It looks like a weighing machine and measures the distribution of foot pressure. Thanks to the Enterprise Europe Network, the Plantograf developed by a Czech University has found a Spanish partner to fine-tune its invention.
The Network has Europe's largest technologies' database, and with some 23,000 profiles brings together research and commercial applications, and scientists and suppliers.
The Department of Electrical Engineering and automation, Faculty of Engineering of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague asked the Czech Network partner to find a supplier of electricity-conductive ink.
"Prof Volf and his team were keen to improve their Plantograf," says the Network's expert Jiri Janosec of the Technology Centre of the Academy of Sciences in the Czech Republic, based in Prague, "so we published a detailed technology request."
Conductive ink would provide more accurate measurements than the conductive elastomer currently used. "We are continually improving our device," says Prof. Volf, "but we don't know where or how to find suppliers. We couldn't have done it without the Network."
A nano-technology firm in Spain fitted the bill. The Network partner in Spain, CIS Galicia in Ferrol, knows all its regions innovation firms. "So we knew at once that the company Nanogap would be the perfect match," says the Network's expert Jana Vavrinova.
"We were delighted that CIS Galicia found this partnership," says Nanogap's Innovation Manager Daniel Fernandez, "because working with cutting-edge scientists helps us improve our products."