Finnova Foundation

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Enerbuild project partners will present the effectiveness of the energy optimisation system

  • The Infecar Exhibition Centre in Gran Canaria will host the hybrid technical seminar “Results of the Enerbuild pilot project” at 10:00 (Canary Islands time) next Monday, 12 December.
  • The event, organised by Finnova in collaboration with the Gran Cabildo de Gran Canaria, will be attended by the partners and developers of Enerbuild, the Consejo Insular de la Energia de Gran Canaria, EIT Climate-KIC, Hiper IT! as part of the BPS Gmbh group, SmartUP and Infraspeak, 
  • The technical conference will be accessible to everyone, subject to registration, both online: https://bit.ly/3VOFBOT, and in person: http://bit.ly/3H56byZ.

With the price of kwh/h rising to unprecedented levels, energy saving is one of the Real Estate sector’s priorities. A urge that the development of innovative tools such as the energy optimisation system Enerbuild, a European pilot project financed 75% by the EIT Climate-KIC, the European community dedicated to the search for technological solutions to combat climate change, aims to reduce the energy consumption of buildings. 

Next Monday, 12 December, at 10:00 Canary Islands time, the partners involved in this European initiative are organising a hybrid technical seminar where they will present the results gathered by Enerbuild, an initiative that proposes to combat climate change by relying on Smart-building technology and the Internet of Things, implemented in the socio-health centre, El Sabinal, a building donated by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, which serves as a residence for the elderly. 

 The Infecar exhibition centre will bring together representatives linked to this initiative to unveiled the results and discuss both the opportunities and challenges still to be faced by this energy optimisation system. The day will start with a brief presentation on what Enerbuild is by Raúl García Brink, technical coordinator of economic development, energy sovereignty and climate knowledge of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and Ignacio Chanza, developer of ecosystems in Southern Europe for Climate-KIC.

 Once the European Enerbuild project has been presented, representatives of the partners will explain how it is possible to materialise this idea. Carla García, EU Project Officer at  Finnova, will be the first to speak, and will offer a holistic view of how through good management of European funds and the cooperation of public-private entities it is possible to create tools that contribute to achieving the energy transition. Jorge Mendes, sales representative in Spain for Infraspeak and Arseny Tarasov, Ceo of Hiper IT, will present how the combination of smart-building technology and the internet of things can reduce the energy consumption of buildings. Finally, Lovren Markic will speak as a representative of SmartUp – Social Innovation Lab Macedonia, and will explain how they collect data, finally revealing the energy efficiency of this European project. 

Enerbuild was launched last 15th of  August with the aim of raising awareness among citizens, companies and institutions in the Canary Islands and strengthening innovation ecosystems at national and regional level of the need to reduce the effects of climate change. Led by the Consejo Insular de Energía de  Gran Canaria, the project combines the internet of things technology of Hiper IT! of the BPS group with the Portuguese maintenance platform Infraspeak in collaboration with Finnova and the Macedonian Social Innovation Lab.

About Finnova

Finnova is a Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation based in Brussels (Belgium) with a presence in Spain in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. The foundation works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at EU level and operates through collaborations and partnerships in all EU countries. Finnova’s experience in leading communication activities and dissemination of European projects is combined with a solid proven track record in business creation and business support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and incubators. It is also committed to the training and employability of young people.

About the Energy Island Council of Gran Canaria

An organisation associated with the Cabildo de Gran Canaria that was created with the intention of promoting clean energies, stimulating different energy saving and efficiency policies in homes and economic sectors of the islands, while at the same time promoting research, development and technological innovation together with town councils and other institutions.

About SmartUp

Social Innovation Lab, located in Skopje (North Macedonia), dedicates its resources and skills to catalyse innovation in order to offer novel solutions to social problems, connecting institutions, organisations and groups to different opportunities or projects.

About EIT Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is a community dedicated to innovation and knowledge in climate action. It identifies and supports different initiatives or projects that contribute to the fight against climate change and promote decarbonisation and energy transition.

It is part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an independent body of the European Union dedicated to increasing Europe’s competitiveness in areas such as sustainability, economic growth and job creation.

About BPS Group

BPS Group is a German company operating in the field of technology and the real estate market. The firm has developed HiPerWare, an end-to-end platform that with the help of Big Data and the Internet of Things can perform technically complex real estate operations in real time. The data, obtained through sensors placed in buildings or equipment, are analysed in the cloud and processed against thousands of variables that allow to visualise operational processes in 3D and improve the efficiency of maintenance.

About Infraspeak

Infraspeak is the developer of an intelligent maintenance management platform, a state-of-the-art software capable of connecting to different resources such as platforms and sensors. Infraspeak has extensive experience in the implementation of its software and its connection to Internet of Things sensors, bringing its services to more than 400 customers around the world.

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EU Rural 2040 Summit supports rural female entrepreneurship with Womenfortech and Finnova

  • The Summit provided strategic lines of action to support a green, digital and inclusive rural Europe.
  • The Founders Association explained the e-learning course for women’s entrepreneurship awarded by Caixa Popular

Last Wednesday 23rd in Morella was held the “EU Rural 2040 Summit” organised by the Europe Direct Castelló centres of the Diputación de Castelló and the Europe Direct Centre of ADEMA. The meeting, which brought together experts and associations, aims to discuss policies and initiatives that can be promoted from the rural environment to achieve the goal of a greener, more digital and inclusive Europe by 2040. 

The conference was opened by Mr. Pau Ferrando, Deputy Delegate of the Economic Promotion and International Relations Service of the Provincial Council of Castellón and was attended by different entities working for the rural impulse such as ESDI, ADEMA, FEDETCAS, REACTIVA ELS PORTS among others.

From the Digitalisation table, Ana Belén Arzo, head of the Economic Promotion and International Relations Service of the Castellón Provincial Council, explained the resources that will be implemented from 2023 to support entrepreneurship.  Among these proposals are the hiring of different technicians specialised in areas such as communication, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), among others. In the same way, they will help to solve the challenges faced by entrepreneurs. 

On the other hand, under the vision of new projects and initiatives in rural areas, Teresa Tena, head of the Europe Direct Centre in Castelló, explained the European lines of action in the rural area and how companies in Castellón can participate in these initiatives. 

Lola Bordás, CMO of the Finnova Foundation and head of “Womenfortech, the area of entrepreneurship and female empowerment of Finnova participated in this event through a round table moderated by Elena Esteve, Technician in Business Creation of the Economic Promotion and International Relations Service of the Provincial Council of Castellón, in which she spoke about the opportunities for female entrepreneurship in rural areas.

Teresa Tena, Head of Europe Direct Centre Castelló, Ana Belén Arzo, Pau Ferrando, Deputy Delegate of the Economic Promotion and International Relations Service of the Castellón Provincial Council. Ana Belén Arzo, Head of the Economic Promotion and International Relations Service, Castellón Provincial Council.

About Women for Tech

Women For Tech is the Finnova Foundation’s initiative to support innovation, disruptive projects, and public-private partnerships for women. They support different projects such as Finnova-Technovation Girls Challenges to promote STEAM careers in young people or projects to promote female entrepreneurship.

About Finnova Foundation  Finnova is a foundation that works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at EU level. Based in Brussels, it operates through collaborations and partnerships in all EU countries. Finnova’s expertise in leading European project communication and dissemination activities is combined with a strong proven track record in start-ups and business support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and ceremonial event selection and awarding. 

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International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day: Finnova brings together several female entrepreneurs to train and raise awareness of all the possibilities of female entrepreneurship

  • The presentation was part of the events held to commemorate the International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day.
  • Several women entrepreneurs shared their experiences and presented their projects as success stories.
  • The talk was aimed at young people with the objective of “nurturing” their entrepreneurial side and giving them the keys and tools, they need to develop their project.

Brussels, 21.10.2022. On Friday the 18th of November, the Finnova Foundation decided to commemorate the “International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day”, which was named by the United Nations and is celebrated every year on the 19th of November. To this end, the “Womenfortech” initiative, which aims to support innovative, disruptive projects and public-private partnerships for women, organised a training day on entrepreneurship for women aimed at young people. The speakers were entrepreneurs who told us about their experiences and talked about the steps to follow, what aspects are key in the development of a cutting-edge project and the subsequent “struggle” to obtain funding and the obstacles they have encountered on their way to getting their business idea off the ground.

The commitment to achieving equal opportunities in any sector and area is a concern for all institutions, whether they act at local, regional, national or international level. This is reflected in the goal of achieving the “Objectives of Sustainable Development”, specifically number 5 on “achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls”.

The conference featured two exceptional speakers: Lola Bordás, who is CMO of Finnova and she is also an entrepreneur and head of “Womenfortech”; and Ana Martínez Tanco, CEO of Yenxa by Almotech and winner of the last edition of “Premios #SigueAdelante” organised by Womenalia and Procter & Gamble.

Bordás presented data that makes us reflect on the current situation of female entrepreneurship. As she stated, “only 2% of venture capital is invested in women entrepreneurs”. This percentage needs to grow, because entrepreneurship is taking off. In order for your project to receive the necessary support, it is very important to be clear about certain aspects: the need to surround yourself with a good team, carry out a good analysis of the competition and the real needs of the market niche you want to reach, and be well informed about all possible types of financing. If you have a good idea that covers real needs of people and is a scalable, digital and sustainable project, it will be “fundable in venture capital”.

The second presentation was given by Ana Martínez. Almotech designs and develops technology to recover used oil at source, with the aim of incorporating circularity in different areas, the home, the horeca channel, etc. The first development is Yenxa, a small household appliance that transforms used oil into soap for different uses, using a kit of biodegradable capsules. It is currently in the industrialisation phase. Since its creation, the company has also considered it a priority to invest significant resources in RDI and IP protection.

In addition to her experience as an entrepreneur, Martínez also gave advice that everyone should take into account if they decide to become an entrepreneur. According to her, it is very important to differentiate oneself from the competition, to present an innovative project that can contribute something different and cover a need of the people that was not previously covered. It is also very important to be present in different entrepreneurial ecosystems. Having contact with networks of entrepreneurs can be a fundamental support when it comes to receiving advice, experiences, finding out about different calls for start-up prizes or funding opportunities. One example is the association Fundadoras, which works to support, connect and disseminate female entrepreneurship. It was a privilege to receive the advice of two women leaders, empowered and determined to move forward with their projects despite the complications they encounter along the way.

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European experts in Macedonia to discuss the best practices about firefighting

  • Tuesday 22nd of November, the European project FIPAS celebrated in Macedonia a hybrid event “Exchange of experiences at firefighting”
  • European funds must be used to fight forest fires.
  • The Infoca plan, and the Interreg FIREPOPTEC and CILIFO projects were presented as examples of good practices and scalable projects for the future Authorities from the municipality of Pechevo (Macedonia), managers from Nassat, Finnova, and representatives from the Andalusian Regional Government participated in this conference focused on the fight against forest fires.

Technology, one of the elements of the European FIPAS project, a forest fire prediction alarm system through Artificial Intelligence, has made possible the celebration of the hybrid event “Exchange of experiences on firefighting on Tuesday 22nd of November”. Experts in the field have come to the Centre for Nature Conservation Education in Pechevo, the Macedonian municipality where the FIPAS pilot project is implemented, to exchange experiences and make progress in the much-needed control of forest fires.

The day began with the welcome of the Mayor of Pehchevo, Aleksandar Klantsk, to all attendees and the presentation of the FIPAS project, led by Nassat and developed within the framework of EIT Climate-KIC, a European community that supports innovative initiatives that help combat climate change and mitigate the effects of global warming.

After the introduction, the first speaker in the institutional block was Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova. Revuelta, with extensive experience in the management of European funds, reported on the funding possibilities to continue with the creation of linked projects. “We are at the beginning of the 2021-2027 funding period, the halfway point of the Next Generation Funds, the largest fund created so far, in which the opportunities to continue presenting European projects in this important area is vital. It is time to invest this money as smartmoney by participating in programs such as Horizon EU, Interreg, Innovation Fund or Erasmus+ taking as an inspirational example our successful projects such as CILIFO or FIREPOCTEP”.

Dolores Vera, CEO of Nassat and Josefa García, engineer, presented and explained how the FIPAS alert system works. “The FIPAS index measures the percentage of fire risk in a given area, previously divided into square kilometres and in real time,” explained Josefa García. “There are different levels of alert, depending on the client’s requirements, and it offers visual data through a map provided by the platform”, added the engineer, who gave a brief visualisation of how this tool works.

After the intervention of the FIPAS partners, Adrián Noheda, EU Project Officer of Finnova and moderator of the event, gave way to the second block, by Joaquín Alejandro García Hernández, deputy director of the Regional Operational Centre of the INFOCA Plan and member of the Regional Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Andalusian Regional Government. Joaquín García began with the presentation of SEIF, the firefighting device of Plan Infoca. With a clear tradition of forest fires, Andalusia is the autonomous community in Spain that has the largest specialised firefighting system”, said García, who went on to explain the general procedure of the system “in which more than 4,000 people work”.

“In Spain, the competences belong to the autonomous government, not to private companies,” he explained to the Macedonian public, who were amazed at the deployment and procedure of the INFOCA plan. A very complete device both in terms of infrastructure, human material and in the implementation of the plan.

“Interreg a series of funds between cross-border countries. Interreg POCTEP between Spain and Portugal, two projects focused on fire fighting. “The Iberian Peninsula is the second area in Europe with the largest number of forest hectares, hence the importance of investing in active fire-fighting,” said García.

“The Portuguese region of Alentejo-Algarve participates together with Andalusia in the CILIFO project, an Interreg project with 15 partners and 24.6 million euros, the largest budget dedicated to the fight against forest fires,” he explained. To conclude, Joaquín García presented FIREPOCTEP, a project that “was born after the successful trajectory of CILIFO, extending the area of action to Galicia, an area that, in 2017, the year in which this project began, suffered many fires”. A project in which more than 21 partners are working and which extends throughout the western area of the Iberian Peninsula in the search for the strategic identification of risk areas, the promotion of public-private investment and the education of the population.

About Finnova

Finnova is the European foundation for innovation financing. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through its knowledge and experience in European funding instruments, addressing societal challenges such as youth employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.

About Social Innovation Lab

Social Innovation Lab, located in Skopje (North Macedonia), dedicates its resources and skills to catalyse innovation in order to offer novel solutions to social problems, connecting institutions, organisations and groups to different opportunities or projects.

About Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is the EU’s climate innovation agency working to accelerate the transition to a resilient, carbon-free world through systems transformation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, EIT Climate-KIC operates from 13 centres across Europe and is active in 39 countries. EIT Climate-KIC was established in 2010 and is primarily funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an agency of the European Union. As a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), EIT Climate-KIC brings together more than 400 partners from business, academia, public and non-profit sectors to create networks of expertise through which innovative products, services and systems are developed and commercialised for greater societal impact.

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Finnova highlights in Benaguasil the importance of taking advantage of European funds to implement practical innovations in forestry management

  • Finnova participates these days in Benaguasil in a working meeting of the SETOFF project, co-funded by the EU in the framework of Erasmus+, which aims to improve the preparedness and job security of civil protection and security personnel in the private sector in the event of future crises and emergencies.
  • A delegation of 15 people from Greece, North Macedonia, Belgium and Spain, representing the 8 entities that make up the SETOFF project consortium, spend two days analysing the progress and next steps of this European project.
  • The challenge of floods and desertification requires better governance of water treatment plants to regenerate water for reforestation.

Finnova attends today and tomorrow in the Valencian town of Benaguasil the second working meeting of the European project SETOFF, which aims to improve the preparedness and job security of civil protection and security personnel in the private sector against future crises and emergencies. The event, which brought together 15 representatives of the 8 partners of the European project, was inaugurated by Jose Joaquin Segarra Castillo, mayor of Benaguasil, together with the councillor for European projects, Stephane Soriano, local partner of the project.

Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, attended today this meeting held at the Benaguasil Town Hall, together with the project partners: universities and training organisations with expertise in civil protection issues, municipalities and non-profit research organisations, as well as technical consultancy service companies from Greece, Belgium, Spain and the Republic of North Macedonia. During the working day, the progress and next steps to be taken for the achievement of the project were discussed. “The SETOFF project, of which we are partners, is an interesting program that has many synergies with other projects we are working on such as Cilifo, Firepoctep or FIPAS, all of them focused on the prevention of natural risks,” said Revuelta. “Climate change is a huge challenge for the EU and for the planet as a whole. Fires and floods are multiplying and are devastating millions of hectares. An example of this is what happened in 2022 on the Iberian Peninsula, where more than 400,000 hectares have burned causing soil loss, drought and flooding. The Iberian Peninsula is a global laboratory for innovations in fire and flood prevention and control. In Spain and Portugal, unfortunately, there have long been fires and floods, and this has led to the existence of a technological ecosystem and we have a long experience to share with other countries in the world facing these challenges. Public administrations and companies should take advantage of European Next Generation, Interreg, LIFE and Horizon funds to implement and promote practical innovations in forest management, firefighting in the EU, recovery of burnt areas. At the level of climate change, we must explore the energy recovery of agricultural and forestry residues. The challenge of floods and desertification requires better governance in water treatment plants to regenerate water for reforestation, for example by using carbon sinks and improving the circular economy in water treatment plants, by implementing facilities that can digest organic waste to generate biogas and bio-fertiliser to recover contaminated soils and abandoned fields”, explained Finnova’s CEO.

Innovative and efficient practices of UE catastrophe management

Experts in the field discuss during these two days the general evolution of the project, which develop an innovative training plan based on a proven and successfully applied simulation model, combined with the latest scientific knowledge and a thorough analysis of the real needs and cognitive profile of the target groups. This plan can be applied at different stages of training both in civil protection and in private and personal sector safety and security: e-learning educational platform, e-training modules, online technologies to bring distance training closer to face-to-face training, skills retention service, etc. The project is also implemented in the field of civil protection.

By the same token, it gives visibility to innovative and effective EU disaster management practices, as well as provide an innovative, flexible and affordable high quality training curriculum for private sector security and safety and civil protection personnel and enhance collaboration between partners and the exchange of best practices and resources.

Finally, the results obtained are evaluated, and the procedures for implementing and training the trainers’ simulation workshops and establishing the processes of strategies and dissemination of communication skills are established.

About SETOFF

The project SETOFF (smart education and training program for central and local government officials: embracing vulnerability as our greatest strength and innovative tools for risk management) aims to improve the preparedness and occupational safety of civil protection and private sector security and safety personnel for future crises and emergencies by developing an innovative online training curriculum based on a proven and successfully implemented simulation model combined with the latest scientific knowledge. and comprehensive needs analysis.

The SET-OFF consortium consists of 8 partners from 4 countries: universities and training organisations with expertise in civil protection issues, municipalities and non-profit research organisations, as well as technical consultancy service companies from Greece, Macedonia, Belgium and Spain. In addition, eleven Associated Partners recognise the need and potential of this project to enable structured knowledge exchange and facilitate collaboration between practitioners, civil society and stakeholders in the field of disaster management through the proposed online platform and express their interest in supporting and their intention to actively participate in SETOFF.

About Finnova

Finnova is the European foundation for innovation financing. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through its knowledge and experience in European funding instruments, addressing societal challenges such as youth employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.

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Finnova support the European Week for Waste Reduction with diverse events

  • From 19th to 25th of November, Europe celebrates the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) in order to raise awareness of sustainable management for resources and waste, under the slogan “Circular and sustainable textiles. Waste is out of fashion!”.
  • FIPAS, LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0, CircoAx by CircularInnobooster, and HIBA, European projects in which Finnova collaborates, celebrate the journey on the occasion of celebrating the week for waste.

On the 15th of November, the world’s population reached 8 billion, the largest number of people the planet has ever supported. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century, population growth has been a cause for concern. Examples of this are the Malthusian problems, the response with the colonisation of Africa as a source of goods or the more recent globalisation. A situation that has led to the search for alternative resources such as the reuse of materials to produce new elements. This is when waste ceases to be a simple waste product and becomes a second chance.

The European Union is no stranger to this problem and for years it has been funding European projects through different programs that aim to contribute to a circular and sustainable economy. The Finnova Foundation participates in several of these programs and during this week it plans to hold various events to give visibility and disseminate solutions to combat the problem of resource scarcity.

Four events

Tuesday, the 22nd of November at 10.30 a.m. (GMT+1): Day of exchange of experiences on fire fighting

Finnova inaugurates the European Week of Waste with a day of exchange of experiences on firefighting, an area in which waste is of great importance, as 25% of fires come from waste. In view of this situation, FIPAS, a forest fire prediction alarm system through Artificial Intelligence, led by Nassat and developed within the framework of EIT Climate-KIC will hold a hybrid event with the intention of promoting the analysis of opportunities, disseminating the project and generating the exchange of knowledge, skills and resources that promote good practices in the fight against fires.

Those interested in following the event will be able to do so after registering at the following link: https://bit.ly/3XmRux9

Thursday, 24th of November, 10.00 a.m. (GMT+1): Conference to exchange experiences on sustainable waste treatment strategies

Under the name: “Raising awareness and creating a community on sustainable waste treatment and reduction in Europe”, Finnova celebrates the second event, within this week, on behalf of the European Project Life Ecodigestion 2.0. An initiative framed within the LIFE program that aims to demonstrate on a pilot scale the production of biogas on demand with WWTP sludge, using agri-food waste and slurry as co-substrate.

This event aims to give visibility to existing projects such as BIOMASA-CAP, G2G – Algae, as well as the contribution of practical knowledge from experts in the sector such as the Catalan Waste Agency or representatives of the Valencian Community, future European Green Capital in 2024.

Anyone interested in attending this online event can do so by registering in advance: http://bit.ly/3hU5wG1

Friday, the 25th of November, 10.00 a.m. (GMT+1): Workshop on good practices in agri-food waste management. New opportunities for European funding

Finnova is organising a side event of the Iberia Agrotech HIBA Hub Project, which aims to share best practices for the management of agri-food waste, as well as to raise awareness of new funding opportunities to promote similar cross-border cooperation projects at European level (Interreg POCTEP – Interreg SUDOE).

HIBA is a project made up of 19 beneficiaries from Spain and Portugal, and 75% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund – ERDF, in the framework of the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal 2014-2020 program (POCTEP), with a total project budget of 5.3 million euros. With a multi-regional character, the axis of the European project is based on inclusive growth through cross-border cooperation between Spain and Portugal in favour of business competitiveness, in order to improve the competitiveness and development of small and medium-sized enterprises. The project seeks to promote entrepreneurship by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and encouraging the creation of new companies.

Registration and booking at: https://bit.ly/3VfOalg

Friday, the 25th of November, 16.00 p.m. (GMT+1): Online webinar on circular economy projects in the textile sector

As a finale, Finnova is holding the last of the events planned for the waste week, an online webinar offered by CircoAX by CircularInnoBooster, a project funded by the COSME program that aims to transform textile and fashion companies into sustainable, circular and regenerative enterprises.

An event closely linked to this year’s slogan “Waste is out of fashion!” in which some of the managers of the 30 SMEs that make up CircoAX will participate, as well as Sharam Yalda, founder of Human Nation or Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, who will provide a vision of how to contribute to this fight from the management of European funds.  If you would like to attend, do not hesitate to register: http://bit.ly/3EPuDD6

About Finnova

Finnova is the European foundation for innovation financing. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through its knowledge and experience in European funding instruments, addressing societal challenges such as youth employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.

About FIPAS

The European project FIPAS consists of a forest fire prediction alarm system through Artificial Intelligence, led by Nassat and Rivulet developed within the framework of EIT Climate-KIC, community that supports innovative initiatives that help combat climate change and mitigate the effects of global warming.

FIPAS has a total budget of 144,500 euros, 80% financed by the EIT Climate-KIC. This tool is being implemented in the town of Pehchevo, Macedonia. The Social Innovation Lab, a laboratory located in Skopje, which dedicates its resources to offer innovative solutions based on technology, is collaborating with Finnova.

About CircularInnoBooster

is a project funded by the European Union’s Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Program (COSME).

The CircularInnoBooster project aims to transform companies in the textile and fashion industry into sustainable, circular and regenerative enterprises. With a duration of 2 years, it has a budget of 1,128,000 euros, 75% co-financed by the European Commission. The project is composed of an international consortium led by the European Institute of Design (IED), together with Texfor, Circulab, Finnova and The Circular Project with Human Nation.

About LifeEcodigestion 2.0

The LIFE ECODIGESTION 2.0 project presents a digital automatic control system for the dosing of organic waste in anaerobic digesters of WWTP (Waste Water Treatment Plant) to maximise the production of biogas on demand as renewable energy. This project has a budget of more than 970,000 euros. The pilot project, which has a duration of four years (2020-2024), is led by Global Omnium Medioambiente (Spain) and has as partners the Finnovaregio Foundation (Belgium) and Águas do Centro Litoral (Portugal). The production of biogas to cover energy demand and reduce the amount of waste in landfill contributes to compliance with the European Landfill Directive.

About HIBA

The Interreg Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Project (POCTEP) HIBA will promote a multi-regional ecosystem focused on the digitalisation of the agri-food sector in Spain and Portugal through the creation of a network of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) that promotes initiative, competitiveness and business sustainability, fostering post-Covid19 economic recovery. With a budget of 5.3 million euros, 75% co-financed by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) in the framework of the Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020 (POCTEP), HIBA has 19 beneficiaries, with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Andalusian Regional Government being the main beneficiary.

About the European Week for Waste Reduction (EEWR) In an effort to make visible the effort and passion that many people around the world dedicate to bring sustainable consumption supported by the circular economy, Europe celebrates this week the European Week of Waste (EWWR). A celebration that aims to mobilise European citizens as well as institutions to follow the actions of reducing, reusing, recycling and cleaning up the area we live in to achieve a sustainable Europe under the pillar of circular economy and waste reduction.

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The European project Enerbuild, a practical example of solutions to COP27 in energetic area

  • From the 6th to the 20th of November, Egypt received COP27, the climate summit in which all countries of the world pointed out the importance of reducing fossil fuels and looking for new energy sources.
  • The Enerbuild implementation, in El Sabinal health and social center in Gran Canaria, has been presented in diverse conferences as example of good practice.

COP27, a climate summit that ended on 20 November, discussed, among other issues, the pressing need to seek new alternative energy sources to fossil fuels in order to move towards decarbonisation and mitigate climate change. In addition, as a novelty, the creation of a fund to finance projects that contribute to combating the main problems in climate issues was announced. A modus operandis very similar to that applied by the European Union in which projects such as Enerbuild, an energy optimisation system successfully implemented in the social and health centre, El Sabinal, in Gran Canaria, are being developed.

Enerbuild is a European Project of energetic optimization led by the Island Council of the Gran Canaria Energy, fund the 75% by EIT Climate-KIC, European Community specialised in innovation and knowledge in climate action. An initiative that pretends to combat climate change with Smart-building technology and the Internet of the Things to get reducing energy expenditure.

Installed in the El Sabinal socio-health centre, a building donated by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and used as a residence for the elderly, the project is proving to be a great success. “Enerbuild saves 15% of energy costs in buildings”, explained Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, during the presentation of the project at the 13th International Fair of Canagua and Energy, where Enerbuild served as an example of good practice.

A system that, after the good results recorded, is presented as a tool that could be implemented in hospitals, residences or even in hotel chains, where it could help to face the escalation of energy prices while mitigating emissions, concluded Revuelta.

Led by the Gran Canaria Island Energy Council (CIEGC), Enerbuild Managua has the collaboration of Finnova Foundation, the Macedonian Smart-Up Innovation Lab, the Internet of Things platform HiPerWare, a tool of the German group BPS International dedicated to Big Data, and the Portuguese smart maintenance platform Infraspeak. The latter two companies are developing a combined solution based on analysing and monitoring supply systems by collecting Big Data, with the aim of detecting anomalies and providing recommendations on system optimisation, which are achieving the main objective of this European project: mitigating the effects of climate change by raising awareness among citizens, companies and institutions and strengthening innovation ecosystems at national and regional level.

Otherwise, Enerbuild not only makes a beneficial contribution to energy, it also supports projects linked to the goals of the 2030 Agenda, such as the GIRLS4TECH, program, which is linked to SDG 5, Gender Equality. A program that supports STEM careers for young people, especially girls, and brings innovative European-funded solutions such as Enerbuild to young people.

About Finnova 

Finnova is a Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation based in Brussels (Belgium) with a presence in Spain in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. The foundation works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at EU level and operates through collaborations and partnerships in all EU countries. Finnova’s experience in leading communication and dissemination activities of European projects is combined with a solid proven track record in business creation and business support programs, such as accelerators, incubators and incubators. It is also committed to the training and employability of young people.

About the Island Council of the Gran Canaria Energy

An organisation associated with the town hall of Gran Canaria that was created with the intention of promoting clean energies, stimulating different energy saving and efficiency policies in homes and economic sectors of the islands, while at the same time promoting research, development and technological innovation together with town councils and other institutions.

About SmartUp

Social Innovation Lab, located in Skopje (North Macedonia), dedicates its resources and skills to catalyse innovation to offer novel solutions to social problems, connecting institutions, organisations and collectives to different opportunities or projects.

About EIT Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is a community dedicated to innovation and knowledge in climate action. It identifies and supports different initiatives or projects that contribute to the fight against climate change and promote decarbonisation and energy transition.

It is part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an independent body of the European Union dedicated to increasing Europe’s competitiveness in areas such as sustainability, economic growth and job creation.

About BPS Group 

BPS Group is a German company operating in the field of technology and the real estate market. The firm has developed HiPerWare, an end-to-end platform that with the help of Big Data and the Internet of Things can perform technically complex real estate operations in real time. The data, obtained through sensors placed in buildings or equipment, are analysed in the cloud and processed with thousands of variables that allow to visualise operational processes in 3D and improve the efficiency of maintenance.

About Infraspeak

Infraspeak is the developer of an intelligent maintenance management platform, a state-of-the-art software capable of connecting to different resources such as platforms and sensors. Infraspeak has extensive experience in the implementation of its software and its connection to Internet of Things sensors, bringing its services to more than 400 customers around the world.

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The European project FIPAS will hold an event to exchange practical and theoretical experiences in firefighting

  • The North Macedonian Nature Centre in Pehchevo will host next Tuesday, 22nd November, the hybrid event “Exchange of experiences in firefighting” at 10.30 am (GMT+1).
  • The event, organised by Finnova in collaboration with the Municipality of Pehchevo, will be attended by the partners and developers of the European firefighting projects FIPAS, CILIFO and FIREPOCTEP, and members of INFOCA.
  • It will be open to everyone, subject to the registration via the following link: https://bit.ly/3XmRux9

Finnova, together with the municipality of Pechevo, will hold next Tuesday, 22nd November, the hybrid event: “Exchange of experiences in firefighting” to promote the analysis of opportunities, disseminate the project and generate the exchange of knowledge, skills and resources that promote good practices in the fight against fires. The event will be one of the strategies that will present the project after six months of work on FIPAS, a forest fire prediction alarm system through Artificial Intelligence, led by Nassat and developed within the framework of EIT Climate-KIC, a European community that supports innovative initiatives that help to combat climate change and mitigate the effects of global warming.

FIPAS has a total budget of 144,500 euros, 80 % funded by the EIT Climate-KIC. During the last six months, the project partners have been working on the progress of a set of solutions to detect the probability of fire danger in real-time, as well as the actions that can be taken to reduce it with Artificial Intelligence as the main tool.

The event will be attended by several relevant actors in the development of this project and it will consist of two blocks. The first, of an institutional nature, will include a representative of each FIPAS partner, who will present the latest advances and main conclusions of the project. The second block, dedicated to the field experience, will include interventions by the Department of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Andalusian Regional Government, which will present the European projects Interreg CILIFO, FIREPOCTEP and the INFOCA plan.

Those interested in following the event will be able to do so after registering at the following link: https://bit.ly/3XmRux9

About NASSAT

Nassat is a leading company in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector that addresses particularly complex problems affecting organisations, companies, institutions and communities, inherent to deficiencies in telecommunications infrastructures, in many cases non-existent.

About Finnova

Finnova is the European Foundation for innovation financing. Its objectives are to promote public-private cooperation through its knowledge and experience in European funding instruments, addressing societal challenges such as youth employment, entrepreneurship, the UN SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, sustainable tourism and the fight against climate change.

About Social Innovation Lab

Social Innovation Lab, located in Skopje (North Macedonia), dedicates its resources and skills to catalyse innovation to offer novel solutions to social problems, connecting institutions, organisations and collectives to different opportunities or projects.

About Climate-KIC EIT Climate-KIC is the EU’s climate innovation agency working to accelerate the transition to a resilient, carbon-free world through systems transformation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, EIT Climate-KIC operates from 13 centres across Europe and is active in 39 countries. EIT Climate-KIC was established in 2010 and is primarily funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an agency of the European Union. As a Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC), EIT Climate-KIC brings together more than 400 partners from business, academia, public and non-profit sectors to create networks of expertise through which innovative products, services and systems are developed and commercialised for greater societal impact.

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The Oceanográfica project for the creation of green jobs, winner of the Women Startup Europe Awards

The Oceanográfica: Divulgación Educación y Ciencia S.L. project, led by Cristina Fernández Gil, has won the Women Startup Europe Awards, in a competition in which numerous innovation projects carried out by women were presented. The awards ceremony was held on 11 November at the closing ceremony of the Women Impact Summit, part of the Afrimac 2 project.

This project, inspired by the initiative of Wangari Mataii in Kenya, promotes the creation of green jobs favouring the rural economy. Its main objective is the implementation of pilot examples of green areas managed by citizens in some residential neighbourhoods of the Canary Islands, as an example of a change of model in municipal planning and management.

The aim is to promote a culture of care for nature and people by transforming abandoned and degraded spaces into green areas planted and managed by citizens, to support the social demand to live in an environment that is greener, more sustainable, healthier and more resilient to change.

Currently, as Fernandez Gil tells us, “The island and the municipality are facing great environmental and humanitarian challenges in which we must weave new social networks and recover environmental health to overcome the constant changes and crises that are coming and are expected to come. We need to strengthen the resilience of society and the environment for which we must work in coordination with administrations, technicians and citizens.”

For this, Oceanográfica aims to improve the governance of citizens by helping to change their immediate environment, promoting awareness and generating social fabric to improve the environmental and social resilience of neighbourhoods, and the creation of green spaces on an island that lacks them in urban and school environments.

Oceanográfica will be the project that will receive the prize worth €5,000, as well as all the training and dissemination of its project, promoting the development and further development of the project.

Congratulations Cristina!

Video of Oceanográfica’s presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8bblKQ2DKM

About Woman Impact Summit (WIS)

Woman Impact Summit (www.womanimpactsummit.com) is an international initiative within the AFRIMAC 2 project to share different ways of addressing economic opportunities, visibility and access for women of all backgrounds, with participants, regional leaders, entrepreneurs and businesswomen working on special initiatives for women on both sides of the Atlantic.

About AFRIMAC 2

AFRIMAC 2 (www.afrimac.org) is a programme for business, technological, entrepreneurial and innovative exchange in areas of high economic impact between the Canary Islands and West Africa. The main objective is to improve the internationalisation of companies in the cooperation area through the creation of networks and the generation of a knowledge environment with a gender focus.

About Women For Tech

Women For Tech is the Finnova Foundation‘s initiative to support innovation, disruptive projects and public-private partnerships for women. They support different projects such as Finnova-Technovation Girls Challenges to promote STEAM careers in young people or projects to promote female entrepreneurship.

About Finnova Foundation

Finnova is a foundation working for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at EU level. Based in Brussels, it operates through collaborations and partnerships in all EU countries. Finnova’s experience in leading European project communication and dissemination activities is combined with a strong proven track record in start-ups and business support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and selection and award ceremonial events.

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The european project Enerbuild saves up to 15% of energy costs in buildings

  • The project has been presented as a success story at the 13 th Feria Internacional de Canagua y Agua as a practical example of good practice.
  • From Wednesday the 9th to Friday the 11th of November, the Infecar exhibition centre in Gran Canaria hosted the 13th Feria Internacional de Canagua y Agua, an event attended by the most important players in the energy and water sector on the national panorama.
  • The energy optimisation system of Enerbuild project led by the Island Council of Canarias caught the attention of many relevant actors, as it is a successful case implemented in the social and health centre, El Sabinal, a building ceded by the town hall of Gran Canaria, which serves as a residence for the elderly.

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, the importance and need to seek and develop other energy sources beyond fossil fuels has accelerated, not only because of the need to mitigate the effects of climate change, but also with the aim of optimising the use of energy. A situation that was very present from the 9th to the 11th of November at the 13th Feria Internacional de Canagua y Agua , where Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, presented the European project Enerbuild. A project that with a budget of 156.564 euros and a grant of 116.928 euros, pretends to fight against climate change using the smart-building technology and the Internet things.

Led by the Consejo Insular de Energía de Gran Canaria (CIEGC), Enerbuild has the participation of the Finnova Foundation, the Macedonian Innovation Lab Smart-Up, the Internet of Things platform HiPerWare, a tool of the German group BPS International dedicated to Big Data, and the Portuguese smart maintenance platform Infraspeak, which will serve as the technological basis of a combined solution based on analysing and monitoring supply systems by collecting Big Data, with the aim of detecting anomalies and providing recommendations on system optimisation.

“This project aims to validate a model that can be scaled throughout the entire autonomous community of the Canary Islands, in all public hospitals and nursing homes with Next Generation funds, and seek savings of between 10% and 25% in the buildings. The solution could be implemented in the entire hotel chain in the Canary Islands in order to contribute to the competitiveness of the tourist destination in the face of rising energy prices while contributing to the reduction of emissions” this was the message that Finnova’s CEO, used to encouraged the assistant in order to present and take interest in this interesting and successful system implemented in the Gran Canarian social and health centre, El Sabinal, which is currently used as a residence for the elderly.

These results caught the attention of many of the attendees, such as José Luis Figueroa, Head of Cabinet of the Ecological Transition Counsellor of the Canary Islands Government, who attracted by the attractiveness of Enerbuild, decided to approach the stand N2, where the Finnova team presented in more detail this project, 75 % financed by European funds from the EIT Climate-KIC, a European community dedicated to innovation and knowledge in climate action. On balance, the visibility and dissemination of the European Enerbuild project, which continues to improve its fight against climate change every day, inspired and attracted the attention of many attendees, not only for its innovative nature but also for its indigenous character, a feature that, together with the good results announced, increased its attractiveness.

About Finnova

Finnova is a Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation based in Brussels (Belgium) with a presence in Spain in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. The foundation works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at EU level and operates through collaborations and partnerships in all EU countries. Finnova’s experience in leading communication activities and dissemination of European projects is combined with a solid proven track record in business creation and business support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and incubators. It is also committed to the training and employability of young people.

About the Energy Island Council of Gran Canaria

An organisation associated with the Cabildo de Gran Canaria that was created with the intention of promoting clean energies, stimulating different energy saving and efficiency policies in homes and economic sectors of the islands, while at the same time promoting research, development and technological innovation together with town councils and other institutions.

About SmartUp

Social Innovation Lab, located in Skopje (North Macedonia), dedicates its resources and skills to catalyse innovation in order to offer novel solutions to social problems, connecting institutions, organisations and groups to different opportunities or projects.

About EIT Climate-KIC

EIT Climate-KIC is a community dedicated to innovation and knowledge in climate action. It identifies and supports different initiatives or projects that contribute to the fight against climate change and promote decarbonisation and energy transition.

It is part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an independent body of the European Union dedicated to increasing Europe’s competitiveness in areas such as sustainability, economic growth and job creation.

About BPS Group

BPS Group is a German company operating in the field of technology and the real estate market. The firm has developed HiPerWare, an end-to-end platform that with the help of Big Data and the Internet of Things can perform technically complex real estate operations in real time. The data, obtained through sensors placed in buildings or equipment, are analysed in the cloud and processed against thousands of variables that allow to visualise operational processes in 3D and improve the efficiency of maintenance.

About Infraspeak

Infraspeak is the developer of an intelligent maintenance management platform, a state-of-the-art software capable of connecting to different resources such as platforms and sensors. Infraspeak has extensive experience in the implementation of its software and its connection to Internet of Things sensors, bringing its services to more than 400 customers around the world.

About the Feria Internacional de Canagua y Energía

After more than four years of hiatus, conditioned by its biennial nature and the Covid-19 pandemic, the 13th edition of the Feria Internacional de Canagua y Energía aims to offer a space in which clean energies are the core. To this end, it will provide more than 50 exhibitors and conferences to facilitate new business opportunities, the generation of synergies, new generation models, efficiency, desalination, water reuse, investment, promotion and collaboration within the water and energy binomial.

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