Curtin University students have won two prestigious international awards for innovative and sustainable solutions to pollution and water shortage problems faced by developing countries.
Curtin University students have won two prestigious international awards for innovative and sustainable solutions to pollution and water shortage problems faced by developing countries.
Curtin University students have won two prestigious international awards for innovative and sustainable solutions to pollution and water shortage problems faced by developing countries.
Overall, the students collected nearly $70,000 in prize money for their ideas, which included social enterprise components to ensure their solutions would be of ongoing benefit.
Ben Cole won the 2007 Business in Development (BiD) Challenge for his idea of producing highquality, fashionable face masks to protect commuters from air pollutants in Vietnam.
The winning design includes a layer of activated carbon cloth, reputedly the best material for grabbing and holding onto pollutants, which is wrapped in a fashionable fabric bought from markets in the country.
The design, and Mr Cole’s business plan, already have the support of a private Dutch investor and negotiations are under way regarding an equity buy-in from a Vietnamese buyer.
The product will be launched in Hanoi in May and will retail for just under $A5.
Mr Cole, who is based in Vietnam, is aware of his product’s premium but said there was currently a shift among Vietnamese consumers to spend more on quality products.
The prize money has been spent on establishing Mr Cole’s Hanoibased business, Blue Sphere Co.
Ltd, which employs five local people.
“We target staff who are perhaps socially disadvantaged or have low skills, so we’re training them up in tailoring skills,” he said.
Meanwhile, a group of electrical engineering students from Curtin has become the first Australian team to win the 2007 Mondialogo Engineering Award for their proposal to supply Indonesian farmers with water during the dry months.
The proposal, developed in conjunction with Indonesian university students, uses solarpowered generators to pump water from underground reservoirs to hill tops.
The idea will save farmers paying a hefty premium from the normal practice of buying water from city reservoirs once water supplies have dried up.