Ljubljana became richer for a new Acceleration Business City (ABC). It is intended for start-up companies with an already made product. The ABC accelerator was established by BTC, Xlab, AmCham Slovenija and ABC TIM, with IBM Slovenija and the University of Ljubljana as strategic partners. The purpose of the accelerator is to implement two three-month programmes every year and, upon conclusion, offer teams the opportunity to establish contacts with different partners worldwide for another three months using the accelerator.
In cooperation with the Ljubljana University Incubator (LUI), we presented the Rector’s Award for the Best Innovation of the University of Ljubljana. The award for the best innovation went to the project entitled Printing ink for irreversible temperature indicators with low activation temperature.1 Second place went to the LACEnano2 innovation and third place to the iTreeAssay3 project. The authors of all three winning innovations received support for the commercialisation of their innovations and a cash prize from the Rector’s fund.
The University Rector, Prof. Dr. Ivan Svetlik prepared a reception for student athletes who participated in the 2nd European Universities Games in 2014. Students represented the University of Ljubljana in three sports disciplines, i.e. football, table tennis and tennis. The Rector paid special commendation to Toja Černe, a student of the Faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana, who won the bronze medal at the 2014 World Universities Championship in Archery, in the compound bow discipline.
At the University of Ljubljana we hosted and organised the international Falling Walls Lab event for the first time. This inspiring interdisciplinary event offered students, researchers, experts and entrepreneurs aged up to 35the opportunity to present a breakthrough idea, research work, innovative project or business model. The panel chose the three best ideas from the final 13 ideas. The winning idea was that of Karin Ljubič entitled Breaking the Wall of Data Storage, which allows immense data storage potentials in terms of quantity, free-of-charge data reproduction and resistance for thousands of years, as the data is saved in a living plant and its seeds.
1 The new feature of the proposed series of irreversible temperature indicators showing the thermal history of products is an innovative combination of active material, microcapsule technology and print. The main advantages of the indicator are a change visible to the naked eye that needs no energy source to operate and the possibility of manufacturing temperature indicators in thin and flexible forms typical of smart labels.
2 LACEnano solves the problems of tattoo artists; from arm pain to additional work cleaning and servicing tattoo tools. Tattooing using LACEnano tools is also less painful for those getting tattoos. The technological innovation combines technologies that are used in other branches, resulting in the optimisation of operations, quality and producer price.
3 The innovation represents a fast, simple and effective way to detect internal anomalies in the trunks of standing trees which typically devalue trees in terms of quality and economic value. It is based on an analysis of an ultrasound signal being passed through the trunk, causing no damage to the tree. The method provides a notable increase in revenues from forest management, as healthy trees may be distinguished from unhealthy ones in due time, thus increasing their returns.
