KIC InnoEnergy: MSc RENE student wins the Excitera Innovation Challenge

As proof of the excellence of KIC InnoEnergy students´ leadership and innovation skills, the KIC MSc Renewable Energy (RENE) student Muhammad Rizwan Awan with Hans-Erik Täpp (MSc Industrial Engineering and Management student with KTH) and Johan Låås (MSc Integrated Product Design student with KTH) won the best business plan award of the Excitera Innovation Challenge in Sweden last March.

Their project, entitled “Chimney Sheet”, was described by the jury as “A fantastic idea for solving a very important problem in an incredibly simple way. Intuitively presented and beautifully executed, it is the kind of thing that makes people say “why didn't I think of that!””.

The project consists of the creation of a chimney stove that can be massively commercialized at an affordable price, in order to reduce black carbon generation which has a direct impact on global warming. Currently, almost 40% of the global population is cooking their food over open fires, which increases the death rates by inhaling smoke and has detrimental effects on the environment, such as higher rates of water evaporation and temperature increase.

Regarding the support Muhammad received for developing this project, he asserts that: “ESADE helped me a lot to develop this idea. They told me to always look for more ideas, not to stay with just one idea”. The prize for Muhammad´s team consisted of 25000 Swedish Crowns (approximately 2700 euros) plus support in launching their own start-up in the following months.

The Excitera Innovation Challenge is a competition where the participants are challenged to create a business idea based on the latest research in a specific field. The contest is part of Excitera, a student-run entrepreneurship association based in Stockholm.

Muhammad and his team are one of many examples of KIC InnoEnergy´s students that are making the difference by becoming the future leaders in the sustainability field. This success is an incentive for KIC InnoEnergy to keep on dedicating its efforts to developing the innovation and entrepreneurship skills of future generations.