Whey agrohydrogels have succeeded. They placed third in the Transfera Technology Day competition.

Zlín/Prague, 1 December 2022 – The year 9 of the National Technology Transfer Conference took place yesterday at Lichtenštejn Palace in Prague. Eleven scientific teams, including two from the Zlín university, took part with their projects for commercial use in the Transfera Technology Day competition.

A great success was recorded by the expert jury for an ecological agrohydrogel made from whey. Under development by scientists at the Centre of Polymer Systems of the Zlín university, the material is supposed to help better water retention in the soil.
“Taking the form of granules or powder, the material can absorb water to release it during the dry season, making it available to the surrounding plants. The novel substance helps to retain water in the soil for up to 30 per cent longer, so the soil does not need to be irrigated frequently. The hydrogel also breaks down quickly in the soil and enhances it with the beneficial substances it contains,” says Dr. Silvie Duřpeková, project co-investigator, who received the third prize from the Minister for Science, Research and Promotion Helena Langšádlová. Out of the twenty-eight projects registered for the competition organised by Transfera, a device for additive 3D printing was selected for the grand finale as well; designed in a way that eliminates cold joints, the equipment is part of a project managed by the team of Dr. Lukáš Maňas at the Faculty of Technology of the Zlín university.
“I am very pleased to see that two projects of our University placed well in this competition. It is clear that we are moving in the right direction in science & research and that we have young, promising and talented scientists here; they will also get feedback on what can be done differently or better through this competition and the evaluation of the expert jury,” noted prof. Vladimír Sedlařík, principal investigator of the agrohydrogels project and TBU Rector. “We are happy to see that Czech scientists and technology resources connect with the business community very well, creating favourable conditions for cooperation. The Technology Transfer Centre at UTB Zlín is involved in transferring the outputs into practice. Nowadays, it is a difficult and long-lasting process and finding business partners is not easy; in this context, we are more than happy when things go well eventually and the projects have a chance of success,” adds Ing. Ivana Bartoníková, Director of the Technology Transfer Centre. The winner of the competition was the Magnetically Controlled Microfluidic Pump project of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen; the second place went to the project of scientists from Masaryk University in Brno, who tackle milk production without keeping cattle. To learn more, please visit

https://www.transfera.cz/
http://cps.utb.cz/cs/aktuality/1036-ekologicky-setrne-hydrogely-ze-syrovatky-pomohou-v-boji-proti-suchu
http://cps.utb.cz/cs/aktuality/1065-agrohydrogel-ze-syrovatky-ve-finale-souteze-transfera-technology-day-2022