Matej Michlík – bridging design and technologies

Solved’s Expert of the Week Matej Michlík says that he is deeply worried about the unsustainability of civilization’s current lifestyle.

“It is too easy not to solve anything. To have a comfortable life, it may even be a prerequisite. However, being raised as a responsible person lead me to become a problem solver. I see things I could change all around me. From details to the very big ones. From waste production and waste handling to circular economy, energy saving solutions, up to renewable energy production.”

Matej says that he has always been interested in how things work.

“I couldn’t tolerate myself doing nothing or just consuming all those finite resources. I simply want to leave the planet in a better state than it was when I was born. That’s what is pushing me forward, that’s my eco-engine.”

Since 2016, he has been working with his partners on new projects within their Nice Visionscompany. He says that a good problem solver needs to bounce from traditional mindset.

“To think out of the box may sound a little odd or obvious as an advice, but to achieve a significant breakthrough, a solution has to stand out. The more, the better. And yes, it is very hard to achieve new solutions today, when everything was already designed. For example, with our newest product, we had to fight the norm and confront the norm. Our Solar Tiles are opening new possibilities by adding design to solar panels, but they are not meant to get as much energy as technically possible. But by this, each of them will deliver more energy than would be produced otherwise – zero.”

Matej says that conventional engineers are looking for maximizing the outcomes.

“We were the ones to be crazy enough to go against the flow. Standing a little aside and thinking in other ways opened a whole new field for our solar product. Thus, my advice is to take a break and always look on the problems from at least one another perspective.”