Winners of 23rd Polish Product of the Future competition were announced this week. The competition is organized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and the National Centre for Research and Development. The prizes went to projects in the fields including medicine, biotechnology and electronics.
Businesses, research units and their consortia competed for three main prizes of PLN 100,000 each, distinctions (PLN 25,000) and special prizes. 219 projects were submitted to this year's edition, 123 more than last year.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development, and Labour and Technology, said: “The effects of a pandemic are often tragic, measured by this highest price of tens of thousands of lives. They are also dramatic when it comes to the fate of many Polish businesses, which, through no fault of their owners and employees, suffered a great shock caused by an unfavourable change in the entire business environment. Bearing in mind this terrible price, we must look to the future in the same way as the heroes of today's event: the creators of the Polish Product of the Future. We must look to the future from the perspective of opportunities.”
He added: “Supply chains have been broken, and this is where good, modern Polish products can enter,” saying that the Polish model of the economy was based not on creating but on adapting technological solutions and on relatively low labour costs. “We would all like to end both,” he said.
The prizes and awards were granted in three categories: entrepreneurs, scientists and joint projects of science and business.
In the 'Product of the Future by an entrepreneur' category, the main prize in the amount of PLN 100,000 went to the creators of the innovative AngioExpert device for non-invasive diagnostics of vascular circulatory disorders using the FMSF method, developed by Angionica Sp. z o.o.
Professor Jerzy Gębicki, who received the award on behalf of the team said: “COVID-19 is accompanied by a severe microcirculation disorder. Based on the measurement with this device, we are able to estimate the severity of the infection. This award is a challenge for further work.
'We will make every effort to ensure that our product is not only associated with the honourable distinction +Polish Product of the Future+, but is at least a European product of the future. I believe that the uniqueness of this method will allow us to achieve that.”
Prizes were also awarded to four companies: CardioCube Sp. z o.o. for an artificial intelligence voice system enabling automatic medical interviews in the form of a verbal conversation between the patient and a chatbot built based on speech recognition technology; Bioseco Sp. z o.o. for a bird protection system for wind farms that enables maintaining the continuity of green energy production; MNM Diagnostics Sp. z o.o. for the project Pan-cancer profiler - a comprehensive diagnostic study of a patient's cancer, based on genomic sequencing and data analysis using proprietary machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms; EXDIN Solutions Sp. z o.o. for the new generation HPP processors designed for high-pressure food preservation.
The main prize in the 'Joint product of the future by a higher education and science institution and an entrepreneur' category was awarded to GeneMe Sp. z o.o. and the Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine for FRANKD - a rapid SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test.
Three distinctions were also awarded: to the University of Silesia in Katowice and Ad Moto Rafał Zawisz for developing a proprietary method of regenerating DeNOx catalysts used in power plants; to Soley Sp. z o.o. and the Road and Bridge Research Institute for a geotechnical tool for building soil cement walls; to the University of Agriculture in Krakow and Hugo Green Solutions Sp. z o.o. for the HUGO technology for pre-sowing seed irradiation and post-germination plant irradiation.
In the category 'Product of the future by a higher education and science institution', the main prize went to the Nalecz Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering PAS for the project VENTIL - a device for independent lung ventilation.
Professor Marek Darowski who received the award on behalf of the team, said: “Exactly 20 years ago, I received an award for a medical project in this competition. We started the research on the VENTIL project a long time ago in Stockholm and then Milan, but the people who helped us the most were undoubtedly the anaesthesiologists from the Medical University of Lublin.
“We believe that many post-covid patients will benefit from this device, because unfortunately COVID-19 leads to lung inhomogeneity, that is, each lung must be ventilated independently.”
The remaining prizes went to: Sensory Research Capsule - an integrated system of tools for diagnostics and remote rehabilitation of diseases of the sensory organs (hearing, sight, balance, smell, taste) and the speech organ (Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing); Biodegradable polyester and polysaccharide packaging materials containing functional substances of plant origin (Lodz University of Technology); Platforms for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy for diagnostic and biomedical purposes (Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS). The project also received the Special Award of the Minister of Education and Science.
Special prizes were also awarded during the ceremony. The Special Prize for an ICT product went to InnerWeb Sp. z o.o. for InnerWeb®, a virtual guard that protects the workplace and alerts of dangerous situations.
The Special Prize for a product submitted by a young entrepreneur (no longer than three years on the market from the date of commencement of operations) was awarded to the Installation for multi-material packaging recycling and aluminium recovery MALUCH 2 EU (Microwave Aluminium Carbon Hydrogen 2 Extraction Unit) by Usagi Sp. z o.o.
The Special Prize for an eco-innovation product the Special Award of the Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Technology went to SOLHOTAIR - highly efficient solar air heating collectors (SOLHOTAIR Sp.z o.o.).
The joint award of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the National Centre for Research and Development was awarded for the Bionic Hand Prosthesis Zeus (Aether Biomedical Sp.z o.o.).
The competition is co-financed by the EU from the Smart Growth Operational Programme.
PAP - Science in Poland, Urszula Kaczorowska
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