During the conference, organised by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Commission, the achievements and opportunities of the Horizon Europe programme were reviewed.
The “11th Conference of the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation in Spain” was held in Valencia on Wednesday 6th April, with the participation of the winners of the Finnova challenges in the Girls4Tech Startup Europe Awards thanks to the development of a mobile application inspired by the European project LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0.
The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, presented the award to the young students of the Abecé high school in Gandía and showed her support for this initiative. The Comen! project aims to help dispose of the large amounts of waste generated in the HORECA sector, contributing to the circular economy model, generating green energy, and in line with the Green Deal.
Finnova – Girls4Tech Startup Europe Awards initiative, in the framework of Technvation Girls CV, aims to give visibility and support to young people, encouraging their training in STEAM careers.
Support for innovation and youth from the European Commission
Lola Bordás, director of Finnova’s Women4Tech, commented on the importance of the European Next Generation EU funds and thanked the European Commission for its participation in the event, with the presence of Jean-Eric Paquet, director-general of the European Commission’s Directorate for Research and Innovation, for his support for the SEUA initiative. Bordás made special mention of Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, who promoted the open innovation and public-private partnership project Startup Europe Awards in 2016 and for her work in support of young people to coincide with the European Year of Youth.
Promotion of green energy: LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0
The LIFE Programme, of which the LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0 project, which inspired this challenge, is part, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. In the framework of the event, the great potential of European funding to promote disruptive projects that help to address the great challenges of the European Union, especially in terms of climate change and sustainable transformation, will be highlighted.
You can watch Lola Bordás’ speech at the event here.
About LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0
The European LIFE Ecodigestion 2.0 project, funded by the LIFE programme, enables the transformation of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants into green energy through technology.
The initiative, led by Global Omnium (Spain), in collaboration with the Finnova Foundation (Belgium) and Águas do Centro Litoral (Portugal), aims to become the most versatile digestion control tool on the market by achieving environmental and economic benefits through the production of biogas through optimal waste exploitation. Thanks to this technology, it favours the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the exploitation of sewage sludge generated in wastewater treatment processes, thus achieving a positive impact on the environment.
