At an international competition with The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation
"Bio Rangers" is a group of four students from higher education institutions in Warsaw who have made it to the final of an international competition G20 Global Business Challenge. Now, they are going to fight for 100 thousand dollars to implement their project. It is meant to solve the problem of drinking water shortage worldwide by the use of new technologies of water purification. The project is partnered by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation.
The final stage of the G20 Global Business Challenge will take place during the global G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, in November. The competition aims at providing an innovative technological project that could bring a solution of the global problem of water shortage. It has been joined by teams from all over the world. Six teams from the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and Poland have been qualified to the final.
More than 1 billion people globally are affected by drinking water shortage, and it claims the life of a child each 17 seconds. However, it is not the actual poor water supply that poses the real threat but rather the fact that it is extremely contaminated. There are numerous solutions which theoretically should put an end to the issue of drinking water shortage. Therefore, the actual problem is not the lack of technology but rather the absence of business models that would help put these technologies into use, says Bartłomiej Głowacki, the leader of the Polish Bio Rangers group.
That is why the Polish team has submitted the Water Hub project, which is based on an innovative business model that may be applied to existing technological solutions. The mechanism uses filters which are powered by solar energy and purify water removing even the tiniest micro-organisms from it. These filters are built in an interactive kiosk having Internet connection, cell phone charging stations, cooling devices indispensable for medicine storage and LED displays. The devices are powered by energy coming from solar panels. What is more, they may also play an educational role, as they can display texts adapted to local people's needs.
I am truly glad that such brilliant projects are conceived in Poland and appreciated at international competitions. We hoped that the support offered by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation would spread the word about the success of the Polish students also in Poland. What they are doing proves that sometimes all you need is the will and a good idea to have a real impact on the maladies of today's world. I believe that their success may be inspiring for their followers, other young scientists and engineers, adds Iwona Dudzińska, Member of the Management Board of Citi Handlowy.
