PIRAEUS, Greece - A year ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Greece, the municipality of Piraeus mobilized experts at its newly established Blue Lab to produce much-needed protective face shields. Hundreds were distributed to referral hospitals and front-line personnel.

In the next step, Blue Lab, the first business-innovation center dedicated to exclusively promoting "blue growth" in Greece, joined forces with students and professors at the University of West Attica to develop air-purifier sterilizers to help reduce the further spread of the virus.

Three of these devices were installed this year at the port city's main Citizens' Service Center, where about 200 locals per day apply for the issuance of various documents, says Dimitris Karidis, deputy mayor for planning and development.

The Blue Air 2 device is an advanced edition of the first Blue Air purifier-sterilizer designed by students who won the first prize in an innovation contest organized by the municipality a few months ago under the title Blue Growth Piraeus, the official says.

The initial proposal was addressed to Greece's maritime industry. The goal was to install devices on ships to increase passengers' trust in sea travel during the pandemic. As many vessels remained docked for months due to lockdowns and restrictions, the idea was adapted to serve the public in indoor spaces on land.

Air is drawn into the device where special filters capture microparticles, before getting sterilized through UVC ultraviolet radiation and exiting the Blue Air 2 free of up to 99.99 percent of viral load and bacteria, says Dimitris Piromalis, assistant professor at the department of industrial design and production at the University of West Attica.

With the support of Blue Lab, the students of the university used equipment like 3D printers to create a prototype model ready for production.

"It is not like we have discovered the wheel. Maybe there are similar devices around the world. What was very important for us was to avoid the import of products and instead use the innovation forces at the city of Piraeus, in cooperation with universities with research in this field," Karidis says.

The aim is to "develop a product that can be produced in our country and, if everything goes well, to create new jobs and production units in the future", says Karidis.

The official adds that the Blue Air 2 is a complementary tool used along with facemasks, social-distancing measures and vaccines for added safety.

"At the beginning of the pandemic, we made an effort with the protective shields. Then, as restrictions, lockdowns and social distancing continued, we also continued to focus on efforts to develop products and solutions to help in the pandemic challenge," says Elias Salpeas, adviser of the municipality on new technologies.

Piromalis, who is also director of the Research Laboratory of Electronic Automation, Telematics and Cyber-Physical Systems at the University of West Attica, says: "The strong aspect of this project is that within a short time it managed to incorporate technologies concerning the sterilization of air into production technologies in such a manner that everything happened very quickly and very effectively on an industrial level.

"Greek universities, Greek researchers and our students certainly respond to what concerns society.

"Several research teams worked to provide solutions to protect health. We did it. We are happy and we are looking to the next day."

REUTERS