Alexander Flaig’s presentation in Forskar Grand Prix 20/21 (Researcher’s Grand Prix 20/21)

Shaping sustainable markets

With our race to stop climate change, environmental pollution and resource depletion, many countries and much of research is focusing on developing and providing sustainable solutions.

However, despite promising and proven solutions, many solutions remain unused. And often you might hear or read that the problem is the market. More specifically, the lack or unattractiveness of a market.

But what is actually a market? If we look at research, we get some clues that help us describe a market. It is you, it is me, it is everyone that in some form is involved in selling, buying, using, producing, etc. a specific product or service.

But how do we get us all to actually start to buy, sell, produce, etc. a specific product/service? For this we need to understand how a market develops and how it can be shaped. Because once we know how to shape a market, we can ensure that sustainable solutions receive their sustainable market.

And this is what my research project focuses on. Understanding and providing actionable strategies on how to shape markets for sustainable solutions.

Contact

Alexander Flaig, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling (IEI), Linköping University

[email protected]

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Yingwei Ouyang’s presentation in Forskar Grand Prix 20/21 (Researcher’s Grand Prix 20/21)

Couples therapy for plastics (for the sake of our planet!)

With the climate crisis, we need more sustainable ways of meeting our energy demands. We hear a lot about solar cells and wind turbines… but these are not of much use if the energy they harness is lost before even reaching us! We need power cables that efficiently transport electricity, enabled by the insulating layer surrounding the cable wire. The insulation material should not only minimise the loss of electricity during transportation, but must also withstand the high temperatures in the cable!

Polyethylene (the plastic in plastic bags) is an almost perfect material, except it is too weak at the high cable temperatures. The material can be strengthened by adding another plastic that is harder to melt, like polypropylene (eg. in takeaway boxes). However, this only works if the two plastics mix well, which they don’t because they dislike each other. My research focuses on understanding and developing different ways of improving the relationship between the two plastics – with the goal of achieving the ideal insulation material for cables that transport electricity (to us) efficiently!

Contact

Yingwei Ouyang, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers

[email protected]

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Applications are now open for N.Ö.R.D., the online open heat of the Swedish Researchers’ Grand Prix 2020. In the Researchers’ Grand Prix, researchers in Sweden compete to present their research in as understandable, captivating and inspiring way possible in just four minutes. An expert jury together with the audience decide the winner. Läs mer

I dag öppnar ansökningsperioden till N.Ö.R.D., den digitala deltävlingen i Forskar Grand Prix. I Forskar Grand Prix tävlar forskare i att presentera sin forskning så begripligt, fängslande och engagerande som möjligt på bara fyra minuter. Vinnaren koras av en expertjury tillsammans med publiken.

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