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Single European patent signed
20th of February 2013
The European Union has formally signed on a new unitary patent for 24 participating member states. This comes after 40 years of negotiation, one of the longest in the trading area's history.
The current system made patent registration up to 60 times more expensive in Europe than in China and will now be abandoned in favour of a one-size-fits-all
Casino janitor returns $10,000 washroom cash to owner
19th of February 2013
An honest janitor who found the sum of $10,000 in cash while cleaning the washroom of a casino opted to hand the money over to her boss rather than pocketing it.
Meuy Saelee of Lincoln, California, initially believed the cash she found in the toilet cubicle to be fake, but she handed it in to her supervisor anyway. When casino chiefs verified
Preparations start for CMS Berlin
15th of February 2013
The organisers of the CMS cleaning exhibition in Berlin, which takes place from September 24-27, have reported high early booking levels.
The show, which will cover 24,000 square metres, will feature a 'green maintenance area' focusing on environmentally conscious solutions. Other special display areas will include glass and façade
R2-D2 look-alike helps clean hospital rooms of superbugs
13th of February 2013
A robot claimed to have a passing resemblance to the R2-D2 character from the Star Wars films is taking on hospital superbugs in the US and Canada.
The Xenex Robot System emits short blasts of high-powered ultraviolet light which is said to be able to eradicate lethal pathogens from healthcare surfaces and environments including hospital beds,
Exhibitions - a barometer of the economic outlook
12th of February 2013
In the exhibition industry there is an old wisdom that says that an exhibition always reflects the economic state of the industry. Writing his latest blog for ECJ, Rob den Hertog - project manager for ISSA/INTERCLEAN - asks if this is true.
Wheelie cleaners speed up rubbish collection
12th of February 2013
A Chinese hospital has given a new meaning to the idea of the wheelie bin by fitting cleaners employed to empty bins with rollerskates to speed up the rubbish collection.
Park Fang, manager at the Huaxi Hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan province of south-west China said he had been forced to cut the number of cleaners because of cost and also because
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