Griffith Student Wins Global Design Innovation Award

Griffith University’s Majed Abuseif has won the People's Choice Award for his Smart Planter Box at the Design Innovation Competition in the United Kingdom.

The design competition is open to both concept projects, as well as realised projects by young design and tech professionals worldwide with the aim of facilitating innovation by challenging the traditional set up of an industry or business through a new method, creative solution or strategy.

Superior technology

The PhD student has been developing his superior green technology concept over the past 2 years and thanked his supervisors Professor Karine Dupre and green infrastructure specialist Ruby Michael, both of Griffith University, for their support of the project.

Majed hails from Jordan, a country where water is incredibly precious and is now becoming a more susceptible resource globally as the world increasingly faces extreme environmental challenges. He says the Smart Planter Box uses AI and simulation models and is so efficient that it can reduce average water consumption in the garden by 80% for a typical urban green roof space.

Green spaces anywhere

“It will enable green spaces to flourish anywhere in the urbanised world, regardless of environmental conditions through a sophisticated system designed to calculate everything a plant needs to grow and thrive in any environment,” the PhD student said.

The Smart Planter Box can generate energy, as well as being able to harvest, recycle and store water, allowing the creation of green spaces in areas where it was previously impossible.

Majed hopes to start the piloting stage for the Smart Planter Box in the coming months and have the technology in the market by early 2023. 

*Majed Abuseif grew up in poverty in Jordan before becoming a successful town planner throughout the Middle East and is now undertaking a PhD in Architecture at Griffith University. Listen to his extraordinary journey on our podcast here.