Second-year BIT bachelor students Wouter van Amelsvoort and Maria Tudorache decided to participate together, but since one duo is too few for a full team, they were paired with InHolland students Amber Sickman and Lisa Poede. ‘We just went in there with the idea to have fun’, says Van Amelsvoort. ‘It was quite random, if you realise that we didn’t know half of our team until yesterday morning. But that turned out quite well in the end.’
Flushing toilets
The assembled team worked on a case from the Province of Overijssel. They came up with a solution for the use of 'grey water' (slightly polluted wastewater), for flushing toilets, among other purposes. 'The problem we were working on is the looming water shortage. If we would use grey water or rainwater to flush our toilets, this problem would not have to exist at all,' says Van Amelsvoort.
Systems do exist to use grey water for this purpose, adds Tudorache. 'But those are incredibly expensive and there is certainly no incentive for homeowners, because there's no financial gain for them. So we came up with a circular system for the bathroom. There you often find both a shower, a washing machine and a toilet. You could link these together via a relatively inexpensive and straightforward system.'
Investing in stocks
The assembled team also came up with ideas for a pilot project in the centre of Enschede. Among others, in the form of a fountain in the Klokkenplas, from which the water could be used to flush toilets in the adjacent town hall. 'This way, the municipality itself can set a good example to its citizens,' Tudorache said.
What they will do with the prize money? 'In any case, we will meet again for a dinner to celebrate the victory,' said Van Amelsvoort. 'The rest we will probably invest in stocks.' 'Or in ourselves of course,' adds Tudorache.
Return of Create Tomorrow
Create Tomorrow returned to campus yesterday after years of physical absence. Last year, the event did not go ahead and previous years the event took place online because of the corona crisis. Hundreds of participants bent over cases from companies and organisations in the big tent on the Ganzenveld yesterday, during 'the world's largest student think tank'.
