Beiruting News

Over two-days, Beirut hosted a conference dedicated to novel and green technologies and innovation.

The conference coincided with the occasion of the Swiss Minister of Education, Research, and Innovation's official visit to Lebanon, Mr. Mauro Dell Ambrogioto Lebanon, with an aim to promote collaboration and technological exchange between Switzerland, a leader in innovation, and Lebanon. The event was co-organized by the Swiss embassy in Lebanon, "Berytech", and St. Joseph University.

"The Swiss Innovation Days" welcomed representatives from Swiss Institutes of Applied Sciences as well as 12 Swiss companies whose patented innovations fall under"​​clean" technology. At the University's Faculty of Sports and Innovation,a conference entitled "Innovations in clean technology," where a seminar on "Cooperation between the public and private sectors as a tool for reaching innovative and environmentally friendly technologies," was held. The seminar featured talk by the Swiss Minister Mauro Dell Ambrogio, the Swiss ambassador in Lebanon François Barras, the Director General and Chairman of Berytech Maroun Chammas, CEO of CSEM Mario El-Khoury, along with the winners of the "Watt d'Or" Stefan Mueller and Daniel Steiger, representing the companies "Glass2Energy" and "Green Cube", respectively. This was followed by the opening of the "Watt D'Or" exhibition, which highlights the major achievements of Swiss and projects in the field of energy.

H.E. Mr. François Barras

Ambassador Barras praised the "cooperation with Berytech, who thanks to its extensive knowledge in the technology sector in Lebanon, made the establishment of this conference possible." Barras highlighted that for the sixth consecutive year, Switzerland has topped the list of global indicators of competitiveness and innovation. He also explained that this can be attributed to several reasons, including political stability and the rule of law, liberal economic policies, the educational system and the knowledge-based Swiss society, pragmatism, focusing on products and projects that have added value, among other reasons as well.

"The Swiss economy is characterized by its diversity and excellence, as well asSwiss tradition mixed withthe ability to reinvent itself," he added. "Indeed," he continued, "the "Watt d'Or" awardwas established in 2007 by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy in recognition of projects that benefit the society". He further presented the two winning companies: Glass2Energy" and" Green Cube".

H.E. Mr. Mauro Dell Ambrogio

Dell Ambrogioadded that the "Watt d'Or" is "an old Swiss tradition. Indeed, in 2009, the Swiss federal government organized in 2009 a conference on the adequacy of resources, renewable resources, waste treatment and other topics. Two years later, the government published its approved strategy regarding the availability of resources and renewable energy, which consequently lead to the House of Representatives' decision to shift from nuclear power 6 months later." "At that time", he added, "a green economy was more of an elusive utopia."

Dell Ambrogioadmitted that he was indeed a green energy skeptic who was sure that quitting nuclear energy would raise questions regardingthe price of energy. Soon thereafter however, he realized that the clean technology will not only become a trending topic but will also be the concern of several politicians who will divert funds from other projects to support the development of clean technologies.

Then spoke about the research program in the 2013-2020 energy in Switzerland, and how it was to encourage a number of institutions and industries to move towards renewable energy and sustainability, without prejudice to their autonomy, which led to the creation of eight research centers in the energy sector in Switzerland over the past three years, in addition, the more than 1,000 people are doing research in the framework of this program.

Having said that "the government's duty is not to identify issues that revolve around research, not even the perception of new technological projects," felt that the private sector is the best place for innovation.

M. MarounChammas

Chammas presentedBerytech'sexperience in the area of ​​clean technology, stressing that the latter "is not an option but rather a priority and a way of life which should be locally and globally circulatedand adopted, particularly with the enormous potential that it holds".

In fact, "Berytech isone of the many "green technology" initiatives", added Chammas," and it has promoted a number of partners in this sector, and contributed to spreading awareness among citizens via its various activities, such as Earth Hour". He further pointed out that Berytech is investing in a Lebanese-Canadian project aiming at introducing the concept of renting out steam cycles over the phone, in several cities including Vancouver and Beirut.

Mr. Mario El-Khoury

Khoury spoke about the CSEM, which is a private Research and Development Foundation, a non-profit. It lies goals in competitive industries to support, through the development of new technological platforms and, consequently, transferred to the industrial sector. He stressed that "this institution is one of the best examples of partnership between the public and private sectors, with evidence that I have up to 25% of its shares." Having pointed out that the CSEM programs primarily focused on engineering surfaces, integrated systems of light and other energies, stressed that the activities orbiting chasing waste, sustainable energy conservation, water and renewable energies (production, management and engaging).

Khoury gave several examples of the projects related to the panels of photovoltaic, which recorded a milestone in the world of clean technology, explaining that the CSEM was one of the first developers panels white Alfotwooltah, as well as the project "Sunflower Project" award-winning, and they organize a European project for solar innovations.

Mr. Stefan Mueller

Muller began his speech by pointing out that the research showed "that the glass industry is growing by 5-10% per year, which confirms the growing need for people to this sector," noting that "Glass2Energy" company is a Swiss company founded in 2011, it has 30 employees and is based to 3 global trends are Altktiq Urban (tallest buildings), buildings of glass to ensure transparency and to reach the light, as well as zero emissions from these buildings.

Then the number of projects the company was left behind, including the Geneva airport, Lausanne Ouch, Science Tower Smart City Graz (AT) and others.

Mr. Daniel Steiger

Finally, Steiger said that the company is the owner projects in seven countries, including India and Japan, proposing several questions are "What makes a cost-effective? What is a company that works with about 40 experts and specialists in the solutions? Who offers customers the best technological services? ".

Then the project that led to the winning company "Green Cube" award "Watt d'Or" explanation. The project, named "The Water Vortex Plant, the electricity effectively the production, stockpiling, as well as heating through renewable energy aims.

Then was a video display of the godfather of this project, Bertrand Piccard.

This was today initiated a seminar entitled "Education and the economy: partnership Rabhh- Education et économie: Un partenariat gagnant", as will the day symposium where exchange Swiss and Lebanese firms experiences, followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (CSEM, Centre Suisse d'Electronique et Microtechnique League Lebanese).

And it will display the projects covered by the award "Watt d'Or" in front of people interested in three different places:

April 21 until 26 of it: in the entrance hall, Francois Bassil, Faculty of Sports and the firstborn at St. Joseph University.

• April 27 until May 3: at the entrance of Building B at the Faculty of Sports and innovation at the Saint Joseph University.

• May 4 until 11 of it: at the entrance to the courtyard of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Saint Joseph.