Out of more than 4,000 entries, an idea to address water wastage secured a place in December’s Global Final from SLITT Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka has a new student innovator on the international stage, Kavindu Dulanjana Perera from SLIIT Sri Lanka has been named one of 44 finalists in the global Red Bull Basement program for 2021. Red Bull Basement empowers students in all areas of study, kickstarting their ideas to drive positive change and disrupt the world tomorrow.
Worldwide, student teams from 43 countries applied for the 2021 program by submitting a video explaining their idea, with the overwhelming majority focusing on the topics of Body & Mind, Career, Clean Water, Climate Action, Education, Empowerment, Energy and Smart Cities. As an indicator of which tech ideas might solve the most pressing challenges, the public was able to give “shout-outs” for those they would like to see come alive.
In Sri Lanka, a panel of judges carefully considered the criteria of feasibility, creativity, and impact, as well as the shout-outs, in choosing Kavindu’s idea as the best of the best to represent the nation.
Today water crisis has become a major issue and specially in Asian countries like Sri Lanka or India, where people rely on ground water for daily consumption. There are various minerals present in this water that may lead to various health conditions. Also, since people tend to store this collected water in tanks, poor management of these tanks can lead to major water wastages as well. What inspired Kavindu to come up with this idea is the desire to help people who suffer from health conditions due to contaminated water. Also, he wanted to introduce an easy way so that people can monitor the status of water and store their water efficiently with minimal water wastages. This proposed system provides a centralized system where users can check the quality of the water as well as manage storing of water without any wastages. This device is extremely user friendly and affordable so that it fits the requirements of the poor people who are in need of such a system.
From now through December 12, the finalist teams will refine their ideas in a Development phase, with access to resources including mentorship programs and a global network of entrepreneurs, visionaries, disruptors and thought leaders from around the world.
The culmination of the students’ participation will come on December 13-15, 2021, when Kavindu will join the other finalist teams at the Red Bull Basement Global Final. At last year’s final, two students from the UK wowed the jury with their environmentally friendly, compact washing machine, winning top honors for best idea. This year’s Red Bull Basement winners will be crowned in Istanbul, Turkey, where teams will have the chance to forge business relationships and networking connections with access to some of the world’s most visionary thought leaders and will pitch their idea to a global jury.
Keep up with Red Bull Basement online to get the latest news on the Global Final and find inspiration from student innovators and leading global visionaries.