cosmetic preparations would be obtained in the further process. The idea was presented by Dino Alibasic, and the team also included Mirko Tomasevic, Almir Pelinkovic and Vasilije Vukcevic.
Second place went to the idea of 'Smart sensor' conceived by Jovan Tomasevic and Vojislav Orlandic. The goal of the idea is to produce a smart sensor, an electronic device that warns the user of obstacles with sound or light signals and the users would be people with disabilities, but it can also be used for cars or other means of transport.
The third place in the competition was taken by the idea of 'Wormhouse' by Teodora Gasic and Marija Vuksanovic. This idea refers to keeping public areas clean, but also the production of fertilizers through the collection of dog feces and other pets that non-contractual owners leave on public areas.
Three first-placed business ideas were awarded by the Municipality of Bar with cash prizes in the amount of 500, 300 and 200 euros, while other participants received awards for participation in the competition and were also awarded 50 euros by Allegra.
The awards were presented by the Vice President of the Municipality of Bar, Tanja Spicanovic, MA, who thanked everyone for participating in the competition and wished the winners good luck in their future work with the message that their business ideas come to life and be successful. She especially thanked the schools for supporting this competition and encouraging their students to apply as well as the Business Center for excellent and productive cooperation.
