Polyurethane (PU) is one of the most popular plastic in the world and is everywhere around us, from our car’s seats to the insulating material used in our homes and clothes. Every year more than 23 million tons of PU are produced from two raw materials coming from oil refining: polyols and isocyanates. This is posing relevant concerns to PU manufacturers, especially because their customers are “going green”, avoiding the use of oil-derived product as much as possible. Eco-polyols have long been seen as a solution to these issues, driving a steep growth of the green polyols industry. However, bio polyols are only adequate for specific applications and their price (>2€/kg) make them suitable only for high-end solutions. To capture this huge market opportunity, at PolyLabs we have developed ECO-POL, a novel eco-polyol obtained from renewable raw material and from low grade PET which is otherwise impossible to recycle. The combination of our proprietary autocatalytic process with extremely low cost raw materials allowed us to demonstrate the feasibility of an extremely versatile polyol which can replace oil-based ones in practically all applications. And at the same market price (1.4 – 1.5 €/kg). Through this SME Instrument project we plan to scale up our process and manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of the European PU industry, targeting an initial production of 10,000 – 15,000 tonnes/year which will be replicated in several countries as long as the local market demand grows. We are an innovative chemical company established in close partnership with the scientific Institute of Wood Chemistry of Latvia (IWC) to produce bio-based polyol for the PU industry, and we are already commercialising more than 300 tons/year of our first generation eco-polyols. Through this innovation project we aim to reach customers as, Huntsman, Covestro, Audi, Basf, Dow, Dupont reaching a target of 14,000 tonnes of product sold by 2023, for a turnover exceeding 20 M€.

Diesel exhaust contains significant levels of small particles, known as fine particulate matter (PM) and is the largest source of particulate emissions in transport. In spite of the environmental benefit that rail carries over other modes of transport, over 70% of all the world’s railway locomotives are powered by diesel engines, consuming more than 34 billion litres of diesel fuel annually. To combat the problem of diesel locomotive emissions, the European Union has set stricter limits on the exhaust emissions of new locomotives. Stricter limits have caused a steep rise in the cost of purchasing compliant engines. The higher costs have made it much more difficult for rail operators to modernise their locomotive fleets. With a 45-year average operational lifespan, Europe has now reached the stage where 77% of its diesel locomotives are 30 years or older. The inefficiency of the engines in long service life vehicles, coupled with diesel prices, now make fuel costs a major problem for rail operators worldwide. Alternatives in clean and efficient fuel will allow operators to remain economically competitive. DiGas SIA is a pioneer in dual-fuel systems for diesel engines. We have developed NYSMART, a proprietary patented dual-fuel technology tailored for modernization of air-polluting diesel locomotives to clean and efficient operation. Due to its modular form, NYSMART is able to be quickly and simply installed onto any diesel engine type. Once installed, our advanced intelligent engine management system results in 30% reduction in fuel costs, delivering rapid payback for the customer; provides torque & performance similar to that of a diesel engine; and delivers PM and NOx emissions reductions.

Company is developing proprietary state-of-the-art dual fuel technology and has designed low-cost, scalable, installable at minimum cost and lead time dual fuel system tailored for locomotive sector. The project will accelerate diesel locomotive market transition from oil based diesel fuel to cheaper, cleaner and much more sustainable alternative and bio fuel - methane either in form of Liquefied (LNG) or Compressed (CNG) methane. Switching the fuel enables locomotive sector to strengthen the advantage railroads hold over trucks in long-haul shipping, comply with tougher environmental and exhaust standards and decrease fuel costs in the same time. In recent years methane is getting a high attention from transport companies, investors, and government in rail sector with US leading the market development. Opportunity is being seized by GE, CAT, EMD and few smaller companies by piloting and testing their dual fuel products. EU is clearly lagging the rest of the world in the adoption of methane as the next gen fuel for locomotive applications. Being European company DiGas is bringing to market dual fuel product dedicated for locomotive sector out competing all similar products on a global scale. With today’s average cost of locomotive dual fuel retrofit 500k EUR, the proprietary game changing innovation enables multiple times decrease of locomotive retrofit costs combined with high diesel fuel substitution rate (60-80%) of the system allowing for commercially attractive payback periods (4 y for shunter and 2 y for main-lines) for rail operators. In project Phase 1 DiGas strives to investigate project risks and potential hurdles of the product commercialization kick-off in Phase 2, for example certification and homologation routes, rail rolling stock and customer for various countries as well as commercialization path for various markets delivering a solid business plan. Based on feasibility study, a strategy TRL raise from 6 to 9 and market-rollout will be defined.

Cancer is one of the most dangerous life-threatening disorders for humanity of which melanoma is considered to be one of the most dangerous and aggressive. There are a number of therapies available to treat melanoma. However, these treatments are generally marginally effective and very expensive. Latima SIA develops and produces Rigvir® for virotherapy. Rigvir® is a unique anti-cancer medicine using non-pathogenic virus. It has been demonstrated to be very effective in treating various cancers, and has a promising medical future . RIGVIR is commercialised in Latvia, Georgia and Armenia. Rigvir® was approved and registered in Latvia in 2004 and has since been a front-line treatment for melanoma in Latvia. However,further use and commercialisation in the EU is prevented as EU regulations require cancer medicines to be registered centrally through the European Medicine Agency (EMA). National registrations are not considered. Therefore, the process for European Union registration must be started de novo. Registration of a medicinal product requires significant costs and resources. The purpose of this H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017 application is to secure the financial support for an initial feasibility study that would provide the basis for subsequent clinical trials necessary for the registration of Rigvir® with the EMA. It is expected that after feasibility study we would continue with next phase of H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017 and perform the clinical trials necessary for registration in EMA.

<< Objectives >>We want to build awareness on aeroponics and make such green farming more accessible to groups with fewer opportunities. In addition to engaging more youth in the circular bio-based economy to strengthen rural and urban resilience, and provide them with some of the necessary skills to be able to work in the field of sustainable farming. We also want to establish an ongoing knowledge exchange on aeroponics between the partners and aspiring and active youth working on this in the BSR.<< Implementation >>The project will consist of 6 exchanges between youth workers and youth from the Suderbyn Ecovillage on Gotland and Bulduri Horticulture School’s Biotechnology centre in Latvia. Through non-formal learning we will explore different aeroponic systems and their uses at the ecovillage and the biotechnology whilst co-creating content for a shared learning tool. This will be disseminated during a final conference which brings together other youth interested in aeroponics.<< Results >>We expect to engage more youth in aeroponics and to have created a network through which knowledge on such farming techniques can be exchanged. We also expect to have improved our aeroponic practices at Suderbyn and Bulduri’s Biotechnology Center through comparing systems and designs. In addition, through teaching youth about aeroponics using non-formal methods, we expect a knowledge transfer to take place between other youth.