TuLiMark

The Partners

Manufacturer: LED-SOLAR, s.r.o.

The company is engaged in the development, production, and sale of LED lights and the implementation of lighting systems in the transportation sector and various industrial fields. Within the production program, they are developing electrical and electronic components of luminaires, regulation and control elements to optimise the use of electric energy of luminosity source, application research, and development of optical parts of luminaires to guide and optimise the luminous flux of luminaires. Their portfolio also includes the design and development of luminaire designs to be used in operationally challenging environments. 

Maker: Peter Tauš

Doc. Ing. Peter Tauš, Ph.D. works at TU in Košice, the BERG faculty, the UZZ as a researcher and educator in the field of renewable energy sources and energetics at the Department of Renewable Energy Sources. Within the framework of the submitted project, he is a co-author of the idea of using tourist light marks to enhance safety in tourism. He supervises many bachelor, master and PhD theses, mostly related to proposals for energy efficiency and non-traditional use of RES in practice. He was responsible for the establishment of the RES Centre,  a workplace designed to promote research and development of technologies using RES.

How did the project even start?

The Light in the Dark team began to form during a research project exploring how to illuminate the Slavošovský tunnel using RES. In 2015, Peter Tauš from the BERG Faculty (Technical University of Košice) and Jaroslav Jaduš from LED-SOLAR Ltd decided to present the idea of TuLiMark in the competition "Do you have an idea? Present your startup!". Since then, the story of the project has unfolded. Currently, seven people are part of the team, and we believe that this is not the final number. Up to now, all the activities have been funded with our own resources. We believe that, thanks to the OpenMaker project, we will be able to present a real product.

How did you come to join the OpenMaker community?

We learned about the OpenMaker project from the Promoted Workshop B2B Innovative Matchmaking Prešov. Luckily, a member of our team - Marcela Taušová - participated in the workshop, so she immediately got the entire team at work.

In your experience, what are the main strengths of a maker/manufacturer partnership?

As an innovator, I understand the frustration of many inventors that are not able to put their ideas into practice. Especially, if the lack of funding is the only thing standing on their way.

When launching a new project, the most important stage of the research process, namely the development of prototypes, is currently neglected. Schools, universities, and innovators themselves do not have the means for prototype development. On the other hand, companies are often looking for new ideas. Building partnerships between producers and creators, and promoting their successful cooperation, are the basis for the rapid development and implementation of innovations.

What do you hope to get out of the OpenMaker experience?

We believe that with the OpenMaker project, we can gain experience in building partnerships between manufacturing companies and innovators. We believe that we can prove that even from a simple idea it is possible to define a serious aim and create a real product. As innovators, we believe we will learn to think as entrepreneurs, and as entrepreneurs, we believe we will understand the problems of innovators.