Expression of Interest to join a Consortium as a Partner within Building a low-carbon, climate-resilient future: Research and innovation in support of the European Green Deal (H2020-LC-GD-2020) Area 3: Industry for a clean and circular economy, Topic 2: Demonstration of systemic solutions for the territorial deployment of the circular economy (LC-GD-3-2-2020)
The UNIVNET association, a joint effort of five Slovak research universities and the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic,
offer their research & innovation expertise and seek for collaboration
in a Green Deal Call 2020 project consortia in order
to carry out further research and development activities in the recycling and waste recovery, particularly in the automotive industry.
As a relatively young platform, we are looking for an experienced leading platform, institution, university, a Green Deal Call applicant or consortia with a definite idea for a project who are looking for further partners. We are aiming to propose systemic solutions of economic, social and environmental dimensions of the transition towards a circular economy in the cluster of automotive industry/lifecycle of vehicles. With respect to proposing systemic solutions of the sustainable circular use and valorisation of local resources, value chains promoting zero-waste solutions and recycling quality, increasing products function recovery and reuse, using secondary raw materials (including critical raw materials) and valorising local bio-based feedstock.
About UNIVNET Platform
The Slovak University of Technology launched an initiative bringing together several research universities (University of Economics in Bratislava, Technical University of Košice, University of Žilina and Technical University in Zvolen) and with the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic founded the UNIVNET association in order to carry out research and development activities in the recycling and waste recovery, particularly in the automotive industry, since this is a dominant part of industry in Slovakia.
In addition to the top representatives of the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic, the platform includes partner institutions, leading scientific and academic personalities (leading professors and their teams) from the fields of mechanical engineering, finance, operational research and economic modelling, metallurgy, materials engineering, environmental engineering, waste processing and recycling.
The platform is a continuation of the 2016-2017 initiative or project results – „Integrated research platform for the evaluation of individual waste flows, in particular in the automotive industry„. The need for such a platform arose in line with the EC’s intentions to review the recycling and other waste-related targets set out in the key directives governing waste management.
The creation of the platform reflected the intention of the EU to move towards a circular economy and through „A zero-waste programme for Europe“ encourage recycling, reduce consumption of primary raw resources, ensuring access to critical raw materials through waste recovery and thus creating room for sustainable economic growth.
Objectives of the platform are to establish an integrated research and innovation platform based on intelligent specialization and modern information and communication technologies for waste recovery technologies, particularly for the automotive industry, increasing the efficiency of material recovery of problematic or critical raw materials/waste and reduce the consumption of primary raw materials and energy resources, and minimize the burden on the environment by reducing landfilling and pollution of other components of the environment.
Our research leaders and topics:
- Recycling of old vehicles processes analyses, Ing. Milan Novotný, and the research team, the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic
- Impacts of the automotive industry on the Slovak Republic as a recycling society, prof. Ing. Pavol Ochotnický, CSc., and the research team of the University of Economics in Bratislava
- Integrated research platform for the evaluation of individual waste flows, in particular the automotive industry, Ing. Marcela Pokusová, CSc., and the research team of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
- Progressive technology of decomposition of multilayer laminated glass, Dr.h.c. prof. Ing. Ľubomír Šooš, PhD., and the research team of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
- Material recycling of metalline waste containing defined scarce metals into marketable products and Material recycling of discarded lithium batteries from the automotive industry, prof. Ing. Tomáš Havlík, DrSc., and the research team of Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling
- Recovery of car waste at the end of its life in the production of sound and thermal insulation products, Dr.h.c. mult. prof. Miroslav Badida, PhD., and the research team of the Technical University of Košice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Process and Environmental Engineering
- Recycling and recovery of rubber, natural rubber and plastics into new products, doc. Ing. Jozef Krilek, PhD., and the research team of the Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Technology, Department of Environmental and Forestry Machinery
- Conceptual design of a small device for energy recovery of waste from the automotive industry, Ing. Marek Patsch, PhD., and the research team of the University of Žilina, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Energy Technology
Competences relevant to the Topic: projects (and publications)
UNIVNET expertise:
Our platform uniting five major Slovak technical and economic universities have been cooperating for several years with representatives of the automotive industry, with processors, recyclers and disposers of vehicle waste throughout their entire life cycle. We perceive the draft of the prepared call as an exact definition of real needs and opportunities of further development of the ecosystem in the field of the automotive industry, the lifecycle of vehicles as a part of circular economy in Slovakia and other similarly oriented EU countries.
The potential for our platform to collaborate and intensify research towards a more efficient and more environmentally oriented circular economy is based on the results to date, which include studies and scientific articles by UNIVNET members and teams in the areas of:
- input-output impacts of the automotive industry on the economy, on risk/changes in consumer-supply chains
- estimation and forecasting of quantities and individual types of waste during the use of vehicles and from the treatment of end-of-life vehicles
- logistics for the distribution of car waste treatment units according to selected criteria (including emissions)
- development, innovation and technologies for car waste treatment
- support instruments (policies, taxes, subsidies, fees, credit schemes, grants, etc.) to improve the quality of waste treatment from the use and treatment of waste within the life cycle of vehicles.
If you are interested in partnership or need further information please contact Dr.h.c. prof. Ing. Ľubomír Šooš, PhD., Dean, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, SLOVAK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY IN BRATISLAVA, Phone: +421 2 572 965 39, E-mail: lubomir.soos at stuba.sk, www.sjf.stuba.sk
You can find us on the social networks LinkedIn and Facebook under the username UNIVNET Research.