The story of the GlaCerHub project presented at the transnational seminar of the Technology Center in Prague

On October 17, 2023, Peter Hošták (Head of administration and European projects office) took part in a hybrid transnational seminar organized by the Technology Center in Prague (Transnational seminar on Excellence Hubs and ERA Chairs 2023 calls). More than seventy participants from the countries of the Visegrad Group and Slovenia had the opportunity to learn about the vision of the “GlaCerHub” project to create a local innovation ecosystem in the border region between South Moravia, the Czech Republic and Trenčín, Slovakia, which will drive the virtuous innovation cycle and instigate economic growth in the glass and ceramic sector. Special attention was paid to the action plan for the development of a joint research and innovation strategy, the implementation of results-oriented training for innovators, the creation of a platform to support technology transfer and the involvement of regional industries in intensive networking activities.

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GlaCerHub - Glass-ceramic innovation ecosystem for implementation of new research directions in applications. Kick off meeting.

GlaCerHub - Glass-ceramic innovation ecosystem for implementation of new research directions in applications is a new project funded under the Horizon Europe program which started on June 1^st, 2023, with an official Kick-off meeting happening on June 14^th, 2023.

GlaCerHub is among 13 successful projects from the Excellence Hubs call (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ACCESS-04), in which a total of 102 consortia participated. The project implementation with financial support of €4,994,751.25 is planned for 48 months, from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2027.

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The Kick-off meeting was held on-site as well as online, starting with a presentation full of useful information and implementation rules given by our EU project officer Ms. Pepa Krasteva, followed by presentations from the consortium beneficiaries and associated partners. A large part of the kick-off program was focused on details of the project work packages with emphasis on individual tasks.  

About project:

GlaCerHub consortium is made up of 6 partners from the Czech Republic and 7 from the Slovak Republic. They are supported by international tech transfer best practices from Spain and Israel through the INVENIAM company. Partners complement each other by providing their research capabilities and facilities (FunGlass TNUAD Trenčín, and the Technical University in Brno -  CEITEC), the industrial view of the sector needs (RONA, a. s., Activair, s. r. o., Best Business, a. s.,  Tricera, s. r. o. and AGC Trenčín), government support (City of Trenčín, Trenčín Self-governing region, and the third sector involvement on dissemination, formation, and talent attraction (Slovak Chamber of Commerce, Creative Institute Trenčín, n. o., JCMM, Z.S.P.O. – South Moravian Centre for International Mobility, JIC company).

GlaCerHub consortium has the ambition to create a networking environment supporting innovation and the transfer of technologies from research to industrial practice in the Slovak-Czech border region, especially in the field of glass and ceramics. The interaction and alignment of four broad groups of key stakeholders – science, industry, regional government and social organizations (the so-called quadruple helix), settled in Trenčín and South Moravian regions, can deliver dynamic and positive change that meets the needs of all the stakeholders.

Specifically, GlaCerHub wants to focus on the intensive creation of innovation-oriented networks, the creation of a joint research and innovation strategy of involved institutions, organization of trainings for future innovators and activities supporting technology transfer. The scientific institutions, together with industrial partners, will deal with spectrum of topics in the field of development of new functional and surface functionalized glass and ceramic materials that should bring benefits not only to our regional society, especially in

• Automotive: protective and corrosion resistant coatings, hard and wear resistant coatings improving mechanical performance and decreasing the wear of engineering parts, lightweight fillers in polymer parts,
• Aerospace: thermal barrier coatings enhancing the efficiency of airplane engines, eutectic composites for high temperature applications, corrosion resistant coatings for Al & Mg-based alloys
• Healthy environment (green technologies /waste management): water and air purification systems (ceramic and glass microfilters), recycling of scrap glass fibres, up-cycling of non-recycable glass and ceramics
• Smart and energy efficient construction: glass coatings for smart building envelopes and facades, low-energy fabrication of building materials (geopolymer-like materials)
• Health (healthy society/advanced medicine): implants and composites for tissue replacement and regeneration, ceramic/metallic scaffolds for orthopeadics, glass microspheres for radiotherapy, glass/biopolymer fibre composites for wound dressing
• Sustainable energy: thermal barrier coatings for turbines in energy sector, coatings for solar energy harvesting, energy efficient manufacturing processes

We are looking forward facing new challenges!

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