Innovations
Vol. 9 (2021), Issue 1

Table of Contents

  • THEORETICAL PROBLEMS IN INNOVATIONS

    • Economic cycles and recent world crises on the example of Ukraine

      pg(s) 3-6

      The theory of cycles as an objective form of development of the world economy (national economy) is studied. The phases of the economic cycle are named: recovery, prosperity, recession, depression. It is recognized that today the whole world is isolated due to the COVID-19 virus infection and all countries are experiencing an economic crisis. In these circumstances, it is important to explore ways out of this crisis and prevent the collapse of the economic system as a whole. The purpose of this article is to determine the theoretical and institutional causes of economic cycles to predict the crises that arise, and to find ways to mitigate their negative consequences. The theory of economic cycles and stages of their passage is generalized; conducted an analysis of Ukraine’s economy before and during the crisis of 2019-2020. The application of the historical method allowed to use experience, generalize and systematize the development of economic theory and use the collected and systematized data to identify cause-and-effect relationships and predict the future dynamics of Ukraine’s economy.

    • Open innovation – potential, constraints and prospects

      pg(s) 7-10

      In the last decades innovations are defined as main priority. Overtime they become an instrument for achieving economic growth and social progress, increasing life standard and aiding in resolving difficult economic problems. The integration, globalization and concurrence define the goal of business organizations to become more innovated, adaptive and flexible in order to never stop developing, gain concurrence advantages and preserve their market share. They always have to take into consideration the constant changing conditions, the turbulent business environment and the increased consumer requirements for end products. In response of this necessity a new innovating model has been created and implanted, better known as open innovation. This relatively new modern concept shows significant potential for developing and by doing this it finds a place in the business practice. By proving its effectiveness through achieving positive results, the open innovation is established as a successful and useful model for innovation, outlining different per spectives and new routes for developing business organizations.

    • Conceptual model for assessing the digital maturity of the production system

      pg(s) 11-14

      The intensity of technology development that we have witnessed in recent years has changed the expectations and attitudes of customers, as well as their understanding of value, and is becoming the new leading factor in the development of the industry. A retrospective of industrial production shows that all stages of change and development that it has gone through are stimulated precisely by the desire to meet the demand, expectations and needs of customers. In this sense, industrial enterprises around the world are clearly aware of the need for change. They should review their current production and sales strategies and focus their attention and efforts on building dynamic production models that will allow them to continue to operate successfully in a highly competitive market environment and changing customer requirements. Digitalization plays a key role in this new scenario in which industrial enterprises must fit in today. Digital technologies and the opportunities they create are the main driving force for the necessary radical change, which companies must rely on in order to increase their efficiency and, respectively, to maintain their competitiveness. This publication presents a conceptual model for assessing the digital maturity of the production system of the industrial enterprise.

  • INNOVATION POLICY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

    • Anti-crisis policy of bio-enterprises in conditions of COVID 19 through innovation

      pg(s) 15-18

      The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the biggest challenges facing modern society and business. In a dynamic crisis situation such as the current one, the forecasts for the impact of COVID-19 on the world economy and the development of individual business structures are changing. Business is facing more and more difficulties, and uncertainty and uncertainty are increasingly taking over global and economic life. The implementation of an anti-crisis policy based on innovation is becoming key to tackling the pandemic. The main objective of this study was to demonstrate the challenges of bio-enterprises during corona virus pandemic in Bulgaria and the opportunities they can draw to create innovation. A number of research methods and techniques for the tertiary and empirical part of the work were applied in the aim of realizing the objects and goals of the research – economical, statistical, mathematical, descriptive, comparative, monographic, graphical, questionnaire survey, etc. Initial contact and other basic information about all organic producers are collected from the official register of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Bulgaria – a database of producers, processors and traders of organic products and food produced in organic production in a way that maintains such an up-to-date database. The analysis is based on data processing by 234 surveyed representatives of bio-enterprises from all sectors of the bioeconomy in Bulgaria. The data analysis result shows that many small and large businesses are suffering challenges and this unprecedented coronavirus crisis has caused destruction for many businesses in the globe and it is challenging to survive with reduced revenue, jobs lost and life slowing down and weak marketing performance even difficult to keep a calm head and their business alive. To support these businesses the government should use different mechanisms by cooperating with wealthy peoples and other non-governmental organizations. Besides, the bio- business owners should manage expectations and communicate with staff, suppliers, banks, and customers throughout this coronavirus frightening. Reduce expenses, be open to their employees about their finances and keep marketing, use different alternatives to deliver their product and recover from the crisis. The changes in the production and economic activity as a result of the imposed measures for limiting the infection have been studied; the main risks threatening future development and the type of anti-crisis innovative decisions taken by management.

  • INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

    • Tanker inspection regime in correlation with maritime accident risks and management decisions

      pg(s) 23-26

      The paper analyses and addresses various tanker ship survey regimes, determining a certain amount of overlapping between specific survey regimes. The results of the study indicate that there are inconsistencies in the frequency of surveys and over inspections of some ships. These uncoordinated surveys affect the costs as well as the mental and physical condition of the crew. The mentioned indica tes the necessity of the overall tanker survey rationalization, having in mind that the rationalization must not have the negative impact on the safety of the ship. In this paper, the authors proposes the implementation of the unified tanker survey model that would integrate components of all survey regimes. The comprehensive analysis of the risks arising from non compliance, oversights or absence of surveys, have resulted in setting up the optimal time needed to conduct surveys with respect to the technical, technological and economic specifications of the ship. The implementation of the unified survey would eliminate the negative effects found during present surveys and enhance the safety of the ship as well as the quality of the management.

    • Development of combined feed technology based on secondary raw material resources

      pg(s) 27-29

      Technological, technical and strategic solutions for the processing of feed with the use of substandard raw materials together with secondary raw materials of food production (waste of grain processing, flour-grinding, brewing industries, etc.) are presented: processing of compound feed with polysteam lactic acid sourdough based on whole-ground flour from waste processing of legumes

    • Post-combustion CO2 capture for coal power plants: a viable solution for decarbonization of the power industry?

      pg(s) 30-33

      This paper investigates the performance of post-combustion carbon capture and storage (PCCS) for pulverized coal-fired power plants. The PCCS units comprises CO2 absorption by 30 wt% monoethanolamine (MEA) solution and CO2 compression at 150 bar for permanent storage or enhanced oil recovery. The specific CO2 emissions per unit of generated electricity is 733 kgCO2/MWh in the reference power plant without PCCS while the power plant with integrated PCCS achieve specific emissions lower than 100 kgCO2/MWh, assuming a carbon capture rate of 90%. However, PCCS technology needs substantial amounts of thermal energy for absorbent regeneration and electricity for carbon capture, CO2 compression as well as for the operation of other parasitic electricity consumers. The PCCS energy requirements vastly affect the overall power plant performance. The reference coal-fired supercritical power plant (without PCCS) achieves a net efficiency of 45.1%. On the other hand, the PCCS integrated power plant achieves a net efficiency of 34.6%, a 10.5%-pts net efficiency loss over the reference scenario, when the PCCS specific energy demand is 3.5 MJth/kgCO2 for absorbent regeneration, 0.35 MJel/kgCO2 for CO2 compression and 0.15 MJel/kgCO2 for carbon capture and cooling water pumps. The corresponding electricity output penalty caused by the PCCS unit is 352 kWhel/kgCO2. PCCS technology shows promising potential for decarbonization of the power industry, but further development is necessary to improve its reliability, cost-effectiveness and to diminish its impact on the power plant performance.

    • Analysis of the distribution of hydrogen and helium in the solar system during its formation

      pg(s) 34-35

      The modern composition of the Earth and other planetary systems is the result of the use of various different chemical elemen ts. However, at the moment there is no unified theory describing the distribution of chemical elements during the formation of the solar system. Among the previously proposed theories and hypotheses, there are contradictions regarding the distribution of chemical elemen ts in the solar system. Therefore, there is a need to create a physical model, which, on the basis of empirical data, represents the initial distribution of chemical elements from which the planets of the solar system were formed. In this work, it is proposed to analyze the initial system of the bladder and helium in the Solar System, starting from the moment of the formation of the protoplanetary disk. Assuming that at the moment of formation of the nebula, these elements were evenly distributed, their distribution was determined to date. Analyzing the percentage in the solar system, it was assumed that the differentiation of the ionized protoplanetary matter of the proto-carrier’s magnetic field (magnetic separation of particles) caused the difference in the compositions of the outer planets. It is shown that according to the estimates given in the graphs, it receives 76-78% of hydrogen in the composition of the Earth, which in turn differs significantly from the data given in reference books or specialized literature – less than 17%. It has been suggested that the hydrogen content on Earth is incorrect

    • Determination of energy loss and efficiency for the low power steam turbine and each of its segments

      pg(s) 36-40

      In this paper is performed energy analysis of the whole low power steam turbine as well as energy analysis of all the turbine segments. Analysis of the whole turbine resulted with energy loss of 14642.48 kW and energy efficiency of 75.01%, what is in range with similar comparable low power steam turbines. Energy analysis of the turbine segments presents a different conclusion than the energy analysis of the whole turbine. The fifth turbine segment (S5) has unacceptable high energy loss and unacceptable low energy efficiency (energy loss of 6785.93 kW and energy efficiency of 26.87%), so it should be repaired as soon as possible. This comparison sh ow that proper energy analysis of turbine parts (segments) can detect the precise location of the problems during the turbine operation. Such analysis can be very helpful for the engineers because it allows detection not only the problematic components in the power plant, but also allows detection of the problematic parts of a component.