From Vogošća emerges another uplifting story about young innovators who entered the Youth Innovation Award 2023 to share their ideas and vision for addressing a variety of challenges through social innovation.
At a time when sustainability is increasingly becoming an integral part of innovation, two young innovators from Vogošća, Aldijana Hodžić and Mirza Avdić, have devised a solution to meet household energy needs while minimizing environmental harm. Their joint innovative venture resulted in Hybri – solar-powered water heating technology.
Mirza came up with the idea for Hybri as a high school student at the School of Electrical Engineering in Sarajevo. He wanted to design a prototype of a hybrid water heater, which would combine the efficiency of solar panels with traditional heating elements. After teaming up with Aldijana at university, where they were both pursuing mechanical engineering degrees, they devised a concept in which conventional aluminum strips were replaced with 12V heaters. Have a look at Hybri in action HERE.
“In addition to the 12V heaters, water heating is complemented by a solar collector, which harnesses sunlight during the day if the conditions are favorable. Heaters run on solar panels. For days without solar power, there is one heater that is connected to the power grid, so the hybrid water heater will turn on regardless,” says Mirza.
According to Mirza and Aldijana, the crucial breakthrough in Hybri’s development was the Youth Innovation Award, organized for the second consecutive year by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in BiH and the Institute for Youth Development KULT. Thanks to this competition, two young innovators received funding and valuable mentoring from industry experts.
“Participating in the competition provided us with crucial financial resources. This allowed us to purchase equipment and cover initial operating costs, speeding up the implementation of our idea.” Apart from the financial support, the advice and feedback from the experts during the competition were priceless. Through mentoring and our own research, we learned more about the market and identified the key features of equipment for producing prototypes. During our research, we delved into various technical aspects, such as the specific requirements for installation locations, sizing individual components to meet specific needs, and considering other relevant factors,” says Aldijana.
Since winning the award, Aldijana and Mirza have been unstoppable in their quest to make Hybri come to life. By strategically sourcing components, such as water tanks, solar collectors, and regulators, they laid the foundation for developing the initial prototype. Extensive real-world testing confirmed Hybri’s design effectiveness and its potential to become a useful product.
With the summer bringing warmer weather, Aldijana and Mirza are preparing to test the Hybri in the field. Based on the data collected during testing, the next steps involve improving the water heater’s performance and installing it at the pilot site. While they are dedicated to the success of Hybri, Aldijana and Mirza have a bigger vision – they want Hybri to encourage the widespread use of renewable energy sources for a more sustainable future.
The two young innovators behind the Hybri show that young people recognize the Youth Innovation Award competition as an opportunity to get the funding they need to make their ideas a reality.
Hybri is another great example of young people’s ability to contribute to their communities in impactful ways. We will keep following Mirza and Aldijana’s journey, and we wish them the best of luck as they continue their work to make all our lives better.
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