Despite the postponement to the Red Bull Basement 2021, last week the final was eventually able to take place. After months of hard work and help from mentors, the 44 finalist teams from 43 different countries travelled to Istanbul, Turkey to take part in the final. Joining them as part of the judges panel was none other than WWG’s own Founder and CEO, Manjula Lee.
The Red Bull Basement has been set up to encourage and support students to bring about positive change and challenge the world around them through the creation of new projects that use technology to provide practical solutions to the world around us. This year was no exception as over 4000 teams applied to take part.
Over three days, the 44 finalist teams took part in workshops and networking to help hone their skills and inspire them as innovators and creators. Manjula herself led a workshop, ‘Fast Track to Purpose, Protection, and Prosperity’, which was met with enthusiasm. All in all, much valuable knowledge was shared over the course of the three days.
Sam Jones, Founder and CEO of Gener8, and another member of the judges panel pointed out that,
“Here they’re all going to the same talks, they’re learning the same things. So it doesn’t matter if they win or don’t win – they’ve got the ability to go back home, to action some of the things they’ve learned, and to accelerate quicker, grow faster, and build better products.”
Out of the 44 finalist teams, the top 10 teams were chosen to perform a final pitch in front of a global panel of judges. A fantastic array of products was pitched, including an app to promote the vegan lifestyle and a platform that allows households fuelled by solar panels to sell excess energy to their communities.
However, the product to stand out was Jotted, created by two Arizona State University students, Sylvia Lopez and Brinlee Kidd. The pair went on to win this year’s Red Bull Basement for their innovative product, designed to facilitate learning with real-time notetaking and flash card creation. The creators of Jotted recognise the importance of education and the tools that aid learning, in keeping with the SDG 4 of ‘Quality Education’. Just as WWG recognises the value and power of real-time data, so too does Sylvia and Brinlee’s product tap into the power of real-time recording of information and the creation of quizzes to streamline learning and aid efficiency for the on-take of knowledge. Sylvia and Brinlee have come away with increased confidence in their product and hope to gain 10,000 users in 5 months.
Manjula expressed great excitement about the Red Bull Basement final,
“The generation that’s going to change the world is this generation. I love the fact that they’re now surrounded with an ecosystem of people and experts who can inspire them.”
As this year’s Basement closes, the next generation can be seen rising up to make positive change by embracing technology in order to drive towards a more sustainable future.
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