Green Tech Cluster in Austria

In this article, we want to introduce the Green Tech Cluster to you, which is located in Styria, Austria. The Green Tech Cluster is a global centre for innovative energy and environmental technology. It was founded in 2005 with 80 organisations. Nowadays, it consists of more than 200 companies and research institutions. Together, they want to make our planet greener.

The aim of Green Tech Cluster is to show that sustainable actions do not only cause costs, but they lead to a global competitive advantage. Therefore, the member organisations of the cluster are working on many diverse innovative solutions for more sustainable and circular actions and processes in different fields:

• Heating
• Power
• Efficiency
• Mobility
• Circularity
• Water and more
• Building
• Digitalisation

In the following, we will show you some examples for these innovative solutions:

Shark skin for planes

Travelling by plane has a very huge negative impact on our nature. Therefore, the company bionic surface technologies GmbH, which is part of the Green Tech Cluster, is supplying customised surface films that can be applied to special parts of planes. It acts like a shark skin – it reduces frictional resistance on turbulent surfaces when flying. This results in a significant reduction of fuel consumption as well as of CO₂ emissions. At the moment, this film is already applied by Lufthansa.

The largest solar system afloat

The Styrian solar module manufacturer SOLIBAN was collaborating with Baltic Yachts to supply the largest solar system to be installed on a luxury sailing yacht. The solar modules are integrated in the roof of the yacht and produce up to 50 kWh of electricity per day. Thus, all the power for navigation, lighting and entertainment is delivered by sun energy and a huge amount of CO₂ emissions can be saved by using this technology.

Smart Waste Collection

The company Saubermacher and the city of Villach, Austria, are together working on a project for a smart and more sustainable waste collection system. They invented a so-called recyclable materials scanner which is placed in the different waste bins of households. It automatically scans the waste when collecting it and sends feedback to the households about their waste separation behaviour. It shows if people are separating waste correctly, and if they are not, Saubermacher sends individualised tips to the households about how they can improve their waste separation. With support of this chip, recycling should be made easier and cheaper. This scanner has been tested with many households in Villach yet and at the moment, the results of this project are analysed.

In addition to their sustainable solutions, they are also offering:

• networking possibilities and workspace for start-ups
• networking occasions with established organisations and other clusters on big markets
• assisting students in developing their green business concept through to setting up their own company
• different events for young entrepreneurs
• support for the planning and implementation of innovative projects
• information materials on diverse topics

If you are interested in the cluster and want to find out more about its members and solutions, you can check out their website: https://www.greentech.at/en/

Article by:

Jasmin Fischer, bitSchulungscenter, Graz