The final presentations of the EuroTeQ Collider 2025 project-based course took place at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The challenges were formulated by CTU’s industrial partners and the EuroTeQ alliance, all under the broad theme “Enhanced Connections for Sustainable Futures”. This theme was further divided into three key categories: People, Nature, and Economy. Students from the Faculty of Information Technology CTU (FIT CTU) were part of three out of four winning teams.
This year’s edition brought a significant change — the expert jury selected four winning teams, with three of them advancing to the international EuroTeQaThon final, which will be held in Eindhoven from June 14 to 16, 2025. The fourth winning team, whose solution was considered by the jury to have the highest commercial potential, received a special prize — participation in a Bootcamp in Barcelona.
First place was awarded to Team ReTile for their innovative approach to construction waste recycling. The team consisted of FIT CTU students Shehjar Bhat and Conlan Benkang Mah, Jan Plašil (Masaryk Institute of Advanced Studies), Nozim Nasimov (Faculty of Biomedical Engineering), and Marek Šimík (Secondary Technical School of Communication Technology, Panská). The team developed a composite material made from resin and construction waste, primarily plasterboard and render. This material features high compressive strength and, after further refinement, can be used as a cladding material. In cooperation with the company Capexus, they proposed a business model for a startup that would accept construction waste from other companies as well.
“We were 5 different people who had never met each other and came from completely different fields of study. Despite that – or maybe because of it – I believe we created an exceptional solution: over the course of 10 days we designed a composite material using waste matter as well as a business model to sell it,” said Conlan Benkang Mah, a member of the winning team ReTile.
Second place went to Team PREdictors, consisting of five FIT CTU students — Oleksii Pysarenko, Jan Štěpán, Ivan Samarskyi, Jeremy Meissner, and Fedor Kanin — along with Aarush Gupta (CTU FEL). This team tackled a challenge presented by PRE: developing an AI model to predict distribution network loads.
The third team, which placed fourth and earned a spot at the IESE Barcelona Bootcamp (July 28–31, 2025), was composed of three FIT CTU students — Teerawat Chuaphanngam, Shen Po Yen, and Nare Avetisyan — along with Radek Václavík (MUVS) and Wai Wong (CTU FEL). They focused on a challenge from the company Pixida: Bridging Borders – Sustainable Knowledge Sharing for Global Impact.
A total of 47 CTU students and two students from the Secondary Technical School of Communication Technology (Panská) took part in the competition. Six companies contributed challenges to Collider 2025: Pilsner Urquell, PRE, Capexus, Pixida, SuSe, and the Tuluke Foundation.
