A Ukrainian startup that produces wireless chargers has won a major grant from the European Commission.
The company Meredot was awarded 50,000 euro on July 18 during the first stage of Horizon 2020 SME, a program for financing science and innovation by small and medium enterprises. Its budget is about 80 billion euro.
Meredot has become one of the 5 percent of European startups that have won the grant.
Meredot produces a wireless charger called MePower, which can be used to charge phones, smartwatches, laptops, drones and even electric cars. MePower uses magnetic fields to charge objects that are placed near it.
The technology “eliminates the problems of existing wireless charges, such as low energy efficiency, low power transmission and the immobility of gadgets,” company CEO Roman Bysko told the Kyiv Post in a message.
MePower also allows its users to charge several gadgets simultaneously, with the system able to charge both 6 kW and 11 kW devices.
“Meredot is the first company in Europe and Asia developing this kind of technology with such power efficiency,” Bysko said.
According to the company’s co-founder and technical director, Roman Yershov, the team’s developments “made it possible to transfer electric energy ‘by air’ over a distance of 30 cm with a system efficiency above 90%.”
Meredot’s team of scientists, researchers, system engineers, and programmers collaborates with Chernihiv National Technological University.
The Horizon 2020 funds will be used to improve the technology, for laboratory tests and for adapting Meredot’s technology to the needs of automobile, household, and mobile users. Currently, MePower and MeOutlet, the first-ever power outlet without electrical contact, can be preordered on the company’s website.
Meredot says it will continue its participation in Horizon 2020 and will apply for the second stage of the program where the level of funding is up to 2.5 million euros.
