Winners of the Balkaton 5.0 a regional competition in innovative ideas that can be the basis for new business ventures, have just been announced.

A young associate of the NanoPoli Center, Marija Stojaković a chemist, mentored a team of high school students from Banja Luka in promoting the idea of valorizing local wool as an organic raw material for the production of cosmetic and galenic products. The experiment was carried out in 2023 at the University of Banja Luka, through the DeepGreenInno project from which we, as a company emerged. А team won a special award under the acronym InnoGirls. A sustainable chain of raw materials is needed for the production of keratin, an important polymer from wool. EU currently imports it in quantities of over 600,000 tons per year from Asia and Australia.

Under the mentorship, the students managed to develop an excellent business plan and propose to investors an investment in this technology. The next time one of them washes their hair with keratin shampoo, we ask them to contact our young winners and invest in this idea!