FORTH/ICE-HT participated in the 5th Patras Innovation Quest, Patras IQ, which took place in the “Dimitrios Tofalos” sport center of Patras from 27 to 29 April 2018. The Research and Development activities of the Institute were presented in its own stand, highlighting recent technological achievements with emphasis on the following four applications:
High pressure H2O electrolysis array: This demonstration concerns a compressor of small size & weight, for the production of pure hydrogen and oxygen in high pressure conditions (80 bar), for space & terrestrial applications. The research work was funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) under the contract “Development of a Closed Loop Regenerative HT PEM Fuel Cell System” (2014 – 2019).
- Cleaning heavily contaminated soils with cold plasma: The demonstrated process involves a plasma reactor for the complete, fast and inexpensive destruction of even the most durable subsoil pollutants. The research work was funded by the European Union and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology in the framework of the Project “Soil Pollution with Plasma Discharge Technologies – SOIL PLASMA” (2012-2105) and was awarded the 2nd Prize for Applied Research (23/2/2016) in the 3rd Competition of Applied Research and Innovation “Greece Innovates” organized by SEV and Eurobank.
- Standardized crop and agricultural product quality control using metabolomics & systemic biology approaches. Systems Agrobiotechnology: New technologies for high-throughput biomolecular analysis and, more particularly, metabolomics in combination with computational bioinformatics and systems biology approaches were presented for the standardization of the quality control monitoring of the crop productivity and the agricultural product, as well as the timely and accurate identification of stress conditions for the plants so that appropriate methods to counteract them can be designed.
- Lightweight, Flexible, Intelligent Textiles for Citizen Protection Services: The aim of this effort is the development of flexible & light textile panels that are resistant to ballistic tests and / or knife, the reduced maintenance requirements, the increase of the sensitivity / warning, the comfort and acceptance by the users, and the implementation and evaluation of the prototypes.
During the opening ceremony, the stand was visited by the Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Information, Mr. Nikos Pappas, the Chairman and members of the National Council for Research and Innovation (NCRI), the Regional Governor of Western Greece, Mr. Apostolos Katsifaras, and several national and regional authorities.
At the central event of Patras IQ, which took place on Saturday, April 28, entitled “From the idea and the laboratory to the innovative product”, the Director of ICE-HT, Dr. Vassilios Burganos presented the latest technological achievements of the institute.
