The Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award was set up to encourage social innovation and encourage sustainable development
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/07
By:: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
A microbead cleaning device by Micro PC. (Micro PC photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Micro PC was founded by two college students at Chung Yuan Christian University (中原大學) who developed a technology that cleans harmful substances from water, such as plastic microbeads in the ocean and algae in fish ponds.
They were awarded the 2019 Asia Pacific Social Innovation Partnership Award (APSIPA) for their innovative combination of technology and use of autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) to clean microbeads.
The award was set up to encourage social innovation and engage in partnerships that positively influence society and help realize the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the award organizer. The competition is open to enterprises, NGOs, schools, and government agencies in the Asia-Pacific region.
Microbeads are tiny plastic particles whose diameter is less than 5 mm. Being so small, they can drift freely in the ocean and combine with other harmful substances, enter the human food chain, and affect our health. There are nearly 800,000 tons of microbeads floating in the ocean, according to Micro PC. [FULL STORY]
