Project APPLAUSE Approved to be Granted by the EU Commission Through the Urban Initiative Actions / 6.09.2017

Based on competences of Dr. Lapanje and Dr. Rijavec, the Department is a partner in recently founded project ApPLAuSE (Alien PLAnt SpEcies) - from harmful to useful with citizens' led activities, lead by the City of Ljubljana. The Department tasks are focused in development of microbial technologies to obtain valuable chemical products from the IAPS.

The project is a pilot project that introduces an innovative approach in IAPS (Invasive Alien Plant Species) treatment. In order to build a successful zero-waste circular management of IAPS based on citizens' led activities, we plan to design a pioneering system and infrastructure for the IAPS disposal and use.
Since part of the project is dedicated to develop and utilize new biotech approaches, we were invited due to our competences such as characterization of microbial communities, metagenomic analysis, running flow through bioreactor setups, cloning and microbial engineering, bacterial cultivation in batch and continuous setups and bacterial immobilization. Besides, the researchers with competences in mass spectrometry are complementing biotech development.
Our suggestions in the projects were based on the idea that IAPS residuals that are being generated during the IAPS utilisation process that can be further used for transforming into new useful components/resources. As a complementary activity to the main objectives, new bio-technological process and greener technologies will be developed, promoting zero-waste production.
Once implemented, our services will be addressing the challenges of sustainability and circular economy, which are also among the highest priorities in the European Union.

APPLAUSE addresses the IAPS issue from a completely new point of view and strongly encourages cooperation with the widest range of stakeholders.
The overall value of the project is 5.202.590 EUR for 3 years starting on the 1st of November 2017.