On May 17th, 55 Lithuanian student companies gathered at the National eXpo. This event showcased the best student companies of the year, out of nearly 900 launched in Lithuania. 100 jury members from Lithuanian businesses, universities, and public institutions had an opportunity to interview students’ companies and select the best. By noon, the Top 10 companies were selected, each giving a 4-minute pitch in front of the jury. After tallying the results, four strong student companies emerged, but only one could be chosen. In this fierce competition, “Smartway” from Vilnius Gediminas Technical Engineering Lyceum was awarded first place. These students had constructed a CO2 detector from scratch and launched an app that analyzes the results of this device.
Noticing the Common Problem of Old Buildings
The five students who created the company “Smartway” noticed that after a few lessons, classmates started to get sleepy, and some felt headaches. They discovered that this was due to the lack of fresh oxygen in their classrooms. The students of Vilnius Gediminas Technical Lyceum were studying in an old building without an automated ventilation system. With the help of engineering teachers, they constructed a CO2 detector from scratch.
This device uses green, yellow, or red lights to indicate the CO2 concentration level in the room. A red light shows that it’s time to leave the room, open the windows, and let some fresh air in. The “Smartway” team – Kristijonas Kazilionis, Rapolas Čepaitis, Mykolas Ratkevičius, Kipras Avižinas, and Martynas Bureika – also programmed an app that analyzes data from the device and allows users to track CO2 concentration peaks throughout the day.
After winning the Vilnius regional student company eXpo in April, the team aimed to launch their device on the market before the National eXpo event. They succeeded in selling their first device just one night before the event.
“We are now in the process of constructing more CO2 detectors,” said Rapolas Čepaitis, one of the “Smartway” team members.
“During the year, we had some drops in motivation, but we had a strong president, Martynas Bureika, and we finally realized that this is our last year to develop the student company,” said Kristijonas Kazilionis.
At the end of June, “Smartway” is heading to Catania for the “Gen-E” international competition for student companies. They plan to present a tool that allows many CO2 detectors to be connected into one network, enabling the analysis of CO2 concentration changes in multiple rooms. This would be highly beneficial for schools and universities.
