BE OPEN congratulates the first winners of Better Energy by Design competition focused on SDG#7

LONDON, July 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Better Energy by Design is the latest of design competitions developed by philanthropic initiative BE OPEN. These competitions are open to students, graduates and young professionals in the fields of art, design, architecture and media. The programme aims to encourage creation of innovative solutions by younger creatives, for a more prosperous and sustainable future.

BE OPEN strongly believes that creativity is integral in the shift to sustainable existence. Design has a crucial role to play as an instrument or vehicle for the implementation of the SDGs.

Achievement of SDG7 is impossible without ensuring that a growing number of households, communities and production companies use green energy technologies. Therefore the participants were asked to reflect on "What can be done to prompt breakthrough of clean energy technologies into our lives?"

Elena Baturina, Founder of BE OPEN, on the finalization of the project: "I am certain that involving young creative people to developing solutions centred on the SDG agenda is a very wholesome way of raising awareness of sustainability principles and encouraging development of promising innovative ideas able to contribute to achieving them."

"We are continuously impressed by the level of submissions we receive every year for the SDG-focused competitions. They demonstrate not just the hard work, commitment and creativity, but actual ability to research and develop solutions that can make a real difference and inspire change for a more sustainable future for all of us."

The winners of the First, Second and Third Prizes have been selected by an international jury: 

The First prize of €5,000 goes to Miguel Acebron, a young architect from the University of Navarra in Spain, for the prototype of BOTIJO: a fridge that works with water and wind, a new take on a traditional Spanish porous clay vessel used to cool water. Miguel's prototype allows cooling the contents of the Botijo below 5ºC by boosting the drying of the outer surface with an air flow. The BOTIJO is the first passive fridge that preserves medicines and fresh food in stable thermal conditions.

The Second prize of €3,000 is awarded to Qin Zhou from School of Design, Zhejiang Sci-tech University, China, for Engershe: Let Heartbeats Generate Electricity. The project researches the feasibility of transforming human kinetic energy into usable electric energy by using the piezoelectric effect of 2D material nanofibers such as MoS2 in clothing.

The Third prize of €2,000 goes to Naama Nicotra, an industrial designer and a recent BA in industrial design from the Holon Institute of Technology, Israel. Naama's NakedPak is a concept series of "naked" food dishes wrapped in algae-based bioplastic that can be augmented with spices and cooked and eaten with its contents.

The Founder's Choice prize (€3,000) will soon be allocated by the Founder of BE OPEN Elena Baturina, and the fate of the Public Vote prize (€2,000) will be decided by the ongoing online vote.