Sleeping in the trees: the idea of ​​the young winner of the Veneto Smart Competition

Sleeping suspended in the air between trees and unspoiled nature. It is not the scene of a cartoon and even the fruit of your imagination but an idea that wants to become a reality.

It is the mind of a young student of Mechanical Engineering of the University of L'Aquila to have given birth to the idea of sustainable tourism project with "The Star of the Elves."

His name is Dimitri Gramenzi, is 26 years old and comes from Teramo. This project has won the third prize of the Veneto Smart Competition, the international ideas competition for emerging start-ups.

The Star of the Elves "is a B & B / Camping built on trees with zero environmental impact, because it was built with special tents. Some tents are suspended from trees, dedicated to the project tent bed for visitors; others come from the steppes of Mongolia and are dedicated to the service, disabled, relaxation and breakfast.

A dream for those who love nature tourism and wants to reduce, whenever it moves, the negative impact that tourism has on the surrounding reality. But that's not all.

The most interesting feature of the project is that the entire structure is energetically self-sufficient, and you can install it and remove it without any damage to the venue that hosts it.

"In September, 2013, saw a notice on the website of the University of L'Aquila, I decided to participate in the competition of the Veneto Region - says Dimitri - Business ideas related to the creative industry, the green economy and information technology and communications. "

Of the 69 participants ideas "The Star of the Elves" has passed the first selection of the first thirty winning ideas made ​​by the Veneto Smart Competition, then inserting into the top ten of the best that could be incurred in the implementation of an investment plan. Finally came the third place: Dimitri was the only one of Abruzzo on the podium.

"After the success of my original idea, I decided to create a team of engineers Mario Piscitelli, Matthew Urban and Fabrizia D'Agostino. The person responsible for financial and commercial area instead Jacopo Befacchia - explains Dimitri - We are currently designing a new type of curtain hanging between the trees to be included in future B & B / Camping. "

The rush of creativity Dimitri did not stop along national borders, because the Veneto Region has accompanied the winners a week in Bratislava, Slovakia, in a special campus where brilliant ideas were presented to potential investors.

While the Veneto Region has created, in this way, a link between the university and the world of work, the Region of Abruzzo can hardly recognize their talents.

"It is never possible - Dimitri question - that a group of students of the University of L'Aquila is a project of the business model, he won an international competition in their region and it is hard to develop creative talent?".

The young Teramo, with his team, is looking for potential business angels, investors who could meet "The Star of the Elves."

In a time when the emigration of young people, especially graduates, increased by 3% per year, his dream Dimitri wants to accomplish at home, in the place where the idea was born, "in Abruzzo, in our homeland" .