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Discover the accelerator program of Genoa Entrepreneurship school

Sustainability

From 20th June to 15th July, the city of Genoa will host Genoa Entrepreneurship school, the first accelerator program offering double certification from a top American and European university. 

The project is a 4-week summer course created in collaboration with Georgetown University (Washington), Genoa University, the U. S. Consular agency in Genoa, the Genoa of City and with its partners who are ERG, 777 partners, Chamber of Commerce and Passadore bank. 

Something more about Genoa Entrepreneurship School

Genoa Entrepreneurship School was born from the need Guglielmo Schenardi felt to help young students and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start creating their own venture while still at university. Indeed, Guglielmo has a start-up Rita Personal Data which was created during his studies. He is not the only one doing so, in fact, over 50% of students want to start their venture at university but it’s hard to combine it with studies as support is rarely sufficient. Students indeed struggle to perform at their best, both in their projects and in their studies.

For this reason, the pilot program Genoa Entrepreneurship school offers the solution to the problem by bringing together two leading universities representing two different international viewpoints to create the first hybrid project between a university and an accelerator program. 

For four weeks the future participants will be supported by the universities and the City of Genoa with classes from Georgetown and Genoa professors, practical classes, and free space where to create their ventures.

There will be important figures, from both Europe and America, such as CEOs and business experts mentoring with their experience to help talent succeed. Some of the mentors studied in prestigious American universities, such as Stanford, Harvard, and UC Berkeley; while some of the companies they work for are Google, Meta, and Microsoft among the others. Successful unicorn or Forbes 30 under 30 founders will be also at participants’ disposal. They will guide the young students from the ideation to market entry and they will be presented to investors at the final demo day. 

Genoa Entrepreneurship School’s mission is to find a better way to learn and innovate and to help young entrepreneurs thrive and create something meaningful for tomorrow’s world with a big focus on sustainability. The program offers three areas of application for entrepreneur’s ideas relating to energy, logistics and retail. The only requirement to participate is to have a team and an idea related to one of these three verticals, so anyone can participate.

Genoa Entrepreneurship School has an international character because it believes that having different points of view can be a great resource, an exchange of values and knowledge that would otherwise be difficult to find. It is also the first time that a top 15 university in the US collaborates with an Italian university.

Source: press release
Photo: Pixabay

plant house home air quality indoor

Common houseplants can improve air quality indoors

Sustainability

Ordinary potted house plants can potentially make a significant contribution to reducing air pollution in homes and offices, according to new research led by the University of Birmingham and in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

During a series of experiments monitoring common houseplants exposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – a common pollutant – researchers calculated that in some conditions, the plants could be able to reduce NO2 by as much as 20 per cent. The results are published in Air Quality Atmosphere and Health.

The researchers tested three houseplants commonly found in UK homes, easy to maintain and not overly expensive to buy. They included Peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii), Corn plant (Dracaena fragrans) and fern arum (Zamioculcas zamiifolia).

Each plant was put, by itself, into a test chamber containing levels of NO2 comparable to an office situated next to a busy road.

Over a period of one hour, the team calculated that all the plants, regardless of species, were able to remove around half the NO2 in the chamber. The performance of the plants was not dependent on the plants’ environment, for example whether it was in light or dark conditions, and whether the soil was wet or dry.

Lead researcher Dr Christian Pfrang said: “The plants we chose were all very different from each other, yet they all showed strikingly similar abilities to remove NO2 from the atmosphere. This is very different from the way indoor plants take up CO2 in our earlier work, which is strongly dependent on environmental factors such as night time or daytime, or soil water content.”

The team also calculated what these results might mean for a small office (15 m3) and a medium-sized office (100 m3) with different levels of ventilation. In a poorly ventilated small office with high levels of air pollution, they calculated that five houseplants would reduce NO2levels by around 20 per cent.  In the larger space, the effect would be smaller – 3.5 per cent, though this effect would be increased by adding more plants.

While the effects of the plants in reducing NO2 are clear, the precise mechanism by which they do this remain a mystery. Dr Pfrang added: “We don’t think the plants are using the same process as they do for CO2 uptake, in which the gas is absorbed through stomata – tiny holes – in the leaves. There was no indication, even during longer experiments, that our plants released the NO2 back into the atmosphere, so there is likely a biological process taking place also involving the soil the plant grows in – but we don’t yet know what that is.”

Dr Tijana Blanusa, principal horticultural scientist at the RHS and one of the researchers involved in the study said: “This complements RHS efforts to understand scientific detail behind what we know to be a popular passion. Understanding the limits of what we can expect from plants helps us plan and advise on planting combinations that not only look good but also provide an important environmental service.”

In the next phase of the research, the team will be designing sophisticated tools for modelling air quality indoors encompassing a much wider range of variables. The new project, funded by the Met Office, will use mobile air quality measuring instruments to identify pollutants and test their effects in both residential and office spaces, producing a wealth of data to inform the tool’s development.

Source: press release
Photo: Pixabay