A team of four engineering students representing Murdoch University will be the only Australian team to take part in the New Venture Challenge at the American University of Sharjah from 3-5 February.
A team of four engineering students representing Murdoch University will be the only Australian team to take part in the New Venture Challenge at the American University of Sharjah from 3-5 February.
The New Venture Challenge is a ‘hard science’ business planning competition in which 16 finalists from a total of 255 international teams are invited to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, to present their innovative concept to the judges.
The most innovative idea will be awarded USD $50,000 in start-up funding.
Representing Murdoch University, the ‘Smart Hydrogen Stars Team’ is led by PhD student Furat Dawood and includes Javid Maleki, Raoul Abrutat and Bruno Benaise, and is supervised by Academic Chair of Environmental Engineering Dr Martin Anda.
The Hydrogen Stars team will fly to Sharjah to attend the three-day event, during which they will have the opportunity to work alongside world-class entrepreneurs and innovators to further develop their concept into a commercially-viable initiative.
Mr Dawood said the team was looking forward to presenting their business proposal for the development of a new energy system, which uses hydrogen to store, carry and distribute energy throughout self-sufficient settlements in isolated or remote areas.
“Our modular integrated system can be replicated anywhere around the world and could lead the transition towards 100% renewable energy, self-sufficiency and zero emissions,” Mr Dawood said.
“We are so excited and looking forward to pitching our start-up project and representing Murdoch University and Australia among the world’s leading universities - and we are in it to win it.”
Dr Anda said the ‘Smart Hydrogen Stars Team’ were strong contenders in the competition, and had already produced a winning concept and proposal.
"Furat's research into hydrogen systems has enabled this breakthrough development that has been selected in the competition as a finalist with his team,” Dr Anda said.
“My hope is that he wins the funds from the competition and it brings him another step closer to building a field-scale prototype and commercialisation.”
If the Smart Hydrogen All Stars are successful in winning the competition, Mr Dawood’s next research proposal will be to build a renewable hydrogen vehicle fuelling station at Murdoch University.