12 Apr 2024

Braincade Generates Innovations

Triple Heat, Energy Oasis, Heated Match, and Excess Heat Framework were four innovative ideas presented during Braincade, with a focus on low-temperature excess heat. An event where creative brainstorming is mixed with arcade gaming, organized through the Bothnia Green Energy project and the University of Vaasa.

During various types of processes, large amounts of low-temperature excess heat are often produced, a resource that is currently not fully utilized. The hackathon event Braincade brought together students from Swedish and Finnish universities to find new innovative solutions related to low-temperature excess heat.

"I came here hoping to see new ideas which I did," says Erik Pott from Skellefteå Kraft.

Over a day and a half, students worked on their ideas and also had the opportunity to ask questions to an expert panel consisting of representatives from Skellefteå Kraft, Umeå Energi, Övik Energi, Vaasan Sähkö, and Herrfors.

"The experts were a great support for us as we bounced our ideas," says Marko Chissancho, a student at the University of Vaasa.

Four Innovative Ideas

Four innovative ideas were presented on Thursday, covering everything from smart heat sharing to exotic food cultivation, heat storage in the ground, and drying laundry in hospitals. Several ideas could be made modular, flexible, and scalable. One idea took a different approach, a dating platform where sellers and buyers of excess heat could be matched. This solution, Heated Match, was also the one selected by the expert panel as the winner.

"It was intense but a lot of fun, and our idea turned out really well," says Josefine Bergström, a student at Umeå University and a participant in the winning team.

The students in the winning team: Hasan Ali from University of Vaasa, Marko Chissancho from University of Vaasa, Annaí García Santisteban Umeå Institute of Design and Josefine Bergström from Umeå University.

A Unique Event

The Bothnia Green Energy project aims to find new innovative solutions within the energy sector, and as part of this effort, Braincade was organized in collaboration with the University of Vaasa.

"I want to thank our Swedish and Finnish students, and especially the experts from the energy companies in the Kvarken region, who worked for a day and a half on a very difficult question: what can we do with excess heat?” says Lasse Pohjala, who was responsible for the event on behalf of Bothnia Green Energy, and continues,

"We had the opportunity to test the Braincade method on a challenging problem, and we generated several unique ideas that we can now continue to work on in the project."

 

Click here to read more about the project Bothnia Green Energy!

Main image: copyright Vaasa University / Harri Huusko