The first place went to the team of Vojtěch Hlavačka and Anna Palusková from the Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies and Jakub Formánek from the Faculty of AgriSciences, who produce healthy energy shots. They are cooperating with the South Moravian Innovation Centre on the project. “We want energy drinks as food supplements to have the longest possible energy effect and at the same time the least amount of negative effects. The money will significantly help us to complete the testing phase,” Vojtěch Hlavačka explained on behalf of the team.
Alexandr Vránek from the Faculty of AgriSciences came second. “I produce automotive accessories using 3D printing, mainly tuning, i.e. improving the characteristics of the car. The main thing I offer is a perfect surface finish, by etching the 3D printed parts I melt them to a depth of 1.2 millimetres, then the surface is smooth, shiny and looks similar to an injection moulding machine,” he described. The winnings will fund a new eshop and the purchase of a new printer.
The third place went to Štěpán Musil from the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, who manufactures wooden drones. “Wood has excellent properties both in bending and weight, this ratio is similar to carbon, thanks to which we can achieve great properties from a natural material. I managed to handcraft wooden propellers that have excellent properties, they are lighter than plastic ones and their size is the only one on the market,” said Musil. He will use the funding for further research, buying parts or optimising production, or for marketing.
The committee awarded special prizes to two other competitors. One of them is Vítězslav Novák from the Faculty of Business and Economics, who manufactures and sells filters for heat recovery systems. “Normally filters are made of glass fibre, but I use polypropylene, which is much more durable and seems to be better in terms of initial pressure loss. I offer additional services to this. You can subscribe to the filters for two years and I will send you a filter every six months. Often people neglect to do this, don’t change it, and if the filter is dirty for a long time, the heat recovery suffers because the fan is more stressed and not as efficient,” Novák explained. He will use the funding to increase visibility, test the filters and automate the processes.
The second award winner is Adam Skřivánek from the Faculty of Business and Economics, who has created an audiovisual network that connects creators across the audiovisual industry. “These are people who do video, photography, graphics, animation, web design and so on. I connect these creators under one house and offer their services to clients, I am the intermediary between the client and the creators. It’s a mass service aimed at the small jobs segment. I will use the finance to finish the technical interface of the website,” he elaborated.
The expert jury consisted of Pavlína Adam, Vice-Rector for research, development and innovation, and Jan Přenosil, Head of the Technology Transfer Department. The jury was rounded out by Libor Hoření, who works at the South Moravian Innovation Centre as a mentor of student startups, and David Krobot from the natural cosmetics brand Lobey. “Compared to last year, there is a significant shift towards application ideas that have the potential for further growth, which makes me very happy,” said Jan Přenosil, Head of the Technology Transfer Department at MENDELU.
A total of 19 business ideas were submitted to the MENDELU Boost competition this year. For the second stage of Pitch your idea, the jury selected the best 10 out of 19 business ideas. The three winning ideas and the two with special commendations from the committee will move on to the third stage, which will take place in autumn this year, where the jury will monitor the project’s progress. In this stage, up to a further CZK 220,000 can be distributed among the winners.