Future Makers Conference Showcases the Best Student and High School Start-up Ideas
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A well-attended Future Makers Conference was held on 4 June 2026 at the Science and Technology Park in Podgorica.
The conference featured selected ideas from the Competition for the Best Start-up and Entrepreneurial Idea, organized by the Career Development and Lifelong Learning Office of the University of Montenegro. The total prize fund of €13,000 was provided by the University of Montenegro, the Central Bank of Montenegro, the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro, CKB Bank, Tehnopolis, the Čini Dobro Foundation, the Science and Technology Park of Montenegro, and the Student Parliament of the University of Montenegro.
A total of 29 student proposals and nine high school proposals were submitted to the competition. An expert jury selected the six best student ideas and three best high school ideas, all of which were presented at the conference.
In the category for University of Montenegro students, first place and a prize of €5,500 were awarded to BloomPulse, an idea developed by Aleksa Albijanić, a second-year student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The project focuses on a smart irrigation system that uses sensors, a cloud platform, and a mobile application to optimize water consumption in agriculture. BloomPulse can reduce water usage by 20–30%, while also saving energy and reducing the time required to manage irrigation systems.
Second place and a prize of €3,500 went to Vuk Žižić and Bogdan Delić, first-year students at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, for their idea EasyCycle, a platform for electronic waste recycling. The team highlighted that citizens often avoid recycling e-waste because of the complexity of the process. Their platform would allow users to register devices for recycling, after which a courier service would collect the waste directly from the users address.
Third place and a prize of €2,000 were awarded to Nikola Lešić, a second-year student at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, for RoadVision AI, a platform for detecting road damage. Using artificial intelligence and existing camera infrastructure, the platform automatically identifies road defects, enabling faster responses and more efficient infrastructure maintenance.
The award for the best high school idea, worth €2,000, was presented to Olena Gromova, Anesa Hurić, and Nađa Nikezić, students of the Secondary School of Economics and Hospitality in Bar, for their project Warm Story (Topla priča). Their concept envisions a social and hospitality space that connects younger and older generations through social interaction, collaborative work, and the preservation of tradition. Within this framework, pensioners would have the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills through handicrafts, knitting, and the preparation of homemade products, while high school and university students would participate in the daily operation of the space. The idea also addresses the issue of low pensions by enabling pensioners to earn income from the products they create.
In addition to the winning projects, several other innovative student initiatives were presented during the conference. These included Woolish, developed by Damjan Gačević, Aleksandar Medvedev, and Jasmin Murić, which focuses on producing wool-based toys and pillows for children with sensory sensitivities and anxiety; 6th Sense, an idea by Luka Ljumović, consisting of a device and application that convert speech into text for people with hearing impairments; and Vita Q, developed by Igor Vujošević and Sava Raičević, a QR-code wristband that enables healthcare professionals to access patients medical information quickly in emergency situations.
Among the high school projects presented were RedSponse, developed by Kenan Hodžić and Elma Šutković, a platform designed to connect voluntary blood donors with individuals in urgent need of blood, and Sens-Shield, developed by Sara Jovović, an artificial intelligence-based solution for the early detection of sepsis symptoms, enabling healthcare systems to respond more rapidly.
The conference also featured a panel discussion organized by the Innovation Fund of Montenegro, moderated by Nina Pićurić. The panel, titled “You Have an Idea – What Now?” emphasized that young people should not wait for the perfect moment to begin and that the start-up journey is rarely linear; rather, it is a continuous process of learning, adaptation, and growth. The discussion included three Innovation Fund grant recipients who, through mentoring and financial support, successfully transformed their ideas into thriving business ventures.
Milica Gogić from the educational centre Dvorište presented the SHARP platform, which uses digital technologies, robotics, and gamification to introduce children to Montenegro’s cultural heritage. She highlighted the importance of mentorship and Innovation Fund support, as well as Montenegro’s advantages as an environment suitable for testing innovative solutions.
Ivana Gazivoda, representing the My Turn team, spoke about the development of an application that motivates children to participate in household chores through gamification. She emphasized that taking the first step is crucial, as solutions and opportunities emerge throughout the process.
Elmaz Feratović, co-founder of the start-up DomaPay, presented a platform for centralized bill payment that allows users to monitor and pay all their bills in one place. He stressed that understanding technology alone is not enough and that entrepreneurs should also focus on the market, users, and business model.
In addition to the conference programme, Vladimir Đukanović delivered a lecture on starting a business, during which he spoke about identifying and developing business ideas, ways to find initial investors, and the importance of key decisions that guide the further development of a business model.
At the second panel, titled “Start-up Ecosystem and Support for Development of Ideas”, moderated by Milica Jovančević, the message was that start-ups from Montenegro have a potential to succeed, but that they must think globally from the very beginning and be ready to accept criticism and step outside their comfort zone.
Željko Lučić, representative of Tehnopolis, said that clearly defining the problem being solved is crucial for start-up success, while Radivoje Drobnjak, representative of the Science and Technology Park of Montenegro, emphasized the importance of changing attitudes toward failure and encouraging stronger liaisons between science and business.
Aleksandar Bojović, founder of the start-up OneAI, spoke about the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare, stressing that AI should support doctors through faster and more precise data analysis. Slavko Kovačević, representative of Deepmark, noted that investors assess not only the idea itself, but also the persistence, character, and dedication of the founders.
The Future Makers 2026 Conference was an excellent opportunity for young people to learn more about and connect with Montenegro’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Participation of high school and university students in the Competition for the Best Start-up and Entrepreneurial Idea showed that young people have great potential to contribute to development of entrepreneurship and innovation in Montenegro.