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07 - 08 / 2008
Highlights
Innovat ive technologies
received the Eureka Awards
2008
Two innovat ive technologies for the
detection of explosive substances and for
the reduction of car emissions received
thi s year ’s Eureka Lynx and Eureka
Lillehammer Awards, respectively. The
Awards are given by the Eureka Initiative
that was created in 1985, aiming to
enhance European competitiveness.
The Eureka Lynx Award was given to
Czech company RS Dynamics that, in
cooperat ion wi th Spani sh company
Ingenieria y Systemas, developed a new
generation of reliable, robust and fast-
acting portable explosive analysers and
detectors to improve public security at
airports, railway stations, sport stadiums,
banks and nuclear power stations. The
compact, lightweight units are intended
to prevent terrorist attacks by detecting
explosive devices and bomb equipment
through molecular traces on luggage,
clothes, laptop computers, mobile phones,
bank notes and identity documents.
The Eureka Lillehammer Award went to a
Dutch-German consortium that developed
a revolutionary cylinder pressure sensor
design making it possible to optimise
combustion in diesel engines, reducing
harmful particle and nitrogen oxide (NOx)
emissions by up to 90%. The sensor is
integrated into the glow plug, avoiding
any need to modify the engine structure
itself, and is capable of withstanding the
elevated temperatures and high vibration
levels in the cylinders. Engines equipped
wi th such sensors are al ready being
exported to the USA.
Mr George Blaha, pres ident of RS
Dynamics and Dr Arjan Kolling of Sensata
Technologies talked to our magazine about
their inventions and the Eureka Awards.
Three innovative projects
with Greek participation
Three innovative projects, realised with
the participation of Greek organizations,
are presented in this issue:
VEMUS (Virtual European Music School) is
an open, highl y interact i ve and
networked multi l ingual music tuition
f ramework for popular mus i cal
instruments. It integrates innovative,
pedagogi cal l y-mot i vated e- learning
components to augment traditional music
teaching in different learning settings: a
set of tools for self-practising, virtual
music classrooms where music is taught
in group settings and distance learning
extensions, communication tools that
allow the remote coaching of students
and monitoring of their progress. The
VEMUS project is coordinated by the
Inst i tute for Language and Speech
Processing. Two more Greek organisations
participate in it, along with organisations
from six European countries.
"Rural Wings" is a European project
coordinated by the National Technical
University of Athens. Its objective is to
offer e-learning services to a variety of
users, whether at school, at work or at
home, by installing DVB/RCS satellite
terminal equipment into 126 pilot sites all
over Europe. 13 European countr ies
participate in the project. Towards the end
of the project, at least 25 WiFi networks
will be implemented in order to provide
access to all possible remote users.
"Mobile Hermes" is an innovative service
for measur ing and recording the
instantaneous
values
of
the
electromagnet i c radiat ion in the
environment along main roads in urban
areas. The innovation of this service is
based on the use of a mobile monitoring
station, which measures and records the
electromagnetic radiation levels in the
environment, expanding the application
field of the programme HERMES which is
implemented by the Mobi le Radio-
Communications Laboratory / National
Technical University of Athens and the
Radiocommuni cat ions Laboratory /
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
EUREKA Initiative
EUREKA Awards
i
Eco-Innovation in Europe
Enterprise Europe Network – Hellas
European Portal for Sustainable
Development
Operational Programme
"Competitiveness and
Entrepreneurship"
Operational Programme
"Environment and Sustainable
Development"
i
VEMUS
Rural Wings
HERMES programme
i
INNO
VATION
RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY
&
Green entrepreneurship
The ever-increasing global concern about
climate change and natural resources
forces us to reconsider the di lemma
"deve lopment or env i ronment".
Environmental protection is among the
top priorities of European and global
policy, while also playing an important
part in shaping national policies.
Given the present conditions, it is
imperative that we rethink the relationship
between entrepreneurship and the
environment. Green entrepreneurship is a
modern form of economic activity that
responds to businesses’ needs for
profitability and growth while at the same
time taking into consideration the
environmental aspect, treating it as an
opportunity, not as an obstacle.
Green entrepreneurship i s gradual ly
establishing itself in Greece, within the
f ramework of harmoni zat ion wi th
community policies and taking advantage
of funding opportunities through national
and European programmes.
The article considers European policies
for the deve lopment of green
entrepreneurship through the Lisbon
St rategy, the Compet i t i veness and
Innovation Framework Programme etc. It
also looks at initiatives for encouraging
green ent repreneur ship in Greece,
mos t l y through the Operat iona l
Programme “Compet i t i veness and
Entrepreneurship” (EPAN II). Several case
studies from Greek enterprises are also
presented.