Clothes sensor which registers various parameters of our health from sweat and many other things – Revolutionary inventions by Novi Sad Strentex team in field of textile electronics

At the time when, nearly every day, there are news in the media about the widest variety of often revolutionary innovations, the kinds of which we were once practically only able to see in science-fiction movies, or those other innovations that, in a more subtle way, show the need to preserve the living environment, it’s not easy to highlight another innovative product. However, the team of scientists led by Dr Goran Stojanovic, a full-time professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, has in the past several years developed several products which have characteristics which seem to be coming from movies, but this time from another genre – the famous 007 and his, once incredible, technical gadgets, which, unlike his, could have a wide application in medicine. And they could also be available to us, ordinary people.



Just some of the inventions…

For example, sensors which detect the presence of drugs and sedative substances in drinks, a protective face mask which can show indications of pneumonia, or the one that kills bacteria and viruses on the spot before they reach your nose, antiperspirant pads which have two benefits – there are no sweat stains on the clothes and the collected sweat is used to diagnose your health, that is, your pH. Then there are sensors which are built into socks or shoes, which detect your walking pattern and help correct it. For those who get cold easily, an ideal product are heaters on textile which are portable and can be easily placed over the velcro strips on the interior parts of our clothes, and they can also be applied when it comes to sports injuries which require heat treatment. Also, there are coolers on textile which can be applied when the swollen and painful spot needs to be cooled.

All this thanks to sensors on textile, that is, textile electronics, and that’s not all. At the moment, in Germany, a part of this team is working on testing a new product for women, which will, also through a textile product, point to gynecology changes, including what is talked about a lot these days – which are changes indicating cervical cancer.



Then there’s another product they are working on and which could mean a lot to workers at excavation sites and all those who, due to the nature of their jobs, that is, the implementation of the workplace safety rulebook, have to wear protective footwear in both summer and winter, regardless of the temperature. The Strantex team has developed sensors in socks and shoes which detect the temperature and the humidity in the shoes, after which the data on the measured values of these parameters are sent to the user’s mobile phone. They then detect whether there is a big risk of the development of a fungal disease between the fingers – which is a common problem these workers experience. And then, they have also invented some plant-based insoles and packages which prevent the further development of such fungi.

A sack which warns of the groceries beginning to spoil

This team has also invented potato sacks which will feature a detector which detects the initial stadium of the vegetable starting to spoil and as soon as this starts happening with one potato, it is immediately reported so that the rotting process would not spread to the whole sack. Of course, this can be applied to other groceries as well.



There’s also the sensor for measuring the concentration of the medicines you have consumed and sensors which detect the level of stress in pets and those that measure the level of stress in plants due to the drought and climate change and… The list of their innovations could be endless.

Project worth EUR 2.5 million

And if this team did not consist of eight scientists from India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Greece and Serbia and if it were not led by a university professor with nearly three decades of experience in scientific research, who publishes around 20 scientific works in international magazines each year, this would all probably sound barely realistic. However, all this already exists and – works, and money from the EU Horizon Europe program has also been approved for it all. Not just any amount either – EUR 2.5 million.

And that’s not the only project for which funds have been approved in Serbia thanks to professor Stojanovic. As the professor pointed out in his interview for eKapija, of around 60 projects that he has prepared in the past 18 years, financing in the total amount of over EUR 8 million has been approved for 25. This mostly pertains to the procurement of equipment which will be used by generations of students and researches who choose to develop their skills in this interesting field.

– This project from within EU Horizon Europe, which is called Strentex and which is realized at the Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Novi Sad, is my favorite project because it provides us researchers and innovators with practically everything we need in order to make progress in research results and achievements. It also enables us to employ new doctoral and post-doctoral students, to buy new equipment – new equipment worth over EUR 250,000 has been procured for the Faculty of Technical Sciences and it will be used for the training and practical work of generations and generations of students and researchers, and then to also procure the materials we need for our work, to attend fairs etc. – professor Stojanovic says for eKapija.

Desire to have innovative products help somebody

And judging by what the professor said during the interview, all these innovations are stimulated primarily by his desire to help people, that is, to have the things he develops benefit somebody – a desire he’s had all his life, he says.



– One way of realizing that desire is to finish the Faculty of Medicine and save lives that way, and another is to dedicate yourself to scientific research and have your solutions and inventions used in (bio)medicine. I often like to tell the members of my team and students – with our innovations, we should help 3P – people, pets and plants – the professor says, and the abovementioned innovations confirm it.

And what happens afterwards – where do such innovations go next, how available will they be to ordinary people and who will, in fact, produce them…

Products only 20% more expensive than usual ones

Professor Stojanovic says that there had been attempts to have a local company start producing some of their innovations – masks which kill viruses, hand heaters which destroy hand warts etc, but the project team eventually opted for the strategy of founding their own company. So, within the Strentex project, several months ago, the startup Strentex Innovations was founded as well. The Strentex team has already applied with the Innovation Fund of the Republic of Serbia for funds for launching the production of some of said innovations. On an annual level, EUR 50 to 80 thousand will be necessary for this investment in order to make the production sustainable, according to the professor. Until that happens, the Strentex team will continue developing a smaller number of prototypes, as many as necessary in order to prove that the concept is working.



– The task of Strentex Innovations in the coming period will be to produce and place some of the innovations in the market in the coming period, to the benefit of a wider population – says professor Stojanovic and adds that one of the first products that this company will bring to the market will be the thermal masks meant for cosmetics salons.

These masks, by the way, thanks to the pleasant temperature of 40 to 55 degrees Celsius, help open the skin pores and achieve treatment efficiency because the cream or the medicine penetrates the deeper layers of the skin.



As for the prices and the question whether the wider population will be able to afford all those new products, our interviewee says that the new technology on textile will raise the price of the basic product by only 20%.

– For example, temperature and humidity sensors in socks will raise the prices of socks by only 20%. For an amount which is one fourth or one fifth more expensive than the regular product, someone gets a product which pays off in the long term. Someone who takes care of their health will certainly see a benefit in that – says professor Stojanovic.

Cooperation with Faculty of Medicine

As for the local health institutions and their interest in these projects, a part of the team led by professor Stojanovic, together with their colleagues from the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, have a joint project (financed by the Innovation Fund – PRIZMA) in which they are developing electrodes which contract muscles in order to prevent urinary incontinence. Also, experts from various countries (for example, Spain, Finland, Slovenia etc.), who were present at the recently completed conference of the Strentex project, as the professor says, immediately after the conference, addressed the Strentex team to continue the cooperation, scientific research and even product placement.

And professor Stojanovic and his associates are already coming up with new innovations, so in the coming period we can expect more interesting and exciting news from this scientific and innovative “kitchen”, and we will be there to keep reporting about it.

Danijela Stanimirovic-Gavrilov

Fakultet tehničkih nauka Univerziteta u Novom Sadu

Strentex innovations doo Novi Sad

Fond za inovacionu delatnost Beograd

Fond za nauku Republike Srbije

Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Novi Sad

Strentex project

Goran Stojanović

innovations

medical electronics

biomedicine

scientific research projects

researchers

inventions

medical diagnostics

textile electronics