Team Zero wins this year’s “Tech Case Study 2021” competition
Team “Zero”, comprised of students of the Fourteenth and Fifth Belgrade Gymnasiums, is the winner of his year’s “Tech Case Study 2021” competition. The competition, with the slogan “Test your engineering skills” was held for the third 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 Royal Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade through the eVOC Serbia Project implemented by the Centre for Cleaner Production of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy.
The final was officially opened by prof. Ivica Radović, PhD, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Norwegian Ambassador H.E. Jørn Eugene Gjelstad and the Dean of the Faculty, prof. Petar Uskoković, PhD, who emphasized the importance of promoting science, new technologies and environmental protection. Due to specifics related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of places in the room was limited, but the audience was able to follow this year’s Tech Case Study online as well. The final was streamed on the official YouTube channel of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the UB.
The audience was 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 Svetislav Puzić, MSc, Deputy Production Director of FMC Serbia, Aleksandar Ćasović, PhD, expert of the eVOC Serbia Project, prof. Melina Kalagasidis Krušić, PhD, Vice-Dean for human resources of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, docent Aleksandra Đukić Vuković, PhD, on behalf of the Tech case study 2021 organising team and Vladimir Smuđa, Student-Vice Dean of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy.
The purpose of the “Tech Case Study” competition was to get the students of secondary schools from all over Serbia acquainted with the tasks of a technologist, and to give them a chance to test their engineering knowledge on realistic problems from the field of environment and sustainable development. Ten teams took part in the final competition, each comprised of 3-4 students who worked on the assignment with the help from their mentors. This year, the assignment was to come up with a new packaging solution for a fruit-based beverage, considering the packaging, but also printing, to meet the required criteria of decreasing volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions and protecting the environment in all stages of the product’s life cycle, but at the same time keeping it attractive to the target group of 15–25-year-olds.
The winning team, “Zero”, is comprised of Anđela Ruta Stanču, Teodora Jelisavčić and Sofija Avramesku from XIV Belgrade Gymnasium and Todor Dimitrijević from V Belgrade Gymnasium. The team’s mentor is Goran Milićev, biology professor at the XIV Belgrade Gymnasium.
In addition to the winning team, “Zero”, whose members were awarded a scholarship for studies at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, the remaining two teams in the “Tech case study 2021” competition’s top three were „Practical solutions group“ comprised of Đorđe Nožanić, Nevena Ilić, Goran Knežević and Vuk Obradović with their mentor, Oliver Vukoičić from the Petnica Research Station in second place, and in third place, “APEX” from V Belgrade Gymnasium, comprised of Bojana Tepavčević, Vuk Tomić, Luka Papak, Marko Latas with their mentor Maja Dejanoska.