2022 Innovation Nation Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 Innovation Nation Program, the most prestigious and comprehensive entrepreneurship program in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

1st Place (9000 BAM) - Plastehnik - (Faruk Šehić, Eldar Kepić, Zerin Redžepović, Osman Azabagić) - Food is getting more expensive, and healthy food tends to see the biggest increases in cost. Their goal is to make healthy, locally sourced, organic goods to be more plentiful, more accessible, and cheaper than they are now, without hurting the bottom line of our agricultural sector. With their smart greenhouses, they are determined to help automate the cultivation of agricultural goods as much as possible, and eventually significantly slash the need for labor in the sector.

“This program was one of the best experiences for me personally and our entire team. We learned how to think critically and develop ideas, test/validate them and most importantly how to effectively work in a team. These are things that we were never taught at university. With the prize and investment funding we will develop a fully functional product by March/April 2023 and hope to have over 40 of them on the market by the end of 2023. I highly recommend this program to other young people who want to develop and innovative and entrepreneurial mindset”, says Faruk Šehić.

Left to right: Osman Azabagić (Osman Azabagić- Tuzla, bachelor studies Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla), Eldar Kepić (Eldar Kepić - Maglaj, IUS computer science completed, software developer), Faruk Šehić (Faruk Šehić - Tuzla, master's student, Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla) | Others not pictured: Alija Hrnjić - Maglaj (not in the IEEE IN22 program, but part of the team), first cycle, Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla, software developer Tarik Hamidović - Lukavac (not in the IEEE IN22 program, but part of the team), second cycle, Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla, software developer Zerin Redžepović - Sarajevo, Faculty of Law UNSA completed, data analyst, Haris Hadžić - Gračanica (team advisor), Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Tuzla completed, pcb design

2nd Place (6000 BAM) - MojPetPal (Šejla Halilbegović, Ajša Hadžifejzović, Selin Oksuz, Emina Dedić) - It's the right time to travel, isn't it? But how can I travel if I have no one that can take care of my pets while I’m away? That’s where Moj PetPal comes. Moj PetPal is an application that connects pet owners and pet sitters, making it easier to find a caretaker for your pet. The application also helps find missing pets as well as makes it easier to adopt a pet.

“This award and additional potential investment will enable us to further enhance our developed application. Our confidence has grown immensely during the program. Innovation Nation equipped us with the right tools and skills to be able to develop a business idea. We thrived in a competitive environment but we didn’t see the other participants are competitors, rather friends and people who supported us" says Emina Dedić.

Left to right: Šejla Halilbegović - Student of financial management in English at the Faculty of Economics Sarajevo Ajša Hadžifejzović - Master's student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Sarajevo Selin Öksüz from Konya, Turkey, who is a master's student at the Department of English at the International University of Sarajevo. Emina Dedić - student at the IT department at the International Burch University

3rd Place (5000 BAM) - Rekboo - (Amer Memovic, Amar Mujkić, Ilhan Neziric, Dino Burić) - In the last 5 seconds 100 people in the world died due to unhealthy meals. In today's fast-paced world driven by hustle culture and ambition, most people don’t have time to prepare healthy meals; therefore, they are forced to rely on fast food as the main option. Rekboo makes eating healthy both easy and fun! Whether you want to go keto or vegan, traditional or more exotic cuisine, at Rekboo we got you covered. You just select your favorite meals, and the ingredients are portioned and delivered straight to your doorstep. The only thing left to do is cook based on our detailed instructions and enjoy the meals skilfully crafted by our chefs.

“One of the best experiences of my early career! The funding we have received will be used to launch our first product version and we hope that next year’s Innovation National final that our team will stand proudly and speak about our product in front of new Innovation Nation participants", says Amer Memovic.

Left to right: Amar Mujkic: from Srebrenik, master's student in bioinformatics at IBU Ilhan Neziric: from Jablanica, software engineer, student at FIT Mostar Amer Memovic: from Sarajevo, Consultant / Project Manager at Deloitte, MBA Dino Buric: from Jablanica, student of the high school of electrical engineering in Mostar

2022 program overview

Innovation Nation is a one of a kind 12 week educational and transformational entirely free program focused on shaping young entrepreneurs in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The startup pre-accelerator has been running for 7 years in Bosnia & Herzegovina and in 2022 brought together over 50 students and young professionals from different backgrounds (engineers, economists, scientists, artists etc) from 18 cities/towns in Bosnia & Herzegovina. More than 60% of participants were female. Over 50,000 BAM was provided to teams as guaranteed prize money and and a further 80,000 BAM of in kind contributions were made to the 2022 program.

Teams

In the 2022 Innovation Nation we had twelve teams (startups):

  • Adorea - (Nejra Mahić, Esma Dervišević, Nejla Mahić, Dina Kurtalić) - 4 women, 4 future engineers, and 4 scholars at the BHFF. It is not the usual formula for a team, is it? Their startup is aiming to provide easier and more efficient communication in any emergency through high-quality and fashionable accessories that will give you a feeling of safety, luxury, and confidence. In an emergency, all it takes is two clicks of a button and your location will be transmitted to your trusted contacts while recording video and sound to provide evidence in case of an attack, and hopefully, help authorities to identify the attacker.

  • AerLare (Nikola Bodulović, Haris Kordic, Sara Nuredinovski) - AerLare is a a new way how technology may help you in a place where you often find yourself lost - the airport. With AerLare app, everything you might need in an airport is at the tip of your fingers. No more wasting time with finding gates, exits, bathrooms, restaurants, etc. With AerLear, you can savour the flavor of stress-free travel.

  • Bytes Digital - (Amela Radonja, Mirza Mustafic) - Bytes Digital is every restaurants new best friend! WIth Bytes, every waiter has an easier job, every restaurant is more efficient, and every customer is more satisfied! With Bytes tablets, ordering is as easy as clicking a few buttons, calling the waiter takes only one click, and the entire process is faster and more efficient!

  • Foodly (Naida Purišević, Lejla Nezirović, Ilma Spahić) - Every year 1.3 billion tons of food is thrown away in the world before its consumption, which is one-third of the world’s produced food. Foodly aims to reduce food waste by enabling users to create smart shopping lists to track all of their food needs and create custom meal plans with the ingredients they have at their homes. Foodly will help save you time and money while helping reduce the world's food waste, all at the same time!

  • GlucoApp (Nedim Karavdić, Tarik Muratovic, Lejla Džanković, Amra Catic) - GlucoApp is the app that gives all the needed features to individuals with diabetes that they need to live a comfortable life. From numerous trackers, to a chat with doctors and medical professionals, it is the go-to solution for an easier and safer life.

  • Green Garms (Belma Karahmet, Azra Hadžiemrić, Hanah Čeligija) - Microplastics are one of the biggest pollutants in our time. Green Garms will make your clothes colorful, and green at the same time! With innovative technology of materials fibers, Green Garms washing bag keeps microplastics from your laundry from escaping into the water system, thus stopping pollution made by clothes we wear! Additionally, our washing pods are made of substances that are eco-friendly, two birds in one stone!

  • Marigold (Amina Vejselović, Jelena Dragaš) - Marigold doorhandle is the product that takes hygiene to the next level. Our doorhandle uses special UV light to disinfect itself after every use. It is the perfect solution for big offices, public bathrooms, and malls!

  • Swampd (Emin Hodžić, Denina Šiljegović) - A digital companion for freelancers and remote workers. Their mission is to continuously utilize the latest behavioral science research combined with the latest technologies, to help remote workers develop better work ethics, and live more balanced lives.

  • Šapa - (Vlatka Prusina, Adnan-Mustafa Hasanagić, Danis Kalac) Making safe dog care available to everyone within minutes. Šapa serves as a marketplace where dog owners can find and arrange walks/daycares and boarding for their dogs, and where verified individuals can earn money by providing dog sitting or dog walking services. 

A seven year tradition

The program was conceived by BH Futures Foundation in 2016 as a means of providing world class entrepreneurial training and accelerating the development of young entrepreneurs in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Research, innovation and startups are crucial to economic development. In order to develop new job opportunities, BH Futures Foundation leveraged its enormous network, know-how and organisational skills to develop an intensive pre-accelerator program that would allow BiH students & young professionals to learn from the best and receive investment for the business concepts. The pilot program was incubated and funded by IEEE (The world’s largest professional organisation for engineers and technologists). A program that was conceived in Bosnia & Herzegovina is today being implemented in over a dozen developing countries. To date, hundreds of young people in BiH have become Innovation Nation graduates, received hundreds of thousands of BAM of investment, started dozens of companies and become leaders in their communities. Many participants have become intrapreneurs, developing new products and services inside of other companies.

Program structure

Every week participants had guest lectures from world class educators and entrepreneurs, followed by a 3 hour workshop. The had to complete homework and in parallel, utilise the knowledge in developing, an innovative business idea, validating and building prototypes.

We had the opportunity to hear from incredible speakers including: Munib Karavdic (WAVEDesign, Australia), Valeria Budinich (MIT, USA), Edin Skaljic (FabLab Sarajevo, BiH), Filip Golome (EcoLogical, BiH), Lucija Reic (Infobip, Croatia), Tanja Dzido (Tanja.digital, Croatia), Erol Mujanovic (USAID, BiH), Zeljka Hassler (Hudl, USA), Jasenko Hadzic (BackingMinds, Denmark), Faris Zacina (Ministry of Programming, BiH)

Participants kicked the program off with an intensive weekend of learning and networking in Sarajevo, hosted by our friends at Mistral. Six weeks later our participants visited Banja Luka where they presented their mid-program pitches and earned over 20,000 BAM. In early December they returned to Sarajevo to present their startup ideas the Futures Leaders Summit, the largest STEM Conference in the region as a final preparation before the investment pitch on the 17th of December.

Partners and support

The program is organised and led by Bosna & Herzegovina Futures Foundation but strongly supported by educational partners La Trobe University (Australia) and MIT Legatum Centre for Entrepreneurship (USA). The local incubator partner is Mozaik Foundation and international entrepreneurship support is provided by European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) and GIST. The local Infobip, ZenDev and Mistral are local tech companies supporting the program

Judges & Investors

At the completion of the 12 week program, participants pitched in front of a judging/investment panel of well known local and international business experts including:

Mentors

28 mentors from over a dozen countries mentored our participants throughout the program and we thank them for devoting significant time to helping shape the ideas and business concepts in the program.

Meet the 2022 Innovation Nation team

Innovation Nation is an entirely free program. Education must be accessible to everyone. During the 12 week program we ensure that there are no costs associated with the program, including travel to various locations, food and accommodation. However, it is important to note that the entire program is delivered by volunteers, young entrepreneurs for young up and coming entrepreneurs. We take this opportunity to recognise their efforts and thank them: Teaching assistants: Nadja Zubcevic, Ena Dzemila, Selma Hecimovic, Elvis Skozdopolj, Kerim Salihagic and our chair of entrepreneurship Timur Hukic. Thank you for serving the community and for shaping future entrepreneurs.

Eddie Custovic