Ravensbourne Product Design student named semi-finalist in Mayor’s Entrepreneur award

Ravensbourne is proud to announce that Mislav Gelenčir who studies BA (Hons) Product Design has made this year’s semi-finals for the Mayors Entrepreneur competition, with their submission titled ‘Recharge’. 

The Mayor’s Entrepreneur competition offers three prizes of £20,000 each for ideas focused on one of the three awards in the Environment, Tech and the Creative Industries sectors. The semi-finalists are now preparing two-minute video pitches which will be judged by a panel of experts who will select the five finalists from each of the awards.

Mislav’s competition entry, titled ‘Recharge’, consisted of a gazebo seating area combined with smart technology. The seating area allows passers-by to relax and charge their electronic devices using clean solar energy.

Mislav explained that, ‘I was in the middle of creating my project when I saw a flyer for the Mayor's Entrepreneur competition. There was a section dedicated to ‘Smart cities’, so I felt that my work reflected the theme perfectly. I finished my project a few weeks later and applied for the competition. I was really happy when I heard the news, it’s amazing to be a semi-finalist and it means a lot to me.’

Co-course leader Andrew Marsh has said the following about Mislav’s entry, “Mislav has made an inventive proposal for a way to improve public spaces and encourage sustainable behaviour, which has the potential to be deployed in London and worldwide. We wish him every success in the competition.”

If Mislav is successful, the competition would provide a fantastic platform and opportunity to build ‘Recharge’ and create some positive traction for the idea. 

The Mayor of London team will be running training sessions over the next two weeks to help the semi-finalists prepare for the final stage of the competition.The pitches will be judged by a group of expert panels and the finalists will be chosen by the end of July.

We wish Mislav all the best of luck for the final pitch!