Innovation is the driving force of modern society — through new ideas and approaches, it generates solutions that improve the quality of life and stimulate economic growth. Innovators do not accept limitations; instead, they seek ways to make things faster, simpler, and more effective. One such innovator is Zoran Dujaković, from the Republic of Srpska, who has received the Master of Innovation title for the second time, awarded by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) — an international development organization established to support innovation and sustainable development projects.
He has an impressive portfolio of awards and recognitions for his inventions, particularly in the fields of environmental protection, the automotive industry, and medicine, where he developed an immobilizer that completely replaces plaster casts. In addition to his work as an innovator, Dujaković is also a diving instructor with international certifications and a speleologist. It is therefore no surprise that the innovation for which he received this latest recognition is designed for cave diving applications.
Having practiced this discipline himself, he realized how dangerous it can be when, during a dive, it is impossible to surface safely. This insight led him to create a device that enables safe and environmentally friendly refilling of diving tanks underwater.
The invention, called the Underwater Air and Liquid Media Charger, has already received awards in Europe. A special technique prevents water from entering the diving tank, allowing it to be refilled completely — as if done on the surface — and thus enabling the diver to continue diving safely. Thanks to this underwater charger, it is also possible, for example, to extract oil from a sunken tanker without spilling it into the sea.
When it comes to innovation in our region, Dujaković notes that there is little investor interest in supporting such projects, which is why he plans to personally finance the production of several hundred units and offer them to diving centers worldwide.
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He received the Master of Innovation award for the first time two years ago, during a cycle of exhibitions held in the United States, where the competition took place in six cities, and in five of them, he won a gold medal.
— Besides me, there were other participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. If you win three or more gold medals, you earn the right to receive this title. I believe there were about 60 people worldwide who received that recognition that year. I didn’t exhibit anything last year, but this year I participated online in Japan and Australia. They prepare all the documentation for every exhibition that belongs to the same cycle, and the juries convene on the same day. There’s no lobbying like we often see here — explains Dujaković, emphasizing the seriousness and credibility of the institutes involved in these events.
In the near future, he plans to develop and test his patent for a conical turbine in Nepal, a country he visited a year ago.
— There, everything functions as long as there’s daylight and sunshine, but by eight in the evening, people already go to bed. They have severe shortages of energy sources. They dry yak dung, mix it with kerosene, and it provides decent heating. Since they don’t have many by-products, they heat for only a short time during the day. They also face infrastructure problems in the energy sector. Somehow, they found out about me and offered to collaborate — to try to create a prototype. It would be for an institute within a university — Dujaković says.
The core idea of this invention is a single pipe that, with patented internal components and a generator, can produce a specific amount of energy depending on its diameter, length, slope, and water flow.
— Regardless of calculations, these elements must be tested and proven in practice — he adds, noting that his trip to Nepal has been postponed for now due to the recent political unrest in the country.
Protected Works
Dujaković, who has been involved in innovation for many years, has so far submitted several works to the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the International Patent Office. His first patented invention, registered back in 2007, was a mobile scaffold designed for work at heights. One of his earlier inventions, for which he also received medals, is a detection system for continuous and field detection of people, animals, and objects — without posing any risk to the handler or the dog.
Prepared by Jasna Dragojević
The story was published in Energy portal Magazine GREEN ARCHITECTURE
