Green Future Conference

Startup Challenge

At the beginning of June, our team was in Split, Croatia, where we attended the Green Future conference. Our CEO shined on stage again, and Spectro's impressive pitch brought another great result - the first prize from the Croatian unicorn Infobip. Apart from this top result, we had the pleasure of listening to phenomenal speakers and experts in the fields of environmental protection, energy, e-mobility and technology, but also to see the green innovations that were presented during the conference.

Panel Discussion

Participation

The panel discussion 'Artificial intelligence and the development of startups: A new era has begun' organized by Montenegrin Artificial Intelligence Association and Science and Technology Park of Montenegro was a great opportunity to exchange opinions with key actors from these fields, but also to present the position of Spectro in Montenegrin startup ecosystem. Our CEO Ana was one of the speakers on the panel, and through active participation in the discussion and answers to numerous questions from the audience, she presented the perspective of a young startup whose core is precisely artificial intelligence. The event brought together numerous experts from different sectors, and through their experiences, the best practices, obstacles, and opportunities that arise in supporting the development of AI startups were discussed.

Tomorrow Conference

Attendance

In the past period, part of our team had the incredible opportunity to attend the Tomorrow Conference in Belgrade, Serbia. This conference is the largest technological event that gathers over 10 thousand participants who together explore the latest trends in artificial intelligence, blockchain, metaverse and gaming. It was a great pleasure for us to attend such an innovative and inspiring event, and our CEO, Ana, had a wonderful opportunity to briefly present Spectro on the main stage. Thanks to IEC Tehnopolis for another wonderful opportunity!

Capital City of Montenegro

Green Cooperation

We had a very productive meeting with the deputy mayor of Podgorica, Luka Rakčević. We talked about the importance of the cameras installed on Gorica hill, which help in the early detection of forest fires and contribute to the protection of natural resources in the main city areas. We also looked at the needs of the capital, as well as the entire state, and how our software can help solve these challenges. We emphasized the importance of a comprehensive approach to environmental protection and the development of sustainable solutions that will preserve the natural beauty of Montenegro. We are grateful for the support and enthusiasm of Deputy Mayor Luka Rakčević, so we look forward to further cooperation to achieve our common goal - protecting our nature and reducing the risk of forest fires.

Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro

Green Mission

We had the opportunity to visit the Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro. In addition to evaluating the current performance of our software, we spoke with the director of the Agency, Milan Gazdić, about different ways of applying our technology throughout Montenegro, to preserve green areas and protected areas and prevent potential environmental damage. Enthusiasm for this project was mutual, and we discussed future plans and models of cooperation with great pleasure.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Technopolis

Shaping Innovations

While visiting Nikšić, we were hosted by dear colleagues from Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Technopolis . They also prepared a comprehensive tour and introduced us to their tenants, current projects and innovations, as well as advanced technology that is used daily in their premises. As always, it was a great pleasure to talk to the representatives of IEC Technopolis, and they provided us with great support in all the next steps and endeavors when it comes to the development of our software.

Protection and Rescue Service of the Capital City

Implementation

It was a pleasure to meet with the representatives of Protection and Rescue Service of the Capital City, to discuss how our solution can contribute to their work on environmental protection and rescue. Commander Goran Janković and his colleagues evaluated this project as extremely important, and he emphasized that it is precisely this chosen approach that solves their crucial problems. Our technology enables more efficient use of their existing resources, combining footage from cameras placed in strategic locations with advanced artificial intelligence. This integrative approach provides faster and more accurate fire detection, which allows the Service to respond more quickly and efficiently in the event of an emergency. We look forward to further cooperation with the service and working together to improve our technologies and methods, to ensure the safety and protection of nature in our community.

SPECTRO IS LIVE

Announcement

The moment has come when we can proudly announce that the software is finished and ready to use! One year ago we started the development of the software and on March 20th it was presented to users for the first time as a fully functional product ready to help us in the early detection of smoke and fire. The first to try the software in real conditions are the Ranger Service of the Agency for the Management of Protected Areas in Podgorica , whose employees had the opportunity to attend the presentation of the software, and we introduced them to the software and how to use it. We are extremely happy and grateful for all the support we received during the development of the idea and the software itself! Stay tuned to find out who is next in line to implement Spectro in their work!

Climathon Podgorica

Green Ideas Hackathon

The end of 2022 was marked with a great success for Spectro! Our team won first place and a valuable cash prize at Climathon! The Climathon Podgorica event is dedicated to the best digital solutions for problems caused by climate change, and it is the only hackathon for climate change in Montenegro. This was a truly incredible opportunity for us as a team to present our idea that is directly related to one of the problems, i.e. the consequences of climate change - wildfires. It is a great honor and pleasure for us that our project was rated so highly by the jury because it means that its importance is recognized and that we are on the right track. We are extremely grateful to the organizers - NGO Gnijezdo - NEST, numerous partners who supported this event, the jury, mentors and all the teams for their incredible support, and phenomenal event.

Web Summit

Conference Highlights

Spectro has been a part of the world's largest IT conference - Web Summit 2022. The first was marked by the conference opening ceremony, which was attended by more than 70,000 people, located in the magnificent Altice Arena. On the second day of the conference, our CEO had the opportunity to pitch Spectro at the PITCH competition, which included 105 selected startups (the conference was attended by over 2200 startups). Mentor Hours sessions covered important topics such as startup management in the initial stages and negotiating the raising of an investment. On the last day of the conference, we had our booth at Pavilion 2 where we showcased the platform for users and the background logic of our system.

Web Summit

Attendance Announcement

Only a few more days away from Web Summit - the biggest IT conference in the world according to Forbes! The event will hold place in Lisbon, Portugal, on 1-4 November. We are very proud that our team members are going to visit this event where they will have the opportunity to learn more about trends in this industry, meet and collaborate with people from around the world and listen to great lectures. Spectro was also selected to participate in the PITCH competition, so our team is working hard these days to prepare everything. We'll be pitching on the November 2nd at PITCH stage 2, Pavilion 3, so wish us luck! Don't forget to visit our Booth A340 in Pavilion 2 on Friday!
We owe special thanks to the Capital City of Podgorica and ICT Cortex for the opportunity to visit Web Summit 2022.

She Loves Tech

Bootcamp and South Europe Finals

In previous period we’ve had a chance to be a part of She Loves Tech competition – world’s largest startup competition for women and technology, which was also supported by R3I ventures. After submitting our application we successfully made it to the final 10 teams who got a chance to participate in the Bootcamp. During the Bootcamp we’ve learned many new things, especially on the topic of measuring our impact towards sustainable development goals. It was a great experience practicing and improving our pitch with mentors who are experts in that field, so their feedback was precious for us.

Unicorn Pitches

Startup Competition

At the Unicorn Pitches Montenegro Spectro won the first place! At this online event, we also pitched our idea in front of numerous international judges and received the highest score (4.83/5). The Unicorn Pitches competition is held all over the world, and we have qualified for the Unicorn Battles (the world's largest startup competition) in November, as part of the international competition in the field of artificial intelligence, which will be headquartered in Atlanta (US).

Montenegro Pitching Competition

Boost Me Up finals

The Boost Me Up pre-acceleration program helped us in the past period with a more detailed development of the idea, and its peak and final event was the Montenegro Pitching Competition, which took place on June 16 in Luštica bay. We had another opportunity to present our idea in front of the expert jury chaired by Minister Biljana Šćepanović. Our team was the runner-up in this competition! We also continue to cooperate with the IEC Tehnopolis, which provides us with development support by granting access to the cluster from their data center. Needless to say, we are delighted with this result and the journey ahead!

Green Ideas

National Idea Competition

At the end of June, Spectro participated in the National Competition for Green Ideas, which was held for the 11th time in a row organized by the Fund for Active Citizenship. The goal of this competition is to recognize and support ideas that have the potential to achieve significant social and economic impact in local communities, while simultaneously preserving natural resources and the environment. Out of almost 40 applications, we were selected as one of the top 3 Green Ideas in Montenegro and the next step is the Balkan Green Ideas competition, which will be held in Thessaloniki in September. We will compete with the ideas of representatives from 7 Balkan countries.

Spark.me

Startup Competition

At the beginning of June, we had the opportunity to present our idea again at the startup competition at the Spark.ME conference in Porto Montenegro. As a reward, we received cooperation with the Croatian unicorn Infobip, i.e. the possibility of using their individual resources, which for us are extremely important for the implementation of our idea and the launch of the software. Thank you Spark.ME, it was a pleasure to be in such an inspiring environment!

Yettel

Company visit

We marked the end of February 2022 with productive work and learning with the team from Yettel Serbia, which hosted us in their office in Belgrade. Their experts worked with us throughout the week to get a better and more efficient approach to designing our software. Each lecture was of great importance to us, and the topics we touched on were software architecture, code writing, business models and finances, agile business and PR and marketing. This kind of support is extremely important to us and gives us a real wind in the back, thank you Yettel!

Boost Me Up

Pre-acceleration program

In the past period, we also participated in the Boost Me Up competition. It is a pre-acceleration program that helps to turn an idea into a successful startup. The first part of this exciting adventure was the bootcamp, where we went through different segments of startup improvement and prepared a pitch. After the pitch, Spectro was selected as one of 10 startups that continue their way to the finals and which will receive support from Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center Tehnopolis in the coming period through a pre-acceleration program. The final pitching competition is waiting for us in June, keep your fingers crossed!

Point

Conference

As you may have noticed, in addition to developing the software itself, the Spectro team is also working on raising public awareness of the problem - the lack of a smart solution for fire detection. In this regard, in November we visited the POINT conference in Sarajevo, where we had the opportunity to present our idea for solving this problem to the audience from the region. We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the conference organizers for hosting us, as well as other speakers and participants who supported our idea.
Check the story from the conference out!

Spark.me

Startup adventure

The second startup development project in which Spectro took part is "Spark.me startup adventure“, organized by company doMEn and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). After a selection of over 30 registered teams, Spectro appeared on the list of 10 selected for presentation in the honorary role of the youngest team. This event was extremely important for us to develop other aspects that, in addition to technology, relate to business development, entrepreneurship and marketing. Intensive three-day work on covering these areas and preparing the presentation tested our readiness to take seriously the work on the startup project.

Luštica

Proof of concept

In agreement with members of the local community, encouraged by the scenes of large fires that occurred in 2017 on the Luštica peninsula and disrupted the ecosystem of this area, we decided that Luštica will be the place where we will implement a pilot project of our software. With the support and cooperation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, local Protection and Rescue Services and the company Yettel, a surveillance tool has been established in marked places that monitor green areas. We use this footage material to implement algorithms and train the machine to make software development as reliable as it is possible.

Rise-T

Startup academy

For the first time Spectro was presented at the Rise-T Academy of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Montenegro, in the finals held on May 31 in Podgorica. This competition was the final phase of a four-month academy during which selected students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Natural Sciences and Mathematics had the opportunity to collaborate with mentors and develop their innovative startup ideas with the goal of starting your own business.