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Seeking safe and effective outdoor mosquito solutions

• Posted by The Procter & Gamble Company
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• Project Size : Strategic project backed by large scale funding €

Seeking safe and effective outdoor mosquito solutions to help consumers enjoy their yard and outdoor spaces without the annoyance and inconvenience of mosquito bites. Mosquitos are a common nuisance and disease spreading insect. In addition to being vectors of disease, one of the main reasons we want to tackle this pest is to allow people to enjoy outdoor activities more frequently – e.g., eating outside, spending time with family, and watching outdoor sporting events. Here in P&G Ventures, we are looking for existing, in market solutions which exist globally that are specifically designed to kill or repel mosquitos.

Seeking Glue-free and Plastic-free closure of paper packaging

• Posted by Stefano Resta from Fater SpA
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• Project Size : 50,000 - 250,000 €

We are looking for a technology to seal paper packaging materials (paper only with no plastic coating) without using traditional glues or any other additive. For a sustainable packaging application, we're looking for a technology to seal or crimp kraft paper without using glue or plastic coating applied on the paper. Ideally, we want to seal 100% untreated paper without adding any other chemicals. Our preferred solution would be a folding of the packaging material

Seeking natural colors for foods and beverages

• Posted by PepsiCo
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• Project Size : 50,000 - 250,000 €

PepsiCo is evaluating different natural color ingredients and technologies to replace Yellow #5, Yellow #6, Red #40, and Blue #1 for multiple food and beverage brands in order to address consumer demand. Specific challenges are in the Red #40 (food) and Blue #1 (food & beverage) replacers.

New nanostructured material for tissue regeneration

• Posted by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - UPC
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• Patents for licensing

A new ion release system for revascularization and tissue regeneration based of calcium phosphate glass nanoparticles has been patented and developed. Partners to further develop the technology and/or to establish commercial agreements along with technical cooperation are sought.

Image processing method for glaucoma detection and computer program

• Posted by Servei de Gestió de la Innovació from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - UPC
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• Innovative Products and Technologies

We have developed a new algorithm for ordering anterior chamber OCT images in such a way that it is possible to classify them, in a fully unsupervised manner, in meaningful groups according to relevant features. We have tested the algorithm with a large set of images classified by two expert ophthalmologists, and with a larger set of annotated images. We have verified that the separation in the different classes defined by the ophthalmologists (closed, narrow, open, and wide open_ figure 6) is similar when using the manually extracted features, or when using the features that are returned by the unsupervised algorithm (View figures). Therefore, the abstract features generated by the algorithm provide novel tools for assessing OCT images of the anterior chamber. They can be used for direct classification of the images and, furthermore, they can be linked to established quantities used for characterizing diseased eyes (like chamber depth, iris-corneal angle) resulting in an automatic detection system. As the algorithm is fully unsupervised, it can be easily automated and set up in OCT imaging systems to aid technicians and doctors in an early diagnosis. The two main advantages of the algorithm demonstrated here over previous works are that it doesn’t need any ground truth or gold standard for training, and it does not rely on specific landmarks; thus, it can analyze images in which relevant landmarks are not visible or not easy to locate.

New non-destructive method for “in situ” monitoring of anticorrosive protection of organic coatings

• Posted by University of Vigo
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• Patents for licensing

Paint coating is one of the most used methods to delay corrosion process in metallic structures. Metal corrosion is the main reason of metallic infrastructure deterioration (bridges, boats, planes…) causing failures in numerous industrial areas. The economic loss due to corrosion is estimated at about 4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in industrialized countries. Due to the serious consequences of this phenomenon, it is essential to develop effective methods for early detection of coatings failures and establishment of deterioration mechanisms. However nowadays, most of the inspection methods are indirect, destructive and based on deterministic or probabilistic models, which limits the coatings performance assessment on the in real operating conditions. The Corrosion Engineering and Materials Research Group (ENCOMAT) proposes a solution to this problem with a new device and a direct and non-destructive test based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The main novelty of the device and procedure is the new portable sensor adaptable to any surface. The device, fixable by vacuum to the surface under study, makes possible the measurement of the electrochemical interfacial impedance. That is the main parameter of interest for adherence quality and anti-corrosion performance. The procedure reduces testing time and allows in situ assays to be performed.