Austrian futuristic technologies to combat climate change

Pioneering Austrian developers and researchers are set to demonstrate their futuristic solutions at Expo 2020 Dubai. From 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, Austrian academic spin-offs, i.e., companies that emerged from the higher education sector, will present developments that have a positive effect on the environment and climate in keeping with the Expo motto “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”.

In the iLab — the knowledge platform inside the Austrian Pavilion —  spin-offs and research institutes will present themselves and their amazing projects to an international audience of millions. So-called Innovation Towers will provide the setting for the exhibits, which will also be explained in more detail in videos.

“For many years, Austria has enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for innovation and know-how with its internationally-orientated spin-offs and start-ups. Expo 2020 Dubai is an opportunity to showcase the quality of Austrian research and development, to pave the way to new markets and to initiate international cooperation,” says Minister of Digital and Economic Affairs Margarete Schramböck.

The Austrian contribution sets out to showcase solutions and products that make sense, reflecting the motto “Austria makes sense”. The exhibits of Austrian companies will be shown in a temporary exhibition that also integrates the spin-offs and will run in two phases with four cluster themes each. Halfway through the world exhibition, the objects and video presentations will be changed. “By organising the presentation in several clusters and phases we are able to show off the immense diversity of our companies, which are ideally complemented by the university spin-offs and their research-based innovations. Exports are the source of our prosperity, and the Expo can help boost Austria’s international networks since the development of the domestic export industry is a success story that is second to none. Products and services “Made in Austria” are in demand all over the world” said Harald Mahrer, President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

In the first phase of the exhibition, from October to December 2021, the Innovation Towers in the Austrian Pavilion will focus on the topics: City, Circular Economy, Mobility and Digital Opportunities. These will be followed from January to March 2022, by the next four clusters of the exhibition: Water Agriculture, Health & Life Science, New Materials and Digital Security.

Exciting spin-offs from Austria will use their chance at the world exhibition to present innovations in a range of areas that have a positive impact on climate-conscious behaviour.

Greenpass Project: Greenpass was founded in Vienna as a spin-off of Green4Cities and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in 2018. Greenpass has developed a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that is the only one of its kind in the world. The solution comprehensively evaluates, optimises and certifies the environmental impact of real estate and plants in terms of the six urban challenges, climate, water, air, biodiversity, energy and costs. GREENPASS — enabling liveable cities is thus the first SaaS planning, optimisation and certification tool for climate-resilient urban planning and architecture that can be used around the world.

 REEgain Project: With more than 140 partner universities, over 1,000 partner companies worldwide and more than 3,000 students from over 50 countries, IMC FH Krems is one of the most international, practice-orientated and best connected universities of applied sciences in Austria.

The aim of the international REEgain project at the Department of Life Sciences is to recycle rare-earth metals such as scandium and yttrium without harming the environment using bacteria and algae from electronic waste. REEgain provides companies with a new method to not only dispose of metal residues sustainably, but also to recover and resell or reprocess them.

Wood-Based Side-Impact Bar for Cars: Holzcluster Steiermark serves as an interface between R&D, the public sector and the private sector. With over 150 partners, the cluster focuses on networking across industries and on knowledge transfer to promote forward-looking innovation. The WoodC.A.R. research initiative lays the foundation for innovative, wood-based products. Twenty partners from science and industry are jointly pursuing the goal of making it possible to simulate and predict how wood will behave in different applications with a view to opening up new areas of application, including in the automotive industry. When used correctly, wood-based materials are lightweight, high-performance materials that represent a valuable addition to the mobility sector of the future.

CIL City Intelligence Lab: The AIT, with its main locations in Vienna, Seibersdorf, Wiener Neustadt and Ranshofen, is an independent, urban know-how development partner that develops innovative solutions for city management and planning. The AIT is using the Expo to present its City Intelligence Lab (CIL), an interactive platform for researching new forms and technologies for urban planning practices of the future. State-of-the-art digital technology and innovative approaches are combined with big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven urban planning tools. Using augmented reality tools, real-time processes and their products can be experienced in 3D on an interactive platform.

The CIL makes it possible to bring together the ideas of developers, investors and urban planners more quickly and cost-effectively and to ensure urban sustainability.

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myPot: Founded in 2017, the University of Innsbruck spin-off specialises in designing and taking products from the prototype stage to series production. In cooperation with the building materials producer Baumit, three architects from the University of Innsbruck have developed a 3D printing technology for concrete in several years of research work. Today, they can produce concrete objects with almost any shape, colour and surface very quickly and cheaply.

myPot demonstrates the potential that 3D concrete printing can have in product design and production development. The 3D printed concrete planters are custom made and do not require any mold making. The flexibility and logistics of the system are equally interesting. From design to delivery often takes only two to three weeks, and the 3D printer can produce several objects in one day.