The innovation is based on jute fibre, commonly produced in Bangladesh.
An innovative building material that could be used to construct cheap shelters in poor countries and disaster areas, and is based on a traditional Bangladeshi fibre used to make cloth, has won the top award of US$50,000 at the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) initiative's annual competition.
This year's awards, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 28 June, saw technology entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, Malaysia and Pakistan win awards, including the prize for best female entrepreneur, which went to an innovator from Pakistan. In October, all winners will travel to the United States to participate in the GIST entrepreneurship programme.
The winning innovation was a material called jutin, based on jute fibre, which is produced widely in Bangladesh.
According to the four winning entrepreneurs, founders of the Greenovation Technologies, jutin is lightweight, heat-insulating and rust-proof. By mixing it with resin, it can be transformed into a sustainable and affordable building substance.
Muhammad Saimum Hossain, director of operations at Greenovation Technologies, told SciDev.Net the technology is almost ready for large scale implementation.
"We are going through a number of trial and error processes to finalise the most suitable jutin mass production method," Hossain said.
"The only hitch so far has been [related to] the choice of machinery to give the most cost-effective production. We are currently researching three different sets of machinery for three different production methods," he said.
Jutin could provide building blocks for cheap housing to millions of homeless people around the world and could also be used to build shelters in disaster-stricken areas, the innovators say.
The initiative has received funding and a partnership to enable its development to progress further.
"Once the production method is finalised, jutin is sure to go global," Hossein told SciDev.Net.
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