A Bulgarian girl joins the elite of young inventors in Europe
The 16-year-old Andrea Petrova from Vidin joined the elite of the most creative students in Europe. She is a member of the international team that won the continental race of the Junior Achievement - Young Enterprise Europe (JA-YE Europe) organisation, held on May 22nd and 23rd in Brussels. Andrea and four other students of her age - from Belgium, Estonia, Norway and Turkey - created an innovative project called GLORING, representing a universal ring with encoded personal data, bank accounts, health status and almost everything concerning the individual.
The ring that will look like any other will have a built-in chip, relieving people of the necessity to carry a wallet full of personal documents, money, credit cards, etc., which could easily be lost. The invention is also supposed to reduce the time of waiting in queues at stores or other places where various services are provided.
The chip will even contain data of the wearer’s blood group. Thus, if a citizen gets into an emergency ward and is unconscious after a road or other serious accident, doctors will have quick and easy access to important information that could save the life of the victim.
A 7-member jury of directors from the companies Intel and General Electric, business representatives and representatives of the European Commission expressed concerns about the protection of personal data in the universal ring, which is a controversial issue concerning human rights and freedoms. According to the creators of the idea, however, this will not be a problem because GLORING will be designed to function only if it matches the fingerprints of the person wearing it. Thus, in the event of theft or loss of the device, it will be virtually unusable.
According to the students, the innovation will save paper and oil, which is especially important today, in this era of dwindling natural resources. The effect will be huge if GLORING is largely introduced worldwide. The ring will be economically efficient due to its low cost price.
Text and photo: klassa.bg
(30.05.2012)