A social enterprise with stand-alone, solar-powered mobile device chargers for public spaces. Another one making compact, quiet rooftop wind generators.
Those were the two winners of a recent pitch contest held at the VERGE conference in San Francisco, where 15 green startups had 2 ½ minutes each to present.
VERGE is a gobal event series focusing on using technology to boost sustainability, hosted by Greenbiz Group.
First, Strawberry Tree. It was founded by Miloš Milisavljević three years ago while he was still a university student studying engineering in Belgrade. (He graduated two years ago). With a large photovoltaic panel on a steel frame, the product functions as a device for charging cell phones, tablets and other mobile devices, with LED lighting and speakers that can be controlled with an app via Wi-Fi. It’s meant to be placed in any public space, from a park to a mall.
“We’re trying to make city life smarter, happier and safer, because cities are the future,” says Milisavljević.
The devices are already up and running in more than a dozen locations across Europe. Now Milisavljević is trying to expand to the U.S. He’s also in the middle of raising money.
He also sees a lot of potential for communities in developing countries without electricity. For that market, there’s the Strawberry Mini Rural, which resembles a suitcase and is easy to drag from one location to another.
Milisavljević is working with a number African countries to introduce it, he says.
San Diego-based PrimoWind was the other winner. “It has a unique architecture and a new take on the wind market,” says founder Ned McMahon.Its horizontal rooftop wind generators are 70-inch turbines that can be installed on just about any building, including skyscrapers, that have enough room.
According to McMahon, the devices are cheaper than solar PV panels. Also, they don’t pose a threat to birds, unlike the vertical Goliaths you see in wind farms.
The winners, by the way, were determined by live
