(Apr. 4) – The Italian start-up MRS (Material Recovery System) won the third place at the 10th edition of Innovact Campus Awards in Paris. The award to the MRS, specialized in recovery of materials in thin film deposition processes, has been assigned to the project by Salvatore Modeo, Antonio Andrea Gentile and Luca Scala, from the University of Salento. The purpose of thin film deposition – as said by the project description – is to exploit the surface properties of a target material (eg, electrical insulation/conduction, abrasion resistance), using it as a coating of a substrate made of other materials, which instead affect bulk properties (strength and cost). Often, these processes require the use of precious materials, such as gold, platinum, silver and palladium, which most of the time are lost due to technology inefficiencies. Thanks to the system tweaked by the MRS, it has become possible to recover them. The first place went to VisionRE, an Irish project for an innovative system that will improve the independence of blind people. The second place went to Webshell, from France, for a project to develop a new computer language that will allow developers to create web and mobile applications in 10 minutes instead of 10 days. (Ram/Peg)
