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13/07/2018
How about olive pits to filter the air?!
The Ideas Generation Program carried out by PRUAB, the UAB university research park, is sponsored by the Barcelona Synchrotron Park (BSP). It is based on the collection of technological challenges that are submitted to the scientific community in order to try to find solutions through an ideas competition.
 
The 8th program is an initiative from the Catalan Ministry for Territory and Sustainability in order to get proposals in the field of circular economy. Best ideas were awarded last week.
 
First prize (2,500 € and 6 months of incubation at PRUAB) was for the Greene3D project. Laura López Mir, PhD from the Barcelona Institute of Materials Science (ICMAB) and Beatriz Espinosa Aquino, PhD researcher at the Institute of Environmental and Science Technology (ICTA) (both institutes are located on the UAB campus), propose the development of new sustainable materials for 3D printing based on a mixture of bioplastics and olives pits, an abundant organic waste in Spain. Among other potential applications of this 3D-printable material, both entrepreneurs point out air filters or light elements with acoustic and thermal insulation properties.
 
Second prize (1,500 € and 6 months of incubation at PRUAB) was for the Cerclab project leaded by Marta Santamaría, researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), and Gerardo Ezequiel and Erica Volpini, founders and partners of Semilla. This is a 4.0 laboratory that aims to take advantage of recycled plastic to create new valuable products. From a perspective of social and collaborative innovation, Cerclab includes a physical space for the recovery and transformation of recycled plastic from packaging waste. 
The project also includes an open innovation web platform to offer social and technological innovation courses, and foster collaborations and synergies among users by promoting the socio-occupational integration of people in risk of exclusion. 
 
Congratulations!
 

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