Brussels, July 15, 2020 – The EXIT project – MicroplasTic extraction, winner of the first edition of the Accelerathon WATER Startup Europe Awards, ends its journey through this open innovation competition with the presentation of its project to the LIFE programme on Environment of the European Commission, with which you can opt to up to 2 million euros of financing per project. During the last fifteen days, the members of the project, promoted by Global Omnium and Bioferric Ink, from the Miguel Hernández University (UMH), have received the training of experts in European funds from the Finnova Foundation with the aim of refining the proposal and multiplying your chances of winning it.
‘During our history, we have managed to get 35 innovation projects to receive European funding thanks to the support of our team of experts in European funds’, says Juanma Revuelta, CEO of the Finnova Foundation and adds: ‘At Finnova we believe that it is vitally important to help to entrepreneurs who cannot receive other lines of financing but who do meet the requirements of the European Commission to start their projects. We are committed to the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda to which we contribute by promoting innovation through multidisciplinary solutions to problems such as wastewater treatment.’
‘Our technology is based on the use of magnetic particles. The objective is to separate the microplastics (MPs) and reuse these particles.’ says Álvaro Mas, CEO of Bioferric, ‘Our project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using magnetic particles for the removal and recovery of PMs present in wastewater, both urban and industrial, avoiding their discharge into the environment and contributing, through their subsequent recovery, to the model of circular economy powered by the European Union (COM (2018) 28 final). The proposed technology has already been validated in a laboratory, effectively achieving the elimination of MPs greater than 99%, using real residual water for this’ says Mr Mas.
During the Accelerathon Water Startup Europe Awards, organized by IVACE, in collaboration with Seimed, Redit, Aidimme and the ADR Forum, and implemented by Finnova, which started on May 28, the twelve teams that started the competition have had access to the e-Learning platform that Finnova has developed together with Play & Go and Prisma, two Valencian startups dedicated to creating innovative tools with game elements (gamification) for the digital transformation of organizations. The gamification educational platform provides, through an interactive training system, the knowledge necessary to understand and access European funding programs.
The program has the institutional support of the DG CONNECT of the European Commission and is aimed at officials and policy makers of municipalities, companies and public corporations, business associations, technological institutes, universities, innovative companies with patents or corporations with environmental challenges that can be resolved with the financial and technological boost of the LIFE program. In addition, it follows the indications of the following United Nations SDGs with the firm purpose of supporting its visibility and objectives:
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 13: Climate Action
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
What is SEIMED?
SEIMED is the node in the Valencian Community of the network of European business service centres Entreprise Europe Network (EEN). It was launched by the European Commission and is part of the world’s largest network of services for SMEs. It is a network of European services led by IVACE for the innovation and internationalization of companies. In it, the Valencian Community Chambers of Commerce, REDIT Innovation Network, CEV, University of Alicante and CEEI Valencia participate.
About Finnovaregio
European Foundation for the financing of innovation. Its objectives are to promote private public cooperation through the technology transfer of low-cost solutions among the best technologies available to address social challenges such as employment, entrepreneurship, the United Nations SDGs, the circular economy, waste recovery, tourism sustainable, the fight against climate change.
What is Startup Europe?
Startup Europe is an initiative of the European Commission to connect high-tech startups, scaleups, investors, accelerators, corporate networks, universities and the media.
What is Startup Europe Accelerator?
It is the European accelerator created by the Finnova Foundation in 2011. This EU accelerator of incubators, incubators and vertical, regional and national entrepreneurship programs seeks that startups and scaleups access the opportunities of the EU to receive education and training, internationalize their project and access the market through European projects, obtain subsidies, network, receive legal advice and develop international marketing strategies.
What is Startup Europe Awards (SEUA)?
It is an initiative of the DG CONNECT of the European Commission implemented by the Finnova Foundation that has traditionally had the institutional support of the European Parliament, the European Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee since 2016.
SEUAs are an open innovation tool to identify disruptive startups that promote public-private collaboration and raise awareness of the importance of self-entrepreneurship as a driving force for employment. In addition to generating alliances that help to fulfil the SDGs of the United Nations and the actions of the European Green Pact, thus contributing to the circular economy, the fight against climate change and sustainable tourism.
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