Finnova Foundation took part with its own stand in start-up platform 4YFN (4 Years From Now), which was held as a side event to Mobile World Congress (MWC) from 28 June to 1 July in Barcelona. This edition was held for the first time in Fira Gran Vía in Hospitalet de Llobregat, next to MWC, which helped give more visibility to the stand.
4YFN is the start-up event of the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry, GSMA MWC. This event, which is held every year in Barcelona since 2014, featured 21,000 attendees from 136 different countries and 600 start-ups. This event served as a meeting point for attendees and start-ups to boost their knowledge and to create networks and business opportunities.
4YFN is an entrepreneurial platform which supports start-ups, investors, companies, communities and public institutions to connect and launch new business ventures together. For four days, Finnova assisted many enterprises and entrepreneurs who showed up in their stand. Finnova provided them a glance on opportunities to get EU funds to boost their start-ups through grants, ranging from €50,000 to €2.5 million. Finnova also advised them on how to submit a successful project proposal.
Finnova used LIFE ECOdigestion 2.0 to epitomise an example of good practice. This project utilises a digital control system to automatically pump specific amounts of organic wastes into anaerobic sludge digesters in order to maximize the on-demand production of biogas – a renewable energy source.
The project has been designed to make biogas a reliable source of green energy to meet the industrial energy demand and to comply with the EU’s goal to produce at least 27% of energy out of renewable sources by 2030. This system is of special interest to Europe, as there are 18,000 wastewater treatment plants which account for 0.8% of all energy consumption.
The project was initiated on 01/09/2020 and will operate until 29/02/2024. It is coordinated by Global Omnium medioambiente and partnered by Finnova Foundation and Portuguese consortium Águas do Centro Litoral. It has a €970,000 budget.
