The project of prof. Černák and the TONAK company won the “Best Cooperation of the Year” award

24 Sep 2010

The project of The Institute of Physical Electronics (IPE) of the Faculty of Science and the TONAK a.s. company focused on practical application of non-isothermic electric plasma in felt production won the fi rst year of the Best Cooperation of the Year competition. The prize and a 100 000 CZK cheque was awarded to representatives of both partners by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Martin Kocourek The Best Cooperation of the Year competition aims to support, advertise and award the best joint projects between universities and application sphere in the fi eld of research and development leading to innovations. The results of the fi rst year of the competition were announced during the gala evening on September 23, 2010 in the seat of Czechoslovak Trade Bank. In the competition of twentyfour projects from a total of twelve universities and twenty-seven companies, the cooperation of Prof. Mirko Černák’s team from the Faculty of Science of the MU and the TONAK company, the core of which is a new technology for improvement of felting properties of fibers. It is a unique approach that completely replaces the outdated method. So far, the felt was produced by treating the hydrophobic part of rabbit hair by acids, the new approach replaces the acid treatment by plasma treatment, making it a dry method without the need to use chemicals. This technology is more environment-friendly, it provides a better working environment for the employees, as well as it produces a felt of higher quality. The TONAK company protects the invention in cooperation with MU by patent valid in many countries across the world. The Technology Transfer Office of MU significantly helped in preparation of the patent application as well as the application for participation in the competition.