Objectives
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (UPB) assumes the mission to train specialists in different technical fields that are able to use valuable scientific, technical and cultural knowledge, to contribute to the technological, economic and social-cultural progress of the Romanian society and the contemporary world. UPB ensures a performant education, developed through over 200 years and perfected through a complex research activity, continuing the tradition of the Polytechnic School of Bucharest, according to the exigencies and the means offered by the modern information society. It aims to create a new technical university profile, which promotes forms of training adapted to the requirements of a competing society, subject to the integration process in the European and international community.
Its main mission is to train an engineer capable of adapting to the requirements of market economy and new technologies, with an economic and managerial knowledge and promote the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection.
To achieve the objectives set out in the UPB Strategical Plan, communication and engagement are key. The University has an Environmental Sustainability Campus Engagement Group who is developing the communications needed to deliver its objectives.
We commit to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 and to becoming zerowaste by 2035.
Becoming zero-waste will be done through bolstering education initiatives, and implementing changes in the campuses’ infrastructure, supply chain and waste collection programs.
Achieving carbon neutrality means that UPB reaches net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by completing a series of key actions like largescale energy transformations, electrification of the University vehicle fleet.
Education
UPB kindergarden and elementary school
UPB has built its own kindergarden and elementary school, and plans to open its own highschool in the next few years. The buildings have been planned as green and sustainable constructions.
UPB has built its own kindergarden and elementary school, and plans to open its own highschool in the next few years. The buildings have been planned as green and sustainable constructions.
The programme’s greatest achievement is arguably the fact that it produces generation after generation of sustainably minded, environmentally conscious people. These individuals will carry the behavioural patterns through life, in turn teaching the next generation the habits to make a difference.
Curriculum
Staff in leading teaching roles, such as the Vice-Rectors, Vice-deans and faculty directors of departments and the equivalent have undergone training in how sustainable development can be integrated in educational programmes. There are educational programmes that have a focus on sustainable development and climate transformation, based on an interdisciplinary perspective that also integrates social sciences and humanities.
New courses or educational programmes are being developed in order to achieve the objectives 2030.
Volunteering
Volunteering connects us with others and we become aware of the positive actions and their importance. Through volunteering programs carried out by our numerous student organizations, our students can connect with other members of the community and make the environment in which they live a better place.
They are constantly engaged in the life of the community as well as in the activities taking place throughout the campus. One of the traditional activities during the summer is the meetings with high school pupils who are inegaged by our students in discussions and debates on themes such as: inclusiveness, equality, diversity, bullying, cybersecurity, environment protection etc.
Research
Partnership with Industry
We link up with existing and new expertise and knowledge of the various faculties and research institutes, create synergies between different academic areas, and systematically share knowledge and results.
UPB pays special attention to activities related to innovative products and services, with economic and social relevance, having partnerships for collaboration and technology transfer with the business environment: Transelectrica, Hidroelectrica, Nuclearoelectrica, Veolia, Honeywell, Intel, Microsoft, CISCO, ORACLE, Rockwell Automation, Renault Technology Romania (RTR), Siemens.
UPB became member of the largest cluster in the field in Romania: RO-HEALTH, implementing for the first time in Romania the technique of 3D reconstruction followed by 3D printing of affected tissues.
UPB is one of the most active participants in attracting European funds and has approx. 2500 experts (teachers, researchers, teaching-auxiliary staff), having completed or undergoing over 200 projects in the field of sustainable development, digitalization and human resources, of which 41 Horizon 2020 projects. In order to stimulate young researchers, UPB organized and financially managed the competitions of the GEX2017 Program and the GNaC ARUT 2018 Program, through which 167 internal grants in the amount of 695,000 euros were granted for young researchers.
Researchers’ Platform
UPB developed CRESCDI, a platform that collects and aggregates using artificial intelligence profile data for all our researchers. Data about publications, projects, networks and various others, is being transformed into information that allows for a smoother transition towards a knowledge- based society, where administratively UPB is able to better focus attention to aspects that really boosts performance and impact of our RDI results.
Academic careers are monitored and the best career boosting actions are automatically determined. Projects internally are closely followed in terms of data so that they are perfectly matched against the rules and regulations of RDI programmes and legislation.
UPB also developed Competitions, where all researchers are able to follow the competitions and calls. They are encouraged particularly to access Green and Digitalization calls, to put UPB on the map of innovations in these particular fields.
Green Projects
UPB creates impact by linking sustainability research to social issues and protecting the environment through its projects like: Cleantech, Aspire, BIONov-Pyro Tech , Inovabiomed, Interreg Danube Transnational Programme etc.
Research on smart cities (reduction of pollution and congestions through technology) is done by multi-disciplinary collectives (transportation coupled with computer engineering for example). UPB partnered with Rutgers University in US and led premier results on digital smart traffic lights, or intelligent traffic routing in cities. The project was continued by research on roadside units and vehicular networks to drive through AI smarter city planning and traffic management.
The transfer of knowledge and technology in the field of Eco-Nano-Technologies for Depolution and Waste Recovery, between the Research Center for Environmental Protection and UPB-CPMTE and private enterprises, will contribute to the development of the private sector, as well as the protection, conservation and improvement of the environment.
Campus operations
At UPB, we already took steps towards replacing administrative procedures through digitalization. This will lead to reduction in paper-based forms, not to mention a better monitoring and regulation and understanding of the working impact.
We give as an example https://general.crescdi.pub.ro/, where the procedure for an academic to travel to a conference for example in the name of UPB is done entirely electronically.
We estimate that at the moment, approximately 90% of data representing administrative bodies of work is already digitalized behind this.
Next, at UPB, we are prioritizing the digitalization of processes and relations between faculties and our students. We are building a digital solution to easy the transition from school to industry and strengthen our close relations with engineering companies. Companies and academics are able to promote their internships for students and more transparently seek young talents. UPB has implement a new digital system to help make the administrative component more efficient. At UPB we use teleconferencing tools as a complement to physical attendance at events, where such attendance is not strictly necessary nor advantageous. UPB Staff use Microsoft Teams and professors and students use UPB Moodle Platform as a tool for online teaching and learning. Website of Moodle. IT Department is dedicated to support the staff and students.
A continuous concern is to increase the energy efficiency. UPB built its own Power Plant (CET), using a solution for combined heat and power production systems. The two engines have a total power of 1600 kWe, producing at the same time 2000 kW of heat. Another direction was to reduce losses on heat transmission networks, by replacing old pipes with new, pre-insulated and leak-monitored pipes. A third direction was related to the modernization and automation of existing thermal points, which allowed both a reduction in energy consumption and an increase in thermal comfort for study rooms and university offices. The fourth direction addressed is to reduce heat loss in buildings. To do this, a program was launched to replace the existing windows with steel structures found throughout the university, which transmitted large heat losses, with glazed windows, following the completion of this action and continuing with the exterior insulation of buildings. Putting the new power plant into operation, cost benefits of 20-25% were obtained on energy bills for the new UPB headquarters.
As a pilot case study, UPB took one research office buildings in the campus (PRECIS) to make it energy friendly https://netiot.io/. The Building Management System (BMS) is outdated (as in many office buildings), and at UPB we developed the technology to take such legacy systems, couple it with ambient and external sensors mounted throughout rooms (LoRA unit mounted on-top, WiFi readings, etc.), to showcase how Internet-of-Things could be employed (IIoT protocols are part of the solution), together with Artificial Intelligence, to regulate the energy consumption of equipment (depending on parameters like occupancy levels, sensed body temperature or outside weather). Similarly, on the same platform, IIoT protocols and AI are being used to automatically manage plants in labs (with Ph or conductivity soil sensors we trigger alerts when the plants need watering or a different light-reflecting condition). And we monitored the air pollution in Bucharest (PM particles are problematic), with two innovation patents on how to interpret the pollution given not the readings alone but also atmospheric conditions for example (which puts UPB at the map of research in the field).
Building operations
New constructions are planned for the next 3 years: relocating one of our campuses and building new structures in the main campus (for the Faculties of Aerospace Engineering, Chemistry and Medical Engineering) and expanding our Nursery and Primary school by building a Secondary school and High school. These new buildings will have increased the environmental performance by adhering to high standards related to material selection, energy efficiency, waste reduction, and water management. UPB Nursery benefits from smart building materials and solar panels, being the first new construction in the Campus to align to the smart procurement strategy, together with the 2 passive houses that were built.
According to accepted standards, a passive house is a house that consumes less than produces for one year. The standards stipulate that for heating and cooling, the annual consumption must not exceed 15 kWh per square meter. The total energy consumption of these 2 buildings (heating, hot water, lighting, etc.) does not exceed 50 kWh per square meter, and during the winter the indoor temperature does not fall below 20 degrees. During the summer, it does not exceed 26 degrees. The passive house "West" is equipped with a heat pump (drilling up to 80 m), solar thermal panels, photovoltaic panels with an installed power of 3 kW and thermal panels. The electricity consumption of this house is 4,270 kWh / year and it produces 5,250 kWh / year. The "East" passive house is heated with ventilated air, which, in a first stage, is heated in a Canadian well. The Canadian well is in fact a pipe at a depth of 2.5 meters which is very effective. The air sucked in at a temperature of -15 degrees Celsius and is brought to +1 degree Celsius. At present, the Passive House is a living lab for data collection and analysis and a model for the future.
All UPB existing buildings are undergoing a process of transformation into energy efficient structures, by implementing new energy saving technologies such as soalar panels and smart control panels.
Landscape operations
Our campus is the largest in Romania, with over 60.000 square meters. We protect and enhance the ecosystem and green spaces our University owns, manages, or impacts, in order to enhance regional biodiversity and personal well-being of staff and students.
In the last years, 1500 trees and shrubs were planted, and we aim to raise the green coverage from 60% to 75% of the total area. We have also build green houses where we grow vegetables and flowers.
The fresh vegetables are used in our student restaurants and canteens, adn the flowers are replanted in the campus. Volunteer students from all faculties participate in the planting and growing of the plants.
During our summer schools especially but also as a part of other extra curricular events, we promote and raise awareness on nutrition, food preparation, and community.
We are committed to offering healthy and sustainable catering that is produced, processed and traded in ways that contribute to the sustainable livelihoods. Our aim is to increase the number of greenhouses for vegetables production, because the university has enough capacity to grow its own food.
