The two main topics of the second issue of the Innovation Journal are the opportunities of climate change mitigation using innovative technologies and solutions, and promoting the creation of innovations and development of entrepreneurship in order to establish new knowledge-based companies in Latvia.
Riga Technical University (RTU) and the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA) publish the Innovation Journal for scientists and entrepreneurs on technology transfer to promote cooperation between research organisations and industry, improve the understanding of technology transfer and increase the contribution of science and higher education institutions to the national economy. Therefore, the Journal shares not only RTU researchers’ ideas and scientific discoveries, but also success stories of other universities and research organisations, company achievements, bright start-up ideas.
The present issue focuses on how RTU researchers create zero-energy technology for the treatment of pharmaceutical companies’ wastewater from highly persistent organic pollutants and how wastewater treatment takes places at JSC Grindeks that is interested in innovative industrial pollution abatement studies and methods that have potentially practical applications.
In turn, the scientists of the University of Latvia in cooperation with Ltd. SilvEXPO are exploring how to make the best use of the natural resources of Latvia and to produce valuable products for health from berry pulp. At present, this issue is also topical for LIAA Jelgava Incubator Company Dabas Dots that in cooperation with Latvian scientists has created a natural berry drink. The owner of the company Rolands Riņķis tells the readers about the establishment and experience of his company in cooperation with scientists.
Meanwhile, specialists of the Latvia University of Agriculture (LUA) are encouraging the use of natural resources in Latvia – various plants and shrubs – for the treatment of contaminated environments. The Journal presents an article about the possibilities of using the fitoremediation method and the preparatory stage of implementation of a pilot project in several municipalities of Latvia and Lithuania. The Journal also touches upon a broad topic on the search for future fuel that unites the scientists of RTU and LLU and the industry specialists.
The balance between business and the environment has been found by the hero of great interview of the Journal – the founder of the Institute for Environmental Solutions, well-known entrepreneur Gundars Skudriņš. He also acknowledges in an interview, «I have heard people saying, «We will structure innovation». How can one imagine it? Innovation is a process. It should be allowed to emerge. How many apples had fallen on the heads of people before Newton said what gravity was?» The role of higher education institutions in promoting innovation and developing entrepreneurship is also highly valued by representatives of higher education institutions in Latvia and the Minister for Economics Arvils Ašeradens.
Innovative and sustainable business ideas are also being developed through the support of Climate-KIC, the Knowledge and Innovation Communities of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. The co-founder of start-up Snowision Aleksejs Korabovskis tells the readers how this support allows developing technology which, using sensors that measure microwaves, can remotely determine the amount of snow, density and temperature in order to save a considerable amount of money on artificial snow production. In turn, development opportunities for other technology-based start-ups could be provided within the Magnetic Latvia Technology Conference «Deep Tech Atelier» that will take place on 12–14 April. As the board member of Ltd. Schaeffler Baltic Aleksandrs Parfinovičs notes, It will be possible to see what innovations are taking place in the Baltics. A. Parfinovičs also shares his experience on how a knowledge-intensive start-up can attract international interest and become a part of the global giant.
In the meantime, on the road to the commercialisation of their scientific ideas there are researchers who participate in the programme administered by the LIAA «Support for the Commercialisation of Research Results». The Journal continues to track how the scientific idea is transformed into a product and what challenges researchers face in their collaboration with industry.
The Innovation Journal is published quarterly in Latvian and English in both print and electronic format. The print issues of the Journal are available at RTU, LIAA customer service departments, agencies abroad, incubators, while the online issues of the Journal are available at RTU homepage. The extended content is also available on Facebook.
The publication of the Journal is financially supported by the European Regional Development Fund Project «Technology Transfer Programme».
