2024 Archimedes Inventions Exhibition in Russia: ESG and SDGs become mainstream

The 27th Russia Archimedes International Invention Exhibition 2024 was held March 19–21 at the Amber-Plaza business Center exhibition center in Moscow, Russia. This edition featured more than 570 innovative inventions from 28 countries including Taiwan, Russia, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, and others. Taiwan achieved the excellent result of winning a total of 20 medals.

Chinese Society for Innovation and Invention Executive Director Wu Zhiyiao said that many of the gold-winning works related to ESG or were aligned with SDGs, incorporating more human-centered care and a spirit of harmony among all things, rather than simply pursuing innovation and invention.

In recent years non-animal proteins have become a trend. To reduce animal farming, lower greenhouse effects, and address factors such as population growth, Grape King Biotechnology, leveraging 30 years of production experience with fungal mycelia such as reishi, cordyceps, Antrodia camphorata, and lion's mane mushroom, adopts fermentation to produce fungal protein raw materials, which can be completed in just three days.

They hope to promote the development and application of fungal protein in various foods to open up the vegetarian/plant-based market and drive new dietary choices for fungal protein, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enabling more efficient production, and achieving an environmentally friendly and healthy lifestyle.

The project led by Yang Zhiwei, Chair of the Department of Business Technology Management at Chihlee Technology University, Professor Zhao Liping, and Professor Tu Minyi of the Department of Information Management, together with faculty and students, is the "charitable metaverse crowdfunding platform" — combining the metaverse and virtual reality technology to allow fundraisers to experience the daily care and rescue scenarios of animal shelters through the platform and a VR headset.

The animals people most commonly encounter in daily life are cats and dogs, but there are many animals the public rarely comes into contact with and are unfamiliar with how animal shelters operate. This system allows the public or donors to experience the operation processes of an animal shelter in a virtual environment — including capture, intake, and final adoption stages — and enables them to understand the hardships and operational methods of animal shelters.

Through the diverse experiences brought by the metaverse, it enhances willingness to donate and the sense of experience, strengthens awareness against abandonment, and promotes animal conservation concepts.

The "fitness rehabilitation chair" invented by Professor Chen Wenliang and student Chen Zhihan of the Department of Living Product Design at Shu-Te Technology University embodies a human-centered care concept, combining fitness and rehabilitation functions while also serving simply as a chair in daily life,

The device includes exercises such as sit-ups and ring-pulling stretches to provide users with core muscle training and posture maintenance. It also offers two-handed ring-pulling rehabilitation exercises with different resistance springs selectable as needed; the backrest uses a fixed board structure to make the back panel more stable. This invention can be used for fitness, rehabilitation, leisure, or daily office use, and can be adjusted at any time according to individual needs.

When people visit galleries or view artworks, they will notice light sources projecting directly onto the artworks to enhance their brightness and facilitate viewing.

However, this often causes shadows to form between the outer edge of the frame and the wall, affecting the viewing experience, creating a sense of disharmony in the artwork, and impacting the overall aesthetic.

The "smart device to reduce frame light and shadow" jointly invented by the Cultural Relics Conservation Research Center at Cheng Shiu University, Professor Li Yicheng's team, and Professor Shi Songcun of the Department of Electronics uses fill lights and light-sensing devices to automatically soften and eliminate the shadows produced by picture frames.

The invention can determine shadow areas and, by adjusting the illuminance of the light-emitting elements, soften or even eliminate shadowed regions to enhance the aesthetic of exhibited artworks. This work has already obtained invention patents in Taiwan and Japan.

The invention by Wishes Technology, "Recycling and Reuse of Graphite Materials from Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Batteries," developed a physical method to disassemble lithium batteries and uses enzymes to degrade the toxicity of the electrolyte, enabling the recovery of graphite materials from electric vehicle and energy storage batteries. Subsequently, the graphite materials are physically separated and returned to the battery cell manufacturing source to produce new cells.

The enzymatic degradation technology carries out graphite recovery in a completely non-toxic and environmentally friendly manner; the water used in the recycling process can also be reused, making it environmentally friendly. This graphite recycling technology can effectively reduce graphite production costs; the purity of the recovered graphite has been tested at 99%, indistinguishable from new graphite, and cell product testing has now been completed.