TIRANA, June 4 – Two Albanian university students are drawing international attention with their smart charging innovation introduced in the GIST Tech-I Competition supported by the U.S. State Department.
Grigor Basha and Mikel Çuni, two students from Durres studying business and finance at the University of Tirana, have made it to the top 15 and are hoping to go through the final.
“Smart Charging” is a project which aims on transforming the old non-functional payphones into modern and multifunctional charging mobile phone stations. It is the unique opportunity to charge your mobile phones on public places using alternative energy from renewable resources.
“The fact that the old payphones on Albanian streets are not functional and smart phone batteries don’t last long, inspired us to come up with a new idea. Smart Charging is an innovation, which consist on transforming the old non-functional payphones into modern and multifunctional charging mobile phone stations. It is the unique opportunity to charge your mobile phones on public places using alternative energy,” says Grigor Basha.
He explains that we live in a modern world where technology is being developed a lot. Part of this development are smart phones. They are multifunctional, very popular and good value for money. But with all these benefits there is a big problem, compared to earlier non-smartphones. Smartphone battery life has generally been poor and a significant drain on customer satisfaction.
“Once upon a time payphones in Albania were very useful. Nowadays there is a different reality, they are being used for antisocial behaviors. Everyone has a mobile phone and nobody considers using public phones to get in touch with others. As a result we decided to give this old payphones some value,” adds the young inventor.
