Turning an idea into a business alternative, using technology, is the purpose with which Intel motivates young people around the world to create productive chains.
The University of California at Berkerley, considered one of the best institutions in the world, was the place where 27 teams of entrepreneurs were found that sought to convince a jury that their project was the best and to demonstrate why in each of their continents were Chosen to be in the Challenge of Technological Development, Ibtec, by its acronym in English, organized by Intel and the prestigious alma mater.
The prize of US $ 25,000 seemed to be of less importance to those intellectuals, who felt the enthusiasm to give more power to their idea and to look for people who are experts and interested in materializing the creations that during their study took up their knowledge. Teams from China, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, India, the United States, Kuwait, Bulgaria, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Singapore, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia arrived in Berkeley thanks to the winners of the Intel Challenge In each of its regions. This initiative, which is part of the four programs of social responsibility of the world's largest chip maker, convened only 241 projects in Latin America, six of which were selected to represent the continent.
Colombia was present in this privileged group of inventors with four countries that created the company Filsel (selective filtration), whose complex work is based on the manipulation of very small particles, through nanotechnology. José Fernando Naranjo (hydraulic engineer and administrator), Tomás Molina Mejía (administrator), José Luis Granados (design engineer) and Ángela Guerrero (lawyer) are the entrepreneurs who came to California to show a plant capable of recovering raw materials from Industrial processes, to avoid the contamination of rivers and to return the salt water.
A company with "green technology"
Computers, mobile devices and audio, image and video components are not the only spaces in which technology moves. The industrial processes and the concepts that today make the care of the planet today occupy a privileged space in the minds of those who through research look for an environment without pollution, but with inventions that can be made available to all for their price And utility.
That's how they thought about Filsel, worried that 90% of wastewater in developing countries is dumped without proper treatment, generating an environmental cost for Colombia of US $ 9 billion per year and for environmental taxes every time Higher costs that impact production.
Thus, what has been working for 35 years José Fernando today is to treat and filter the industrial wastewater to separate the compounds that are dissolved in it. Then, on the one hand water is recovered and on the other the raw materials that companies are dumping. For example, a beverage, dairy or food company uses caustic soda and a large percentage of that product does not react in the process, but in order to dump it, it is necessary to buy other components to neutralize it. The creation of Filsel recovers the soda that has not yet reacted and water, so that the company only throws what was actually spent. With this the idea is to reuse what it serves.
Tomás explains that with this process 100% of the pollution is controlled in an economic way and that generates profits to the company, because in the world exists the filtration, but they do not recover each one of the compounds as it does the invention of Filsel .
At the moment, the creation of the three Colombians is in the process of patenting the design of the filters and the material from which they are made, in addition to the concept of concentration of a product up to 100% and the extraction of water from a mixture In that same percentage.
In Colombia, water consumption has increased to 5.4 trillion cubic meters per year and this figure is expected to double by 2025. Of this expenditure, industries demand 13% of the liquid at present, hence the winning initiative of the Intel Challenge in the country, one of the six selected in Latin America and 27 in the world, is a true example of entrepreneurship Technology with great reach in the world.
A great show of creativity regardless of language or culture was what was seen in Berkeley, where dozens of young entrepreneurs who already generate employment and some publicly traded. The best thing is that Colombia showed its beginnings towards an economy of emprendimiento.
Posts
Post a Comment