Volume UP: Robert Heinecke on combating air pollution

For the next edition of Volume UP, K2.0 is bringing “Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe” entrepreneur, futurist thinker and smart city expert Robert Heinecke to Prishtina to talk about combating air pollution.

In recent years, Prishtina has been characterized by the daily problem of air pollution, and not only during winter. From all over Prishtina, the coal-fired power station in Obiliq can be seen belching out pollutants into the air, and there have long been plans afoot to build another, ironically named ‘Kosova e re’ (New Kosovo). 

On a European scale, it’s estimated that air pollution costs around 1.6 trillion euros per year due to diseases and deaths.

Heinecke says that despite the bleak situation and appalling air quality, we still have little idea exactly what pollutants are in the air that we breathe every day as measurements are not sufficiently accurate enough and they’re not simple enough for the general population to understand.

Still under 30, Heinecke is the CEO of Breeze Technologies, a company that makes small scale sensors that measure the individual pollutants — such as carbon, nitrogen and oxides — in the air around us. His company is also working on a citizen portal with much more comprehensive and localised air quality data than is typically available, with the aim of enabling local, data-led interventions. 

Founded in 2015, Breeze Technologies has already become a German industry leader, and in 2018 was selected as one of the EU’s most promising startups.

In this edition of Volume UP, Heinecke will address the significance of air pollution matters and the things that can be done to combat the issue. 

Join us for his public talk on September 9, 2019 at 18:00 at Hub 2.0. 

You can also sign up for his masterclass on September 10, 2019 (from 10:00 to 14:00) at Hub 2.0, in which he will discuss more in-depth ways in which citizens can be involved in improving urban air quality.K

This grant is funded by the project ‘Luxembourg support for Civil Society in Kosovo’, financed by the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and managed by Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).