Science and Technology: Greece to provide students with laptops
12/02/2007
Some 20,000 laptop computers will be distributed to primary and high school students under a new project. Also this week: Romanian scientists plan an Africa mission, and Albania hosts a conference on thalassemia.
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Greece's Education Ministry announced it will hold tenders in the coming months to supply PCs to schools. The ministry plans to distribute 20,000 laptops to pupils in the sixth grade in primary school and second year of high school.
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The Croatian power utility HEP has unveiled a new business vehicle that is powered by biodiesel. The goal is to help lower CO2 emissions from HEP thermal power plants and to increase production of renewable-sources-energy.
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The IDC research firm has ranked Romanian software developer BitDefender as the world's fastest growing antivirus software vendor. According to the firm, BitDefender's worldwide antivirus software revenue grew 123.7% between 2004 and 2005 -- a rate faster than any other vendor in the global market. The company's worldwide corporate antivirus revenue growth between 2004 and 2005 topped the list at 73%.
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The Romanian Oceanographic Exploration and Marine Environment Protection Society will launch the first Romanian scientific expedition to cross Africa from north to south, from November to April 2008. The mission, part of a broader programme called Transafrica, seeks to study the impact of climate changes on biodiversity.
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Turkey will launch a Beautiful Science project on February 19th, with the aim of discovering young talents among researchers, engineers and scientists. The competition will air live on Turkish television station Kanal D.
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Albanian and foreign specialists gathered in Tirana on February 1st for a conference on the treatment and prevention of thalassemia. The discussion is part of the government's three-step strategy to fight the disease.
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Scientists and experts from Croatia, Italy and Montenegro attended the regional conference "Technologies in the Environment", held from February 6th to 8th in Milocer. The event, co-organised by the Montenegrin and Croatian governments, was held within the framework of the Southeast European Era-Net, a networking project aimed at linking research activities within existing national, bilateral and regional programmes.
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HERMES Softlab, a Slovenian-based provider of IT solutions and software engineering, said it is opening a second branch to be located in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The move is in line with the company's plans for expansion in the Adriatic region.
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The Bulgarian firm Fadata, which provides software and solutions for the insurance industry, plans to establish a regional customer support centre in Sofia. The facility is expected to create 100-120 new jobs. Announcement of the centre coincided with the launch of Fadata's Integrated Information Insurance System product on the Serbian market.
(Various sources -- 05/02/07-12/02/07)
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