Last Thursday, the winners of the first edition of the FarU school competition, “Fahrenheit. Future Competencies”, were announced. Twelve teams from nine schools in Pomerania qualified for the workshop and mentoring session stage, and three were awarded prizes also funded by event partners: Aramco Europe and the Local Government of the Pomerania Region.

HydroGen, BloodFly Company, Link Pomerania, Columns of Olympus, and Sopot Smart Bin are just some of the name of projects submitted to the competition for schools in the Pomerania Region, organised for the first time by the Fahrenheit Universities. The programme aims to support the development of entrepreneurship and STEM competences among secondary school students in the Pomerania Region.

Description of the competition challenge

The development of modern technologies, the energy transition, and ongoing changes in the economy are driving a growing demand for competencies in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). There is also a strong need for solutions that can improve the quality of life of local communities and support sustainable development. 

The task for teams participating in the “Fahrenheit. Future Competences" was to design a solution that combines both goals: developing STEM competencies and introducing positive change within the local community. According to the challenge: 

Future Competencies – Energy for Positive Change. How can science and technology be used to develop future competencies while improving the quality of life in local communities at the same time?

The project was supposed to be based on an analysis of a real problem occurring in a given school, town, or area of Pomerania, and then propose a solution using elements of science, technology, or engineering.

Team work

From all submitted entries, 12 ideas were selected. The creators, students from Pomerania, took part in a 2-day workshop held at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Gdańsk and at the main building of the Gdańsk University of Technology. They worked on developing both their ideas and their skills, and also had the opportunity to explore the campuses during guided tours.

Over the course of a month’s work, participants were also able to join online mentoring sessions to refine their solutions under the guidance of experts from academia and the business environment. From the MUG side, support was provided by Prof. Maciej Tankiewicz of the Division of Environmental Toxicology. From the Gdańsk Tech side, participants were supported by Roksana Licow, Ph.D. Eng., of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environment. From the UG side, students were assisted by Wojciech Glac, Associate Professor of the Laboratory of Neurology.

Demo Day

On June 11 this year, the final event of the programme took place at the Medical University of Gdańsk. The day began with a campus walk and physiotherapy workshops run by the FizjoKoło students’ research club. This was followed by presentations of the project outcomes. Each team had 5 minutes to present their idea and implementation plan, after which they answered questions from the jury. The presentations were delivered in the following order:

• Soulactive | An app designed to provide holistic support for people with obesity—from calorie tracking and dietary advice to psychological support
• Columns of Olympus | A solution aimed at helping people with disabilities find reliable and verified services that meet specific conditions
• LinkPomerania | A prototype analytical system designed to identify transport exclusion
• Cyclist System | A tool for finding safe locations for comfortable cycling 
• HydroGen | A proposal for an optimized electrolysis system based on hydrogen electric shields capturing surplus energy from renewable sources
• Breath of Pomerania | An app that collects air pollution data and provides recommendations for actions 
• SmartSchoolBalance | A solution supporting students in monitoring their well-being while also signalling potential risks to schools and families
• JedzieMY | A motivational physical activity tool featuring a wide range of route suggestions and options, as well as features for finding training partners and earning additional points
• Humavery | A product designed to verify whether data was generated using AI, equipped with, for example, a detection engine and relevant plug-ins, including a B2B API model.
• BloodFly Company | A solution enabling faster transport of needed blood by bypassing traffic congestion and road obstacles
• Eco Smart Bin | An intelligent solar-powered bin that helps users learn proper waste segregation

Jury panel composition:

The representatives from the higher education institutions forming the Fahrenheit Universities: 

• Prof. Anna Michalik, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences with the Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine of the Medical University of Gdańsk
• Andrzej Okuniewski, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Gdańsk University of Technology, the Rector’s representative for cooperation with schools
• Prof. Urszula Patocka-Sigłowy, Associate Professor of the University of Gdańsk, Vice-Rector for Students’ Affairs
• Katarzyna Zygmunt, Director of the Fahrenheit Universities 

The representatives of the partners: 
Jarosław Kobus, CEO, and Maciej Szozda from Aramco Fuels Poland, together with Emilia Koniuszewska from the Competence Development and Talent Attraction Unit at the Local Government of the Pomerania Region.

First place, along with the main prize funded by Aramco Europe – a trip to the Deutsches Museum in Munich – was awarded to the creators of the Humavery solution from the Energy Schools Complex in Gdańsk. 

Vouchers worth a total of PLN 3,000 for the Empik store, funded by the Pomerania Region, were awarded for the second place to the creators of the SmartSchoolBalance concept. The students represented the Jakub Wejher County School Complex No. 4 in Wejherowo.

The third place, along with electronic equipment worth PLN 1,500 funded by Startup Academy Polska, which also provided organizational support for the initiative, was awarded to the creators of BloodFly Company from the Maurycy Mochnacki County School Complex in Reda. 

We congratulate all participants on their hard work and achievements, and thank the teachers and supervisors whose support and commitment accompanied the students throughout the competition.

Students from the following schools in the Pomerania Region took part in the competition:

• Stanisław Staszic Economic Schools Complex No. 5 in Słupsk 
• Józef Haller Technical Secondary School in Owidz 
• Wacław Sierpiński 6^th High School in Gdynia 
• County School Complex No. 3 in Kościerzyna 
• Jakub Wejher County School Complex No. 4 in Wejherowo 
• Energy Schools Complex in Gdańsk 
• Maurycy Mochnacki County School Complex in Reda 
• 2^nd High School in Sopot 
• Technical Schools Complex in Sopot 

The FarU, the originator of the program and its main organizer, emphasizes that a key objective was to demonstrate that young people can develop their own business ideas already at the school stage, while building future competencies, learning teamwork, presentation techniques, and project-based thinking. Through initiatives such as this, students are given an opportunity to experience academic life first-hand through close cooperation with universities and the support of experts representing the Fahrenheit Universities.

The Local Government of the Pomerania Region supports young talent