Table of Contents

  • THEORETICAL PROBLEMS IN INNOVATIONS

    • Industry 4.0 and Innovation

      pg(s) 3-5

      Explosive changes in technology are having a significant impact on all industries. Robotics, artificial intelligence, cyber physics systems, cloud computing, IoT and blockchain technology, 5G, nanotechnology, 3D printing are all defining elements of Industry 4.0. The integrated use of these methods enables the perception and display of the external environment, which significantly enables improvements in each industry. In the future, we expect a fusion of physical, digital, and biological technologies, which will provide new opportunities for innovative solutions. The authors of the present study present a future study to predict innovative solutions to key global challenges.

    • Programmed aging – a condition for rapid application of new technologies.

      pg(s) 6-8

      Programmed obsolescence of industrial products is not a regularity caused by innovative development, but an alternative to innovative obsolescence. Programmed aging is a purposeful and controlled human activity in order to solve some industrial, economic and social problems of the development of society. Including meeting specific individual technical and organizational needs. From this point of view and from this point of view, programmed aging is increasingly playing the role of an alternative to the rapid innovative aging of products and processes. Moreover, at the current stage of technical development, innovative aging is already more important than physical aging. Therefore, a particularly important point in this direction is the correct determination of the degree of innovative aging, and hence the choice of the alternative – programmed aging. Proper assessment of the impact of programmed aging on the scale and timing of innovative aging is crucial for timely elimination of the negative consequences of their impact

    • Challenges in measuring the impact of non-technological (organizational) innovations in the enterprise

      pg(s) 9-12

      Many innovations are with a non-technological origin, concerning innovations in the organizational structure, management, corporate design and social sphere. They do not stem from technological discovery or improvement, but lead to complete or partial changes in the enterprise. The purpose of this article is not only to derive a general definition of organizational innovation, but also to explore the challenges in measuring the impact of this type of innovation. Non-technological or purely organizational innovations in the enterprise are relatively well studied, though they are often closely linked with changes in the products, services or processes of their creation. Difficulties in the research regarding the impact of organizational innovation evolve both from the diversity and type of each organization, but also from the insufficiently studied to define the clear distinction between technological and non-technological, in particular organizational innovations.

    • The difference between the life cycle of the brand and the life cycle of the product. Rebranding and brand refresh

      pg(s) 13-16

      The main issues are considered in this topic: In this paper is explained the product life cycle model, the brand life cycle model, the comparison between them. The objective of this paper is to present what is brand, brand positioning, the difference between branding and brand refresh, what is branding and what is brand refresh and how to apply it to your image. When you can rebrand or use brand refresh, what is brand strategy and the questions that can be the first step in developing a successful brand strategy.

  • INNOVATION POLICY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

    • The intellectual factor of education in an innovative economy

      pg(s) 17-20

      The features of the functioning and development of the domestic education system in the context of the requirements of the state strategy for sustainable economic development are considered. The need to improve methodological approaches to the educational process with an increase in research and socio-humanitarian components is shown. Education in all forms of its manifestation in the form of a target process or self-learning is a systemic process in which professional skills and abilities are an important, but not a determining component of a harmonious member of society, which, through its activities, contributes to its progressive development. The fundamental goal of education is to form a harmonious personality, in which the talents laid down at the gene level are manifested and developed to the full extent in adequate accordance with moral criteria based on universal human values and national mentality.

    • Economic analysis of Li-ion battery recycling using hydrometallurgical processes

      pg(s) 21-23

      In recent years, much attention has been paid to the recycling of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) [1, 2]. However, there are only few economic assessments on the recycling of LIBs even if, by 2030, it is possible to reach 2 million tons of spent LIBs/year worldwide [3, 4]. In this context, the present work aims to present a viable business model that is feasible and economically efficient and can be framed in a circular economic recycling technology of spent LIBs. The proposed business model uses literature data on the hydrometallurgical processing (HP) of spent LIBs. The business plan contains estimates of costs and revenues, and, also, estimates or projections concerning the state of the relevant markets and industries for the products resulting from spent LIBs.
      Our work proposes a feasible and sustainable circular economy solution able to deliver critical materials such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, and copper for the supply chain of the LIBs manufacturing. From our estimate, valorising all recovered materials, the annual profit can reach around 600,000 $ for a commercial recycling plant that processes 125 tons/year of spent LIBs.

    • Capacity mechanism – some properties of its design and remuneration

      pg(s) 24-26

      The instant paper deals with the mechanism for capacity provision, which is instrumental for the operation of the capacity market. The latter belongs to the wholesale electricity market and complements the energy only one. The capacity market is tasked with securing reliable power generation under the conditions of imbalance and stress for the energy system. Capacity and energy only markets interact in a consistent manner, thus their proper operation becomes crucial. The capacity market, however, seems to be expensive and few energy systems throughout the EU rely on it. Therefore, it is important to draw a line between different capacity mechanisms already set up and operated in terms of their most important features such as physical volume and clearing price setting. This analysis seems relevant for policy-makers’ decision to adopt or to dismiss the mechanism for capacity in Bulgaria.

    • Creation of an information system for investment portfolio analysis

      pg(s) 27-29

      The issue of decision-making on the formation and optimization of the investment portfolio is in the field of attention of both large investment companies and private investors. In the presented work the developed information system for investment portfolio analysis is offered. The proposed information system focused to new private investor and allows to independently assess the effectiveness of the investment portfolio by comparing the dynamics of growth of shares available on the financial market.

  • INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

    • Stakeholder analysis for development of knowledge management system in micro- and nanoelectronics

      pg(s) 30-31

      Knowledge management relates to the vast majority of business-processes at enterprises in knowledge-intensive sectors, such as nanoindustry. In particular, all stages of the new products’ creation, i.e., research, development, launch of the production line, manufacturing and operation, are associated with the new knowledge generation. However, one can find numerous inefficiencies in the existing business-processes due to a lack of communication and poor data handling. Although the financial consequences of ignoring these problems are significant for the enterprises, the absence of step-by-step solution plan and human resource overload make it necessary to look for different ways to solve the issues related to this topic. In order to successfully solve the detected problems and thus ensure support for the further development of the knowledge management system, five key directions were formulated based on the interviews with stakeholders.

    • Deacidification in the protection of written collections

      pg(s) 32-35

      The aim of this article is to emphasize the importance and significance of deacidification as an important and basic conservation process in the preservation of written paper collections. This is a process in which buffer substances are introduced by processing the paper collections, which maintain the pH of the paper within optimal limits for storage. At the same time, they eliminate the possibility of oxidation-reduction processes during future long-term storage. Relatively few chemical reagents are known in practice that have the ability to neutralize acids in paper documents. These are sodium, barium, magnesium, some saponins, amines, borates, phosphates, some polymers of alkaline salts of organic acids. The development of deacidification as a conservation process has been followed and it is concluded that it does not develop rapidly, but is accompanied by too much hesitation and caution. Mass deacidification processes are expensive and cannot provide the desired result and lead to the introduction of essentially different methods. Along with the advantages and disadvantages of each method, the quantitative and qualitative condition of the collections, the institutions find it difficult to select the most appropriate one to be applied to their collections. Bookkeeper, PaperSave Swiss and Bückeburg are listed as effective deacidification methods. These three methods are highly valued as applicable to mass deacidification of documents, in terms of potential for innovation, improvement of mechanical strength and existence, pH and alkaline reserve, cost and risk assessment.

    • Disinfection and dye adsorption efficiency of functionalised nonwoven adsorbent for household textile laundering

      pg(s) 36-39

      The efficiency of an adsorbent has been investigated for the removal of released textile dyes and micro-organisms during household textile laundering. The results show that laundering with the addition of the striped adsorbent and IEC A* detergent reduced the higher log step reduction of Sa (more than 4 log steps) compared to laundering without detergent (2.62 log step reduction), or laundering in a blind bath (1.61 log step reduction). The sorption efficiency of the functionalised nonwoven adsorbent is limited, capable of adsorption of a maximum of 0.1 g/L of reactive dye from the washing bath. Laundering in a bath of 20 °C, with the addition of a striped textile adsorbent or in combination with detergent IEC A*, does not prevent biocontamination of the washing bath and textile load.

    • Innovative technologies for the production of high-oxide corundum and boron carbide ceramics

      pg(s) 40-45

      In this publication, the authors present an in-depth justification on the technology for the production of high-oxide ceramics. Indepth research on international markets on the supply and use of raw materials is presented. The various design developments related to the ways of pressing products are described. The physico-mechanical parameters of the synthesized corundum and boron-ceramic ceramics were also studied.

    • Development of an environmentally friendly commercial kitchen cooker using hydrogen as fuel

      pg(s) 46-48

      Commercial kitchen cookers are widely used in various capacities and fuels (natural gas, LPG, etc.). Depending on the decrease in fossil resources and the increase in energy needs, several researches in alternative fuels have been accelerated. Especially in recent years, R&D studies and investments in renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources (solar, wind, biomass etc.) have increased. In line with the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (Directive 2018/2001/EU), it is aimed to use at least 32% renewable energy sources by 2030. Significant R&D gains have been achieved with the cooperation of industry-university in order to use hydrogen as clean energy as an environmentally friendly alternative energy source for commercial kitchens. In this work, we developed an environmentally friendly commercial kitchen cooker prototype using hydrogen with a uniquely designed burner has been achieved. Results show that using hydrogen in commercial kitchens is promising if hydrogen safety is locally possible.

    • Environmental and Economic aspects of PVWP system

      pg(s) 49-52

      A lot of techno-economic analyses have been conducted to seek the most cost-effective solution for irrigation purposes applied in the interval time of 25 years of project life. The possible benefits outlined by the PVWP system implementation have been identified, as well as the effects of the most sensitive parameters, such as installation price, incentives and other credit options such as carbon credit rate or feed in tariff. The output carried out from the simulation shows that PVWP system represents the best solution to provide free carbon and costless electricity to run the water pump for sprinkler irrigation in the agriculture sector in Albania. The environmental benefits have been also addressed, evaluating the CO2 emissions saving achievable from the PVWP system operation and some financial aspects such as simple payback period (SPP), NPV and the carbon footprint reduction per ha. As a conclusion replacement of diesel-powered water pumping used only for irrigation purposes results in an annual net reduction of CO2 emissions by 1.9416 ton per year which is equivalent to 861 litres of gasoline not burned. The net specific GHG reduction results 0.09708 kgCO2/m2, simple payback period results 5.7 year and Net Present Value (NPV) 4961.74€ and by applying a Feed-in tariff 0.0600 €/m³ then the water sale income results 19 817 € for the entire project life of 25 years starting from 2022.