Eco-tone

▲Group photo | Austria Trend Hotel, Bratislava, Slovakia

The second ASEM Working Group Seminar on eco-innovation took place on 9-10 March 2016 in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was co-organized by the Small Medium Business Administration of Korea and ASEM SMEs Eco-Innovation Center (ASEIC), and was hosted by the Slovak Business Agency (SBA), the organization responsible for the general support of SMEs in Slovakia. The objectives of the seminar were to present policies and business practices in eco-innovation of Asia and Europe, and to discuss relevant collaboration opportunities between Asian and European counterparts. 15 ASEM member states were represented at the meeting, including Belgium, Cambodia, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Thailand and Vietnam.
 

For the first day, the delegates discussed and analyzed project proposals in three small groups covering the three areas of collaboration selected during the first ASEM Working Group Seminar in Seoul, Korea: 1) Eco-innovation capacity building for governments; 2) Developing training on eco-innovation for SMEs; 3) Eco-innovation advisory services for SMEs.

The three groups proposed 7 project ideas in total regarding the three areas.

The collaboration ideas presented at this seminar will be further considered at the third (June 2016, Seoul) Working Group Seminar before finally being proposed as joint projects at the 11th ASEM Summit set to take place in Mongolia in July 2016.

On the 2nd day, for the purpose to examine eco-innovation practice in Slovakia, delegates visited a Slovak SME, PR Krajne, a manufacturer of “Stered” products. “Stered” is made from wastes of technical textiles for vehicle parts, in the use of various purposes such as thermo-insulating, acoustic insulating, acoustic, anti-vibration, compactness, stability etc. It remains stable for a long period of time (approx. 30 years). This production can be deemed as an example of eco-innovation applied by an SME that respects the characteristic of the national economy, which is dominated by automotive industry.

More information on “Stered” products can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSJ_nkKR88juibHPM87zZug


▲Slovak SME Visit | PR Krajne, Krajne, Slovakia