Ecoinn danube - “Danube: Innovation in flow”

“Danube: Innovation in flow”

Organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Vratsa

Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Vratsa organize “Danube: Innovation in flow” – project EcoInn Danube, final dissemination event of the INTERREG Danube Transnational Programme.

Join the event and get the unique opportunity to meet at one place eco-innovators from the country and abroad interested in eco-innovation topic and circular economy.

See and become part of the Virtual lab - web based platform for matchmaking of eco-innovators from the Danube region – V lab.

Take the opportunity to get known with the Circular economy in the panel – “Waste used as a source”.

Exchange best practices and share experience with representatives from other projects in the “Innovative and socially responsible Danube region” priority axis of the INTERREG Danube Transnational Programme.

The event will took place on 9th of April 2019 in Bulgaria, Sofia, 9, Iskar street, Conference hall of BCCI – 9:30-15:00.

Visit our website for more information here

Contact us for details:

Contact of EcoInn Danube Project Lead Partner: Nina Bratkova, Project Manager (nina.bratkova@cvtisr.sk)/ +421 917 387 325

Contact of Organizer of the event CCI-Vratsa: Iliana Philipova, Project Manager (cci-vr@cci-vratsa.org)/ +359 92 660271; +359 878 312 133

Vladislav Kartalov, Project Communication Manager (cci-vr@cci-vratsa.org)/ +359 92 660271; +359 878755120

Successful crowdfunding campaign – „Energy in hands of the citizens“

ZEZ – Green energy cooperative from Croatia has launched a crowdfunding campaign named Križevački sunčani krovovi (Križevci sunny roofs) which was successfully financed. The main goal of the campaign was an investment in a solar power plant on a roof of the Development and technology centre in the city of Križevci.

That was the first time that citizens of Croatia invested in a solar energy project through the model of microloans – citizens are giving the loan to the Green energy cooperative for the period of 10 years, with the 4,5 % annual interest rate. Assets will be used for the purchase and installation of the solar power plant. Users of this power plant will pay a contracted lease which is a fixed amount and equates to energy savings projections.

The same lease will be used to return a loan with interests to all citizen investors. The campaign supporters are City of Križevci, Greenpeace, REA Sjever, REScoop.eu, Energy Cities, Terra Hub, Solvis and ACT Grupa.

Find more information on: https://www.zez.coop/

Reduction of using plastic bags in the Czech Republic

From January 2019 lots of large shops, such as Penny Market in the Czech Republic, radically reduced plastic bags. Penny Market stopped offering bags. Supermarket Billa stopped selling plastic and moved to paper bags. Supermarket Albert started to offer paper bags. Online market ROHLIK has stopped selling plastic cutlery, plates, straws and started to deliver in paper bags.

More at https://goo.gl/RBzdKL

Students from Novi Sad, Serbia, created a smart carpet that makes electricity from human footsteps

SmartWalk is a developing product whose purpose is to convert the mechanical energy of man's walk into electricity, writes portal gradnja.rs. Carpets will no longer only serve to collect dust. They will soon produce electricity, thanks to the invention of students from Novi Sad. Namely, SmartWalk is a domestic product whose purpose is to convert the mechanical energy of man's walk into electricity, which is developed by Željko Popović and his colleague Vladimir Vincan, students of the fourth year of Electronics at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad (orientation: microcomputer electronics).

"Nowadays, a very popular topic is the green energy, so we wanted to deal with something that is connected with this, but has not yet been explored enough. Therefore, we imagined to create a device that generates electricity and does not depend on weather conditions, but only on the number of passers-by," said Željko for the construction web portal gradnja.rs.

They designed a device that generates electricity and does not depend on the weather conditions, but only on the number of passers-by. The energy received by a man's walk on a smart carpet, located in a mall or other public building, would serve to power small electrical appliances such as, for example, security systems which require a continuous power supply.

These students have a double entrepreneurial spirit, apart from doing faculty tasks, they are also focused on robotics. They are members of the Memristor team, a robot faculty team with which they won fourth place at the Eurobot 2018 European competition last year. Preparations for this year's Eurobot are largely in progress, and the competition will be held this year on April 6 at the University of Novi Sad.

More information on: https://www.gradnja.rs/smartwalk-pametni-tepih-koraci-struja-studenti-ftn/

Biological duo-component adhesive

Man-made adhesives are usually a pretty toxic mixture of chemical components. Though being used almost anywhere - in office, industry, medicine - their environmental impact, including degradation, is largely being ignored. In contrary, biological adhesives derived from living organisms are nontoxic.

Unlike most synthetic adhesives the bio-alternatives also function under wet conditions, facilitating wider applications in e.g. surgery. The team of Austrian and British scientists (Wunderer et al., 2019) now unravel the fundamental mechanism of a particularly smart two-component system. This system enables flatworm adhesion and controlled detachment to and from wet surfaces, respectively.

Flatworms rely on a sophisticated interplay between spatially restricted molecule production and interaction between oppositely charged chemical groups. Knowledge about the mechanism and the molecules involved creates a solid basis for innovation through biomimicry, and thus for the development of synthetic reversible adhesion systems for medicinal and industrial applications.

Inspired?! Have a look at the live videos: https://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2019/02/19/1814230116.DCSupplemental

Ecological buses in the public transport

Trutnov city public transport will have only electric buses or CNG buses.

The project is realized by the companies Arriva, ABB and ČEZ ESCO. It will improve the environment and the modernization of Trutnov public transport.

It is a first in-house installation of a fast-forwarding station for public bus transport in the Czech Republic, that allows charging up to 150 kW. This station recharges batteries of electric buses within ten minutes.

More information you can find here: http://www.enviweb.cz/113151