World's best creative product
The Polish producer of a game entitled Professor Why, which takes a modern approach towards chemistry teaching, was awarded the title of the World's Best Creative Entrepreneur in a global competition: Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen.
‘The jury appreciated our new approach to education, above all to learning exact sciences,’ says Mateusz Marmołowski, CTAdventure Technology Chief Executive and co-author of the awarded educational game Professor Why. CTAdventure from Gdynia won the world finals of the Creative Business Cup, which crowns the Global Entrepreneurship Week. The game producers had to beat off considerable competition – first 50 entrepreneurs in the national finals, and then the authors of over 60 other projects in the international competition.
What is so special about this game? The authors managed to transfer exciting, sometimes even explosive chemical experiments to the world of virtual reality. Marek Trojanowicz, the second co-author of ‘Professor Why’ and the President of CTAdventure says that the idea for such a product was born out of his own passion for chemical experiments.
‘Today's stringent safety requirements prevent most children from experiencing cool, even explosive chemistry that I could enjoy in the 80s owing to the ‘Young Chemist’ set,’ Marek Trojanowicz told Polska.pl. ‘I decided to transfer these experiences to virtual reality and to share this fun with children. That is how Professor Why came into being.’
The game involves everything that a well-equipped chemistry laboratory should have: test tubes, burners, pipettes and reagents, which are used by the player in accordance with provided instructions. High-quality 3D graphic design mimics instruments, substances or glassware from a real laboratory. Professor Why skilfully combines these computer-generated elements of augmented reality with the image of the player recorded by a camera. As a result, the players are under impression that they have carried out all of these experiments with their own hands. And the effects are sometimes spectacular – chemical reactions produce thick smoke, sparks or even flames, which would simply be dangerous otherwise.
‘We pay a lot of attention to the technology we apply. We are currently using markers [special cards – ed. note], but we are working on a solution that would enable players to experiment with nothing more than their hands. We would also like to offer our products to the owners of such consoles as XBox and PlayStation,’ informs Mateusz Marmołowski. He adds that subsequent subjects are planned: physics, mathematics and biology.
Professor Why has already become popular in Poland. It is used at schools and by experiment-lovers. The game has also won numerous national competitions, including the Startup Contest, with over 90 contestants.
‘Professor Why is a product targeted not only at Polish recipients, but also at foreign markets; therefore, the recognition on the international arena and the appreciation of our project in Copenhagen is of utmost importance to us,’ says Marek Trojanowicz.
ALEKSANDRA STANISŁAWSKA
05.12.2014
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