EU projects – Technology Scouting – Business Innovation

AMIRES and Tensor Ventures join forces to drive innovation in emerging technologies

We are thrilled to announce an exciting collaboration between AMIRES, a leading consulting company, and Tensor Ventures, an innovative investor group, aimed at fostering innovation in emerging technologies.

Digital AI, Future Computing, Advanced Physics, Quantum Technologies, Cybersecurity, and Novel Energy & Climate Tech has never been greater. Recognizing this growing need, AMIRES and Tensor Ventures have come together to pool their expertise and resources to support research, development, and innovation projects in these critical areas.

Through this partnership, AMIRES and Tensor Ventures aim to create a synergistic ecosystem that fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and cross-pollination of ideas. By bringing together their respective strengths in consulting and investment, they are well-positioned to support the development and commercialization of innovative solutions that address some of the most pressing challenges facing society today.

Stay tuned for more updates and insights as we embark on this exciting journey of discovery, collaboration, and innovation

NetZeroAICT: Pioneering Sustainable Healthcare with AI-Enhanced CT Imaging (Video Guide)

Discover how NetZeroAICT revolutionises CT Scans using AI!

The project trailer (video) is available HERE!

NetZeroAICT, a cutting-edge Horizon Europe project, is transforming the landscape of CT imaging.

Our groundbreaking solution, ‘CT Digital Contrast,’ enhances image quality without administrating harmful contrast agents, making CT imaging more accurate, more comfortable for the patient and more sustainable for the environment.

In our project trailer, you can meet our core team, explore our goals, and learn about our co-design approach and expected impacts.

At NetZeroAICT, we are committed to improving healthcare and well-being across Europe and beyond.

Do not miss out – follow us on LinkedIn and X and stay updated with the latest project news!

Excited to announce that our team has been awarded a grant from the European Commission to develop a quantum-enhanced benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (QUENCH).

QUENCH will use quantum 💎 diamond sensors, which are micro-scale devices that can detect tiny magnetic fields with high precision, to enhance the nuclear magnetic resonance signal of the sample. This will enable us to perform NMR spectroscopy with a compact and low-cost benchtop instrument, without the need for expensive and bulky superconducting magnets.

🔷 This project aims to harness the power of quantum technologies to improve the #sensitivity and #resolution of NMR spectroscopy, which is widely used for molecular structural analysis in various fields, such as chemistry, biology, medicine, and materials science.
🔷 Our team (consists of Technical University of Munich, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, TECNALIA Research & Innovation, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Magritek Ltd and AMIRES) of experts from academia and industry, with complementary skills and backgrounds in quantum physics, NMR spectroscopy, diamond nanotechnology, signal processing, and machine learning.

During our kick off meeting on January 24-25, 2024 in Munich, we discussed the project plan and expected impacts. Thank you to Technical University of Munich for hosting us. Our sincerest appreciation goes out to our EC project officer Markus Ritter, PhD for joining us.

Stay tuned for more updates on QUENCH visit our website HERE.

Exploring the Landscape of Digital Health: Takeaways from the Pioneering Digital Transformation in Healthcare Workshop!

On 6th February 2024, AMIRES hosted the “Pioneering Digital Transformation in Healthcare” workshop, which brought together different projects in AMIRES Health & Biotech portfolio (PANCAIM, NetZeroAICT, RES-Q+), longstanding partners such as CSEM and MedTech Europe, as well as external speakers and guests.Our speakers covered the whole value chain of digital health innovation, from academic researchers to representatives from large industry, ambitious SMEs, hospital representatives, lawyers, ethicist, investors, and policy makers. The insights shared during presentations, Q&A rounds and concluding roundtable were founded on wide-ranging experience and covered digital health from a variety of perspectives.

Some of our key takeaways include:

  • While AI in radiology is already quite popular amongst technology developers and end users, there is much unexplored potential in other areas of digital health such, data management, wearables and device allowing continuous monitoring for clinical application.
  • For targeted and effective new tools, digital health innovation requires cooperation from all stakeholders: researchers from different fields (biologists, radiologists, computer scientists, and more), technology developers, end users (e.g. hospitals, clinicians, patients), regulators, state actors and more.
  • Despite their large potential, digital tools in healthcare are facing a lot of hesitation for adoption from all sides due to the high stakes, making it a more challenging market than digital transformation in other domains.
  • Addressing ethical questions and uncertainties over issues such as data privacy and accountabilities for mistakes made by AI, are crucial to increase trust in e-health services and solutions.
  • Regulation imposes many challenges on technology developers, but it is key to work with the rules to maximise the safety and potential of new technologies for patients.
  • Although the AI Act may cause delays in the development and production of AI technologies, it can offer regulatory clarity and increase trustworthiness to make a leap of faith towards AI technologies (quote from Steven Van Wortswinkel)
  • Some key pieces of legislation currently in the EU pipeline (EHRS, AI act, etc.) will transform the digital health landscape, providing important new opportunities.
In an intimate setting in the Loft of the Vienna House Diplomat Hotel in Prague, speakers and participants mingled during the networking reception with plenty of drinks and food. Many ideas on current projects and future cooperation opportunities were exchanged and we hope that we will see some of them come to life in the near future in EU projects or other initiatives.A key objective in AMIRES is to bring together researchers, technology developers, providers of enabling technologies and end users, thereby fostering innovations for business and social impacts. We are proud that our event built new collaborations in Digital Health for more efficient technology research and applications!

We would like to thank all speakers and participants for the active engagement during the workshop and look forward to continuing bringing people together at similar events in the future!

One Year of MADE-3D improving the materials research for additive manufacturing.

The MADE-3D project is pleased to announce that on February 8th and 9th, a pivotal one-year meeting took place at CSEM headquarters in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

The session commenced with a detailed project overview presented by AMIRES project manager Marina de Souza Faria and project coordinator Dennis Lehnert from the University of Paderborn. This comprehensive overview highlighted the progress made over the past months and outlined plans for future milestones.

Special acknowledgment is extended to John Aristeidakis (QuesTek Europe AB) for exemplary leadership during the design and modelling phase, which is progressing meticulously. Furthermore, commendation is given to the task leaders from CEA for their insightful presentations on completed tasks.

Christopher Singer’s (Fraunhofer IGCV) exceptional contributions to materials and tools, particularly in powder material atomization and process parameter optimization in the transition zone, warrant special recognition.

The MADE-3D project extends gratitude to all partners and gracious hosts for their unwavering support and dedication, which have been instrumental in making this one-year milestone a resounding success. Here’s to many more achievements on the horizon! At the LinkedIn page of the project there to keep updated from the outcomes – HERE.

INSPIRE results presented at Photonics West 2024: Micro-transfer printed III-V on silicon nitride narrow-linewidth laser with extended frequency chirp capability for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) measurements

At Photonics West 2024, Guénolé Dandé presented recent achievement of INSPIRE project: experimental results of OFDR distributed fiber sensing obtained with micro-transfer printed laser.
INSPIRE consortium fabricated hybrid tunable laser based on the micro-transfer printing of a pre-fabricated InP gain section on the IMEC low-loss silicon nitride platform.

The laser incorporates a dual-ring Vernier frequency selective mirror, with a loaded Q-factor of 46k, and delivers -3dB optical power (in fiber) with a Lorentzian linewidth of 3 kHz. At such Q-factor, by solely modulating the SOA drive current, the frequency chirp amplitude of the laser is limited by mode hopping at 4-5 GHz, which is still insufficient for sub-cm DAS resolution. To overcome this issue we simultaneously modulated the rings of the Vernier filter through thermo-optic tuning, and obtained a FM chirp amplitude of 20 GHz at 1kHz repetition rate, with limited phase noise penalty. Thales showed DAS measurement with this laser, concluding that INSPIRE laser overperform all lasers in terms of spatial resolution.

Tunable lasers and photonic integrated circuits are a promising technology to provide compact and high performance solutions for coherent remote sensing applications such as Lidar, and distributed acoustic fiber sensing (DAS). INSPIRE project enables such applications by establishing world´s first PIC platform capable of hosting all optical functions while remaining scalable for mass production.

AI for Pancreatic cancer – from development towards validation: The PANCAIM M36 Meeting in Prague

From 7-8 February, AMIRES hosted the PANCAIM M36 meeting here in Prague! Around 30 team members – pancreatic cancer researchers, AI developers, bioinformaticians, clinicians and more, from 9 partner organisations in Europe – joined us for the meeting in the Technology Center of the CAS where all partners presented their respective work packages and activities over the past six months.

PANCAIM is dedicated to advancing multimodal AI integrating genomics, pathomics, and radiomics data for a more comprehensive understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Through the teamplay platform, we aim to bring our AI to the hospital for clinical validation and ensure brand new possibilities for clinicians to offer personalised treatment recommendations for PDAC patients.

AMIRES is participating in PANCAIM as partner for project management and dissemination and is actively engaged in consortium coordination, taking an active role in organising the meeting and preparing materials, moderating discussions around data sharing and strategic questions in the project such as its sustainability exploitation.  

The consortium has been working hard for the last 3 years to achieve project objectives and develop tools to revolutionise pancreatic cancer care for hospitals and patients. Partner presented some exciting updates on the AI models developed in the project, and are seeing some impressive results where AI could reach the same level or even outperform experienced clinicians. Additionally, as more and more data arrives in the multimodal PANCAIM data repository, the consortium is spending more time and effort on the validation and testing of developed algorithms on previously unseen data. Rigorous validation of AI algorithms is considered a top priority of all partners and absolutely crucial before deploying them in real-world clinical settings. Validation of AI models with previously unseen data is crucial to assess the accuracy of developed models to estimate the prognosis of individual patients at diagnosis, to predict treatment response and to evaluate treatment, in order to ensure that developed models achieve the highest levels of effectiveness, precision, and reliability.

The most promising AI algorithms developed in the project, which have demonstrated their capability to predict clinically relevant outcomes, will then be integrated within an established healthcare platform and further validated in an environment that resembles a routine clinical application as closely as possible.

Kristin Aldag, PANCAIM project manager from AMIRES presented the progress in Dissemiation and Communication activities, and briefed the consortium about all current and upcoming matters regarding the project management, administration and coordination.

During a dedicated session, the consortium also discussed the exploitation and sustainability plans to make sure that project result will continue to make an impact even after the end of the funded period. Lastly, with the upcoming project review meeting, the agenda dedicated some time to rehearse presentations, align on priorities, and define the key messages to showcase the progress we’ve achieved through our collaborative efforts. Many active discussions also took place informally over lunch, coffee breaks and delicious Czech dinner. 

A big thank you to our hard-working partners for the productive meeting and the good collaboration in this demanding project – we are already looking forward to the next meeting which will take place in September 2024 in Glasgow. 

Lots of work remains to be done in the project, but we’re glad to see that PANCAIM is steadily moving towards its objectives of providing unique new digital tools for pancreatic cancer clinicians and patients. For more about the project, please visit https://pancaim.eu/ .

 

Open Call for Business Pilot Cases

FlexFunction2Sustain Open Innovation Test Bed ecosystem launches an Open Call for Business Pilot Cases.

The Call is open for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), start-ups and/or enterprises seeking to commercialize a technical result. All successful applicants will receive business support to prepare them for investors and assist in identifying and securing investment opportunities.

The Call will be open until 29th February 2024. Applicants will be able to apply anytime during this period (deadline: 17:00 CET). If you are interested in applying to the Call, please fill in a simple Application form (HERE).
 

Discover more for FlexFunction2Sustain on project website: https://flexfunction2sustain.eu/ 

Graphene Flagship common Kick-Off meeting and Science and Technology Forum (STF).

Next-2Digits participated in the Graphene Flagship common kick-off meeting and Science and Technology Forum, organised on 5-6 February 2024 by the Graphene Flagship Coordination and Support Action project and hosted by Chalmers University of Technology, in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Next-2Digits project had the chance to meet in person with the other 11 RIAs/IAs involved in this partnership: 2NEURALVISION, GATEPOST, GRAPHERGIA, Project ARMS, MUNASET, 2D-BioPAD, GIANCE project, 2D-PRINTABLE, 2D ENGINE, 2D-SPINTECH, SAFARI. The meeting aimed to strengthen connections and collaboration among the RIAs/IAs, as they collectively strive to transition graphene technologies from labs to markets.

The Kick-Off meeting on February 5th aimed to officially start the cooperation between the 12 RIAs/IAs, addressing the goals that these projects have in common. The event also focused on innovation road-mapping, standardization, and outreach opportunities to expedite the practical applications of graphene.

The Science and Technology Forum (STF) on February 6th focused on the future of graphene development and EU funding, particularly in the context of the European Union’s strategic partnership, Innovative Advanced Materials for the EU (IAM4EU). As stressed during this Forum, the next few years will be decisive in defining the future of 2D advanced materials.

For more information on the Graphene Flagship Common Kick-Off meeting, click here and the preparation for the Graphene Week 2024 that will take place in Prague. Explore also the Next-2Digits project here.

FRIENDSHIP Webinar on Solar Heat for Industrial Processes Decarbonisation

On Thursday, 1st February 2024, from 10:00 to 12:00 (CET), the FRIENDSHIP webinar on “Solar Heat for Industrial Processes Decarbonisation” was streamed online.Sincere appreciation is extended to all attendees who attended the webinar, as their active engagement, profound interest, and insightful questions significantly enriched the discourse.

A special word of thanks is warranted for the all the speakers, who presented their research findings with clarity, conciseness, and factual accuracy:

Valery Vuillerme (CEA) – Coordinator of the FRIENDSHIP project – exposed the objectives and components of the project, highlighting the research behind the technology and its transformative potential for industries.

Dr. Ivan Jerman (NIC) – Researcher at the National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia, – shared insights into Solar Thermal Field & Coatings, focusing on the lifetime evaluation approach for competitive SHIP
collector coatings.

Ole Marius Moen (SIN) – Researcher at SINTEF Energy Research (Norway)- showcased the functionality and efficacy of heat pumps within the FRIENDSHIP solution, offering a glimpse into their role in optimizing energy efficiency.

Anouk Muller (CEA) – Research Engineer at CEA Liten’s Laboratory for Thermodynamic and Solar Technologies – explained the process of cold production within the FRIENDSHIP framework, emphasizing its contribution to sustainable cooling solutions.

Julien Grosse (CEA) – Research Engineer at CEA – revealed the heat storage mechanisms in the FRIENDSHIP system, underlining their crucial importance in the solution.

Valery Vuillerme (CEA) detailed the management system of FRIENDSHIP, offering insights into its integration into industrial operations.

Pierre Dury (INES) – Solar Thermal Engineer at the National Institute of Solar Energy, France – showcased the educational materials and the tool developed within the FRIENDSHIP project, emphasizing their role in knowledge dissemination and capacity building.

Following the presentations, a dynamic panel discussion provided a platform for speakers to address audience queries, fostering a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

For those willing to have a look at the presentations or revisit key insights, recordings are available:

Presentations link
Webinar recoording link
E-learning videos link 

We invite you to explore these resources and to follow the progress of the FRIENDSHIP project!

The successes and shortcomings of Horizon 2020

The review of the €75.6B eighth framework programme will feed into evidence to be published this year that will shape the future of EU research and innovation.

The €75.6 billion Horizon 2020 framework research programme that ran from 2014 – 2020 had a huge impact on the European economy, its scientific output, and on society, but was short on budget, needed simplification and should have included better support for women researchers and entrepreneurs, a review shows.

The Horizon 2020 evaluation, carried out by the European Commission, is one of the first major documents that will inform the scope and aims of the next research programme, Framework Programme 10 (FP10), which will start in 2028.

Horizon 2020 helped fund over 35,000 projects around the world, but was €159 billion short of being able to fund all proposals judged to be “above the quality threshold” in each call. In addition, it lacked the support needed to make the most of the quality research it funded, and despite seeing the introduction of Widening measures, failed to close the research and innovation gap between Europe’s top and bottom performers.

Some of the shortcomings in this final evaluation were also identified in the mid-way review, published in 2017. That led to improvements being put in place for the current programme, Horizon Europe.

More information on ScienceBusiness website!

Elevate your career with AMIRES – where innovation meets opportunity

Hey future teammate! Exciting news – AMIRES is on the lookout for someone awesome to be the Project Manager for European R&D&I projects in Energy & Sustainability.

What will be your daily tasks? The role involves comprehensive project administration and management, including communication with international partners, progress monitoring, report preparation, and community management. Additionally, the chosen candidate will actively contribute to project proposal preparation.

Are you a master of project dynamics, fluent in English (bonus points for French or German), you have strong communication skills, and are you familiar with the European R&D&I landscape?

If you are you ready to join our team in our offices in Prague 6 and you will be comfortable with business trips around Europe send your CV and motivation letter to bajarova(at)amires.eu by February 13th, 2024. Successful candidates will be contacted by February 16th, 2024.

If you are not still sure, check our advert HERE.

We are looking forward to meeting you soon!

SPINUS: Pioneering scalable solid-state quantum computing

2024 started with a quantum leap: Horizon-funded SPINUS project kicked off on January 22-23, 2024, in Freiburg, Germany. Coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, the project consortium consists of 12 organisations counting industry leaders, academia, RTO, including Quantum Brilliance which is the world-leading pure-play, vertically-integrated diamond quantum technology. The project stands out for its holistic strategy, focusing on critical aspects such as material design, control techniques, readout technology, and tailored quantum algorithms.

Leveraging Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) Centers: A Quantum Advantage
SPINUS will leverage nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, respectively silicon carbide as a promising approach towards quantum computation. SPINUS builds on recent developments in engineered electronic and nuclear spin networks, solid-state quantum simulators, and computers to propel this technological approach towards scalable solid-state quantum computing.

Quantum Simulation Beyond 50 Quantum Units
SPINUS sets its sights on mature hardware platforms for quantum simulation, aiming to unlock quantum advantages. SPINUS activities aim to go beyond the state of the art with three distinct quantum simulator prototypes: a 3D nuclear-spin simulator, a 3D electron-spin simulator, and a 2D nuclear-spin simulator.

Spin-Based Quantum Computing Beyond 10 Qubits
The project aims at elevating quantum computing platforms based on NV centers by increasing the usable qubit number beyond 10. The main goal is to develop platforms that allow for universal quantum computation based on two-qubit gate operations facilitated by controllable dipolar couplings between adjacent NV centers.

Also, the project delves into improving methods for controlling and reading out the state of qubits, crucial for achieving high-fidelity gates and accurate measurements. Lastly, SPINUS aims to enhance the performance of quantum algorithms concerning distinct use cases.

AMIRES’s role within the project is to support the management activities, besides leading the Work Package on Dissemination, Communication, and Exploitation.

Keep an eye on SPINUS to witness a quantum leap in quantum technologies!
Top of Form

 

INDHEAP Kick-Off Meeting: Pioneering Solar Solutions for Industrial Processes

The inaugural meeting for the INDHEAP project marked a pivotal moment in the journey towards revolutionizing industrial energy consumption through innovative solar technologies. Funded by the European Union – 101136140 – and coordinated by CEA, INDHEAP is set to demonstrate groundbreaking approaches at Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) that integrate solar thermal (ST) and photovoltaic (PV) energies to meet the heat and power requirements of mid-temperature industrial processes, up to 250°C.

Project Overview:
INDHEAP aims to showcase the synergy between solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies by developing and integrating a flexible thermal Energy Storage (e-TES) system, powered by electric heaters, to optimize the utilization of thermal and electrical solar renewable energy. This project will encompass the development of methodologies, tools, and specific components tailored to enhance energy efficiency, reduce peak demands, and maximize the use of solar heat and power in industrial settings.

Key Objectives:

  1. Energy Efficiency Optimization: Analyzing demand elasticity and harnessing waste heat to reduce heat and power peak demands.
  2. Technical-Eco-Environmental Criteria: Determining the optimal balance between ST and PV based on various criteria.
  3. System Architecture: Designing the hybrid ST-PV system’s architecture and components for optimal integration and control.
  4. Prototype Installation: Deploying a prototype on an industrial lubricants blending process owned by Total Energies in Spain for validation at TRL7 through a comprehensive one-year test campaign.

Meeting Highlights:
The kick-off meeting, held on Chambery (France) – 17th and 18th of January -, brought together consortium partners from leading research institutions and industry experts to delve into the project’s plan and expected impacts. Hosted at CEA facilities, participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas, explore collaboration opportunities, and gain valuable insights from esteemed external advisory board members and the project officer, Clara Astudillo Llorente.

Stay tuned on INDHEAP official LinkedIn page.

TRIATHLON Kick-Off Meeting

Great project starts with a great kick off!
TRIATHLON is a Horizon Europe project, which aims to develop disruptive approaches to design low-emission hydrogen-electric powertrains for megawatt class aircraft.

Funded by the European Union and CINEA – European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, the project involves 8 partners:

Materials Innovation Institute M2i (Project coordinator)
Delft University of Technology (Technical coordinator)
Technische Universitaet Dresden
Ergon Research
Sabanci Universitesi
Cryomotive
Lithoz
AMIRES (Dissemination and exploitation activities)

The project’s Kick-Off meeting, held at Delft Technical University, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, on 23-24 January 2024, was marked by insightful discussions on the project plan and expected impacts. Participants also had the privilege of exploring the university’s Materials Laboratory, the SAM XL Collaborative Research Centre, and the workspace of Aero Delft students crafting their aircraft.

TRIATHLON can also count on an impressive External Advisory Board, which will bring in their expertise along the project, featuring industry excellences such as Safran, H2Pulse, Avio Aero, and Ge Turkey, who provided invaluable insights into the project’s workplan during the Kick-Off Meeting.

Also, the Project Officer, Hugues Felix, joined the meeting and supported the consortium in setting priorities.

TRIATHLON is ready to take off!

The Commission adopts its own approach on development and use of Artificial Intelligence

The Communication on the Artificial Intelligence in the European Commission (AI@EC) outlines its strategic vision to foster the internal development and use of lawful, safe and trustworthy AI.  

When using or deploying AI, the Commission will: 

  • Develop internal operational guidelines that give staff – users, developers or procurers of AI systems – clear and pragmatic guidance on how to put such systems in operation. 
  • Assess and classify  AI systems that the Commission is using or planning to use – based on a risk-based approach and using the Commission’s operational guidelines. 
  • Refrain from using AI systems that are considered incompatible with European values or that represent a threat to the security, safety, health and fundamental rights of people. 
  • Put in place organisational structures to fulfil the obligations of the Commission in relation to AI. 

In doing so, the Commission will consider the planned EU political and legislative initiatives as well as all applicable existing legislation, including on non-discrimination, accessibility, information security and data protection. It will also consider the best practices and examples from industry at both, the national and international levels. When deciding on new IT investments, the Commission will consider the AI aspect to ensure compliance with the Commission’s operational guidelines. 

The full article is available on European Comission website!

HyperImage Project Kicks Off with Promising Innovations in Spectral Imaging Technology

In an electrifying start to the new year, the HyperImage project marked its official kick-off with a dynamic and forward-looking meeting, unveiling ambitious plans to revolutionize spectral imaging technology. The meeting was held on the 16th and 17th of January 2024 at Fraunhofer IWS in Dresden, Germany. The consortium is made of key stakeholders, industry, academia, RTO, and collaborators at the forefront of this groundbreaking initiative.

HyperImage aims to develop a universal, fast, modular, and cost-effective spectral image-sensing platform for both short- and long-range applications. The project envisions the integration of cutting-edge photonic components, including electrically tuneable liquid lenses, pixel shifters, fast steering mirrors, and configurable SMD-style IR micro-emitter arrays.

The incorporation of AI machine learning algorithms will elevate the capabilities of these cameras, translating spectral image data into functional product properties. This transformative feature is particularly significant for applications such as autonomous driving, where accurate decision-making is paramount.

Validation in Real-world Scenarios:

  • The project outlined its strategic approach to validation, with a focus on four industrial use cases:
  • Quality control in the manufacturing of high-power electronics.
  • Fully automated vertical farming for monitoring crop growth of salads, herbs, and microgreens.
  • Spectral image-based vision and navigation for off-road autonomous driving.
  • Development of a lightweight, high-resolution hyperspectral vision system for unmanned geo-surveillance drones.

The meeting was charged with enthusiasm as team members, industry experts, and collaborators shared their insights and contributions. The collaborative spirit and dedication exhibited during the meeting set a positive tone for the journey ahead, as HyperImage endeavors to redefine the landscape of spectral imaging technology.

AMIRES’s role within the project is to support the management activities, besides, dissemination, communication, and exploitation.

Stay tuned for more updates as HyperImage.

MEET OUR TEAM: Stefania Pavel

We are gladly welcoming our new Project Manager Stefania. She graduated from University of Bucharest in 2018 with a Bachelor’s in International Relations and European Studies, followed by the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in European Politics and Society with Charles University and Jagiellonian University in 2020. She gained a vast understanding of EU affairs and policy making while being an intern at the Communication Office of a Member of the European Parliament, Presidential Administration of Romania, and Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. Between 2020 and 2023 she worked as Network Manager with the European Development Agency, in Prague. Here she strengthened the international presence of the company by increasing project participation, establishing novel partnerships, and opening new business cases. At the same time, she was the Grant Writer for the Institute for Regional Development. Stefania has been developing proposals for Erasmus+; Visegrad Grants, European Social Fund+; Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV); EEA-Norway Grants; Interreg; UNICEF; UNHCR; Biodiversa+; COST Action; and Horizon Europe. Stefania was also the lead administrator of ESF+ Employment and Social Innovation National Contact Point for the Czech Republic. As of April 2023, she has been an Expert Evaluator with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, EIT Culture & Creativity.

In her free time, she enjoys: baking by sneaking vegetables into cakes, plating colourful cheeseboards (project manager throughout the week, cheese/board manager during the weekend), and painting.

In AMIRES, Stefania is involved in Horizon Europe SPINUS (Spin based quantum computer and simulator) and Qu-Test (Supporting open testing and experimentation for quantum technologies in Europe) projects.

Welcome on board Stefania, we wish you all the best luck!

ESNA full website is now up

We are delighted to announce the launch of the full version of European Sustainable Nanotechnology solutions Association (ESNA) website.

ESNA is an open ecosystem, established within FlexFunction2Sustain project, that provides access to innovative solutions, empowering the next generation of environmentally friendly plastic and paper products. The association offers customer and solution-focused advice to accelerate market penetration of novel products. Authorized Sales Representatives are ready to assist SMEs and by providing expert support through the innovation chain from an idea to a successful product. An online contact form is available on the website to send an inquiry or get in touch with the team if further questions remain.

Stay tuned for the latest news and keep up-to-date with details on dissemination activities. 

Click at https://esna-assoc.eu/ and happy exploring!
 

Publication on absorption chillers for negative cooling in SHIP systems


FRIENDSHIP is glad to present the newest paper about multi-effect and multi-stage NH3/H2O absorption chillers for negative cooling in SHIP systems, which is now published online in the AIP Conference Proceedings.

The paper, Numerical study on multi-effect and multi-stage NH3/H2O absorption chillers for negative cooling in SHIP systems, was written by CEA and it is based on the research work on innovative ejector chillers for cold production, done in the framework of FRIENDSHIP.

Indeed, FRIENDSHIP is investigating an innovative absorption chiller design that improves heat and mass transfers, thus performance, at decreased costs, as the needed components are standardized and available in the market. Hence, two variants are simulated for -20°C and -40°C cooling production and two-stage absorption cycles are also simulated for -40°C cooling production.

More specifically, the article presents a numerical comparison identifying the best solutions for the SHIP integration, giving an overview on the operating temperature ranges for each cycle.

Congratulations to the authors!

Innovation in Healthcare: Insights from the Front Lines

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the EU (32.5%). Overall, patients with diseases of the circulatory system spend a total of 69 million days in hospitals across the EU annually. And the problem is getting worse: In the past 15 years the average age of heart attack patients in the Czech Republic has dropped from 63 to 49 and 30-year-old cardiac patients are no longer an exception.
 
In cardiac emergencies, every minute counts and fast and effective interventions are absolutely crucial to save the life of patients. New lifesaving technologies such as ECMO – a temporary support system for patients with severe cardiac or respiratory failure that acts as an external heart and lung – offer to revolutionize cardiac care. But to really make a difference the technologies need to be closely aligned with clinical needs and fit into the reality at the hospital. 
 
To see some of these innovations in action and get a better understanding of the needs of the healthcare system with regards to novel technologies and solutions, AMIRES Health & Biotech Team recently visited the General Faculty Hospital in Prague (Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze; VFN). We were welcomed by Dr. Bělohlávek, experienced interventional cardiologist, intensivist and head of the Second Internal Medicine Department.

Under his guidance and in exchange with staff of the clinic, we not only heard about, but had the chance to experience in real life how innovations in healthcare, including novel technologies from EU projects are applied in clinical practice to improve the care and life of patients suffering from cardiac diseases. 
 
Our main takeaway: The collaboration between researchers, technology developers and clinicians is absolutely crucial to ensure effective uptake of the developed innovations and lead to improved patient outcomes. We’re excited that AMIRES is on the front lines of this intersection and look forward to strengthening this position even more in the future.
 
Current projects in the AMIRES Health and Biotech program include PANCAIM, Tumor-LN-oCeCAP, ORGANTRANS and Medphab – with several more in the pipeline!
 
A big thanks for the VFN Team – We greatly appreciate the hospitality and the opportunity to witness the impact of healthcare innovation in a real life setting!

Photo credit: AMIRES and Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze –  https://www.vfn.cz/pacienti/kliniky-ustavy/ii-interni-klinika-kardiologie-a-angiologie/fotogalerie/ 

MEET OUR TEAM: Panagiotis Chatzis

We are happy to welcome to our team Panagiotis Chatzis who joined our team as a Project Manager in November 2023. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Greece where he also served military service at the Public Affairs Office at NATO HQ.  He pursued his passion for service by taking on various administrative roles in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education. As he developed a thorough understanding of government policies and structures, he also experienced the impact of the deep Greek government-debt crisis that turned him towards the European Union by joining the European Politics and Society Programme, an international joint master’s degree composed of 4 semesters in 3 different European cities: Prague, Kraków, and Leiden. Having nurtured avid support for European Integration, he engaged in three EU Framework Programmes: Horizon Europe, Erasmus+ and CERV.

Before joining us, he was a Trainee at the Office of the Director at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, where he acquired comprehensive knowledge about creating jobs and delivering sustainable and smart growth through research and innovation.

He does enjoy spending free time in various ways that enrich the body and mind. Swimming is one of his favorite sports, as it helps him relax and stay fit. Listening to podcasts is another hobby of Panagiotis, as in this way he learns new things and hear different perspectives on various topics.

In AMIRES, Panagiotis is involved in the Horizon Europe Projects ECOBALLIFE and NetZeroAICT.

We are glad to have Panagiotis in our team and we wish him best of luck!

Canada to sign Horizon Europe association deal next year

Deal announced at EU-Canada summit opens door to wider transatlantic collaboration in research, energy, digital and other fields. Wanted now: ‘transformative discoveries’ by working together, EU president says.

After lengthy negotiations, the EU and Canada reached agreement for Canadian researchers to join Horizon Europe research programme from next year.

The deal was announced at an EU-Canada summit in St. John’s, Newfoundland 24 November as part of a package of expanded trade cooperation that includes research, energy, digital, aerospace and other fields.

Regarding research, the tone was almost triumphant.  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “Canada’s joining Horizon Europe, which is the greatest research and innovation mechanism in the world right now.”  Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, was similarly ebullient at a press briefing, saying the deal will bring researchers from the two sides of the North Atlantic closer and she is already anticipating “the innovative breakthroughs and transformative discoveries that will emerge from our joint projects.”

Both leaders, however, were charry with details about the deal – apparently in part because administrative details have yet to be fully resolved.  Von der Leyen said, “we expect the agreement will be signed soon, before mid next year.  And once this is done, researchers in Canada will be able to receive funding from Horizon.” Later, however, EU officials told Science|Business they may put in place a “transitional arrangement” so the Canadian grant applications can start earlier in 2024 – though they still won’t have any money disbursed until the formal signing. 

More information here!

Latest updates regarding AMIRES on the news page!

From Microfluidics to Micro-Optics: Updates from the Tumor-LN-oC M30 Meeting

From 9-10 November 2023, AMIRES travelled to in Switzerland for the Tumor-LN-oC M30 meeting!

The H2020-funded Tumor-LN-oC project develops a sophisticated tumor-lymph node organ-on-chip platform which integrates several technologies ranging from a complex microfluidic system including of artificial cilia which mimics the natural lymph flow, to analytical instruments such as Mid-IR spectroscopy to a micro-optics module with automatic image analysis via deeplearning. The ultimate objective is to oberve, in real time, interactions between tumor and lymph node cells and thus achieve a better understanding of lung cancer metastasis through the lymph system. 

The meeting was hosted by Alpes Lasers – an innovative SME developing and producing a wide variety of laser sources, covering a very broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Project partners presented their respective work packages and activities over the past six months. AMIRES is participating in PANCAIM as partner for project management and dissemination and is actively engaged in consortium coordination, taking an active role in organising the meeting and preparing materials, moderating discussions around data sharing and strategic questions in the project such as its sustainability exploitation.  

We presented our recent AMIRES activities in the management, dissemination and exploitation of the project and got a detailed status updates by other project partners on the development of the various technological modules which will soon be integrated into the first assembled prototype!
 
We thoroughtly enjoyed the common dinner and networking with our partners during formal sessions and coffee breaks and are proud of the progress and achievements after 2.5 years of hard work in the project – the first promising, tangible results of this research and innovation project are slowly emerging! 

We discussed the next steps, priorities and for the next 6 months to meet all project milestones as planned. Major upcoming tasks will mostly center around molecular characterization of cells the chip and the modalities of the integration of the individual modules into the overall platform. 

Visit the Tumor-LN-oC website to learn more about the project and stay tuned for more exciting results! 

FRIENDSHIP M42 Meeting in Prague

On 21st and 22nd of November, FRIENDSHIP team got together for the M42 consortium meeting. One year after the consortium meeting in Germany, the consortium met in Prague (Czech Republic), hosted by Amires.

On the agenda over the two days, the consortium gave an overview of the work performed in the running Work Packages and planned the next steps towards the finalization of the project. More specifically, the consortium started to think about the organization of the final event, when the final workshop and the site visit will take place, in Grenoble (France).

In addition, RINA organized a workshop on the exploitation strategy of each Key Exploitable Results (KER). Besides, partners had the opportunity to brainstorm on the risk analysis of selected results. All the collected output will be part of the TRL9 Roadmap, which will be a public document.

The event was the right occasion to host the last External Advisory Board (EAB) meeting. All the EAB members joined the meeting and gave very valuable insight into possible funding possibilities for a follow up project and into collaboration possibilities in the last phase of the project. The presence, the interest, the participation, and the contributions of the EAB member, Dr. Thomas Ammerl (BayFOR), were particularly appreciated and were beneficial for the consortium, which had an external point of view of the project.

The project is ready to enter the last phase. Do not miss our future posts!

AMIRES and MedPhab in the hotspot of the global healthcare industry – MEDICA/COMPAMED 2023

AMIRES Health & Biotech team recently participated in the MEDICA – Leading International Trade Fair and COMPAMED trade fair and conference!

From 13th to 16th November 2023, 5300 exhibitors from almost 70 countries and more than 83 000 visitors from various sectors of the global healthcare industry gathered in Düsseldorf, Germany, at MEDICA and COMPAMED – the  world’s leading trade fairs in the field of medical technology. Every year, these two events bring together stakeholders from medical technology: Developers, producers and manufacturers, service providers, suppliers, integrators, buyers and policy makers. The interactions during this event facilitate new networks, projects, ideas, and business partnerships benefiting the healthcare industry. Among them, AMIRES and our project partners from MedPhab pilot line project! 

Our partners from MedPhab project introduced their pilot line offering for the manufacturing, testing, validation, and upscaling of new photonics technologies for medical diagnostics to interested visitors. Even beyond the funded project, the MedPhab pilot line enables accelerated product launch with reduced R&D costs. Visit the website to learn more! 

Meanwhile, our colleague Kristin explored the trade fair floor in all 17 halls of Messe Düsseldorf, reconnecting with familiar faces and networking with other organisations and companies to grow our partner database for future Horizon projects. While attending the lectures and panel discussions and engaging in discussions with exhibitors, we are staying up to date on the latest trends and technologies shaping the future of healthcare, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and innovative diagnostics.

AMIRES is at the heart of these topics – With our large partner network consisting of research organisations, universities, and companies as technology and knowledge providers, we are at the source of innovation. On the other hand, we are in close contact with health economics and regulatory experts, as well as hospitals and clinicians as end users of the new technologies. We believe that building bridges and connecting organisations throughout the healthcare ecosystem will contribute to accelerating the introduction of innovative products to the market and revolutionizing healthcare. This position allows to leverage our extensive knowledge and expertise in European framework projects that impact healthcare.

 

Check out some the current research and innovation projects in Health and Biotech domain, which AMIRES is involved in: 

  • eCAP – digital solutions for the worldwide gatroesophageal reflux epidemic
  • Organtrans – Controlled Organoids transplantation as enabler for regenerative medicine translation
  • PANCAIM – Pancreatic cancer AI for genomics and personalized Medicine
  • Tumor-LN-oC – Tumor and Lymph Node on Chip for cancer studies
  • MedPhab – Photonics Solutions at Pilot
    Scale for Accelerated Medical Device Development

The European Innovation Council Fund has approved €1 billion in deep tech venture investments in one year

The Commission announced that nearly €1 billion of investments in deep tech companies have been approved by the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund since the Fund started its operations in September 2022. The EIC Fund is the venture investment arm of the European Innovation Council, which was launched under Horizon Europe to support breakthrough technologies and innovations. In just over one year, 159 start-ups and SMEs, all selected under the EIC Accelerator programme, have had their investments approved. By reaching this €1 billion milestone, the EIC consolidates its position as the investor of choice for European deep tech companies.

Read the full press release!

To know more about AMIRES news, click here!

CONDOR: THREE YEARS COMPLETED!

On November 7th, the CONDOR consortium members met virtually to celebrate three years of project implementation. The partners gathered to assess the progress towards their ultimate goal of developing a device for artificial photosynthesis able to convert water and carbon dioxide into fuels by using sunlight as the only energy source.

The meeting was opened by Prof. Paola Ceroni,  Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician” at the University of Bologna and also coordinator of CONDOR project, who provided a comprehensive review of the research work completed to date. Over the past months, the efforts were concentrated on assembling and testing the flow photoelectrochemical cell (Compartment 1), which was conducted by ENGIE in collaboration with the University of Ferrara. Simultaneously, the Utrecht University and HYGEAR focused on Compartment 2 by designing and manufacturing the (photo)chemical reactor for conversion of syngas into fuels. Overall, the project has progressed in alignment with the work plan, with no significant deviations. The partners discussed the next steps and remaining activities for the last year of the project, which are related to the assembling, integration and testing of the CONDOR system.

The meeting also welcomed members of the External Advisory Board (EAB), who tracked the progress and provided valuable feedback and recommendations for the project’s future work.

As we look ahead to the final year of the project, there is undoubtedly lots of work still to be done. However, we are happy to slowly but steadily be moving towards. Thanks to the hard-working consortium partners and all EAB members for their contributions to the productive meeting and fruitful collaboration in this challenging project!

Gain additional insights on CONDOR by visiting its website https://condor-h2020.eu/. Stay informed by keeping track of the project’s updates on social media (follow @CONDOR_EU on LinkedIn and Twitter).

FRIENDSHIP at the symposium “Colloque du Pôle Cristal” 2023

The symposium “Colloque du Pôle Cristal” took place in Dinan on 7th November 2023.

Organized every year by the Pole Cristal, with the support of the International Institute of Refrigeration and of the Carnot Institute, the meeting brought together more than 100 players from the world of refrigeration and climate engineering. The common thread of the 2023 edition was refrigeration for decarbonization.

During the symposium, in a session named: “European Project FRIENDSHIP: development of a solar thermal solution to meet the demand for industrial heat and cold”, Anouk Muller and Hai-trieu Phan from CEA presented the FRIENDSHIP Project. During the presentation, special attention was paid to the absorption chiller developed in the framework of FRIENDSHIP and several questions were arisen by the public.

Big thanks to our CEA partners who represented FRIENDSHIP at the symposium “Colloque du Pôle Cristal!
 

Highlights – RoLA-FLEX final webinar!

On the 27th of October, in the scope of the RoLA-FLEX project, the online webinar on Next-Generation of Flexible and Wearable Electronics was organised. 

Moderated by AMIRES, it was a successful morning (the webinar took place from 10 AM to 1 PM CET), with very fruitful discussions on the future of these next-gen technologies.  

The real added value of this webinar has been the presence of great speaking guests, who shared their experience and knowledge gained by many years of working in these fields and by the work developed in the RoLA-FLEX project. In the pictures below you can find the agenda with the presentation titles and a picture with all our guests. 

For more information here – Visit the official project website!

Keep posted regarding projects where AMIRES is involved in our news section :)

OITBs workshop sparks inspiration and collaboration

Back in June, AMIRES attended  a closed on-site “Workshop on the Future of Open Innovation Test Beds (OITB)”. The clustering event was held as a satellite event of EuroNanoForum 2023 in Lund, Sweden, organised in the framework of our OITB projects FlexFunction2Sustain and Convert2Green.

Under the slogan “It all begins with a conversation”, the workshop gathered representatives from various ecosystems to discuss crucial issues in the OITB projects’ implementation. In order to accommodate valuable discussions, the agenda was structured in three sessions covering: experiences from first generation OITBs, best practice of collaboration between OITBs, round table for addressing specific challenges. The event was also aimed at exploring future actions that can strengthen the community and ensure the long-term viability of the ecosystem.

A condensed overview of the presentations and discussions conducted during the workshop is now available and can be found here. The key moments are captured in a short video – here.

FlexFunction2Sustain Progress Meeting in Braga

On October 17-18, 2023, the FlexFunction2Sustain consortium got together for a Month 43 meeting, which was cordially hosted by the INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga (North of Portugal). The venue provided a valuable opportunity for the partners to meet in person and to spend quality time with each other by discussing the next steps of the project development and preparing for its final stretch.

Before the meeting start, the Board of Directors of ESNA (European Sustainable Nanotechnology solutions Association) took time to discuss the interaction with a Single Entry Point company that will commercialise the results created in the framework of the FlexFunction2Sustian Open innovation Test Bed as well as to identify the most suitable events where the association can be presented.

Besides numerous important discussions, the two days in Braga showed that we have been able to announce great progress with the project in the past months, including the results of the Use Cases. The hard work of our industrial partners came to a successful end, and they took the opportunity to present all their results in a nutshell. The final innovative prototypes of novel, eco-friendly plastic and paper products which were prepared within FlexFunction2Sustian project included: optical features on biodegradable film (sustainable biodegradable optical film for security and design – Hueck Folien), marine biodegradable shampoo sachets (Procter & Gamble), membrane based syringe filters for diagnostics and water filter applications (i3Membrane), Dashboard component with touch functionality (Centro Ricerche Fiat), fully recyclable drink pouches (Capri-Sun), high-barrier paper solution for food packaging (SONAE MC). The first day was rounded up with a lab tour at INL, which allowed the partners to explore their cutting-edge experimental research facilities.

The second day was focused on the project finalisation and discussion on the project’s timeframe. Furthermore, the partners dived into the details of the pilot case selected from the Open Call by checking where we stand with regard to their implementation. The operations of the Single Entry Point and investor relations were also topic of discussions. At this final stage, we are now strongly focused on the dissemination and communication activities, as well as in the development and promotion of the OITB pathway.

A huge Thank You goes to our partners from INL, the main force behind organising the Consortium Meeting and warm hospitality in Braga, as well as to all participants onsite for their contribution and support!

Discover more about FlexFunction2Sustain project and its main advancements HERE. Keep up to date by following ESNA (@ESNA_EU) on the social media channels LinkedIn, X and YouTube.
 

Revolutionizing Organ Transplants: THE ORGANTRANS

  • 6 countries
  • 8 Partners
  • 42 months of intensive work
  • 62 key deliverables
  • 6720 working hours

This is ORGANTRANS: Controlled Organoids transplantation as enabler for regenerative medicine translation.

Within the realms of the EU-funded ORGANTRANS project, experts have developed an alternative that can change the landscape of organ transplantation as we know it. This pioneering method harnesses the power of bioengineering, 3D bioprinting and stem cells to craft new liver tissue within laboratory conditions.

It is known, that liver diseases account for 1 million deaths worldwide every year. While liver transplantation is the most effective way to restore normal functions for various diseases acute Liver failure, inherited metabolic disease and chronic liver failure, less than 30 % of global transplantation needs are currently met.

The ORGANTRANS project potentially offers a lifeline to those in dire need. It covered the entire development cycle from cell source to tissue engineering. This innovative process revolves around utilizing a patient’s own healthy cells to cultivate new liver tissue in controlled laboratory settings The building blocks such as the spheroid sorting platform, bioink, 3D bioprinting, and the maturation platform were meticulously synchronized and integrated into one 3D liver tissue bioprinting platform, paving the way for the development of a functional liver construct.

Moreover, the ORGANTRANS project’s impact is not confined to liver transplantation alone, it has opened the door to innovative technologies that have the potential to revolutionize other organ systems and tissues within the field of regenerative medicine.

Watch a short video about the ORGANTRANS project and the incredible innovations achieved within this groundbreaking initiative.

Follow the project on organtrans.eu

Know more about the latest updates regarding AMIRES projects here!

eCAP meeting in Prague sets the scene for preclinical and clinical studies for innovative diagnostics of digestive disease

On 11-12 October, eCAP consortium partners were welcomed by ABIMI in Prague for a biannual project progress meeting. eCAP project is an Innovation Action from our health portfolio, developing a smart capsule with multiple sensors and integrated e-health platform for detecting biochemical and physiologic events associated with gastrointestinal disorders.

At month 18 of the 4-year project, a lot has been achieved since the consortium last met. To name a few:

  • The battery prototype developed by Integer is ready for eCAP capsule.
  • Tyndall National Institute and the Imagination Factory are finalising mechanical work in preparation of animal testing.
  • First iterations of the e-health platform have been developed by RDS.
  • Clinical study protocol has been drawn up by IHU.
  • Thorough training on regulatory matters has been conducted by EnteraSense and Betthera to maximise patient safety and accelerate eventual marketing approval process for the novel medical device.

The meeting was dedicated to working out a detailed plan for the major milestones upcoming in the project: animal testing, manufacturing the first batch of eCAP1 capsule and launching the first-in-human clinical trials in France in 2024. In addition, eCAP will undergo its first project review in January 2024, a task which ABIMI is happy to support the consortium with.
While the agenda was packed with important discussions, the partners found some time to enjoy the beauty of Prague and catch up informally. Nothing beats meeting in person – we were glad to have you!

MEET OUR TEAM: MARTINA NEŠVEROVÁ

We are very pleased to introduce our Programme Manager Martina, Martina even though she was on the parental leave she was actively contributing to the projects and as well as to the proposal writing. From September Martina is back on full time and we are happy to welcome her back!

Martina leads the Health and Biotechnology programme, she studied the University of Economics in Prague, Faculty of International Relations, major: International Trade in 2009 and her master’s degree at Touro College in New York, Graduate School of Business, major: International Finance in 2011. Martina has been developing her expertise with grant preparation and management since 2010. In the capacity of the Executive Assistant to the Dean at Touro College’s Graduate School of Education she, among other responsibilities, participated in preparation and management of two grants funded by the US Department of Education. As the Manager of International Projects and, subsequently, Member of the Board of Directors at AGEL Research a.s. she coordinated involvement of the AGEL Healthcare Group entities in international research consortia projects submitted for funding into Horizon 2020 competition. Martina also served as Director of Program Management and Chief Liaison for EU at IMPACT Leadership 21, a New York based global platform providing leadership solutions that drive change toward inclusive and sustainable economies. She was a representative to the United Nations.

Martina spends her free time with her family (a husband, a daughter and two stepchildren), taking trips and visiting larger family members and friends who are spread across the Czech Republic. Being raised on a farm in a small village, Martina maintains a micro garden nearby her Prague apartment and enjoys spending as much time outside of civilization as possible.

About her work she says: “I am enthusiastic to support the master minds of European research in shaping their break-through ideas into projects and bringing impacts for European patients and health systems. I also very much appreciate the friendly and cheerful atmosphere at AMIRES, and the company unlimited support to one’s development.”

Next-2Digits project kicked off in October!

We are happy to welcome to our portfolio a new Horizon Europe project: Next-2DigitsThe next generation of sensors and imagers enabled by 2D materials digital integration.

On 17th October 2023, our colleagues Roman and Marco travelled to Athens, Greece, to kick off the Horizon Europe project Next-2Digits, coordinated by the National Technical University of Athens.

With a consortium of 11 partners from 8 different countries, Next-2Digits aims to tackle the challenges associated with Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits (OEICs) and 2D materials.

Next-2Digits benefits from the presence of well-reputed academic, research and industrial teams, whose areas of work span from photonics, material science, application-based integration technologies and validation.

The proposed technology to integrate graphene into PICs, being one-step and free of chemical processing, will have significant advantages in terms of cost, material and energy saving, and reduced resulting waste.

Next-2Digits envisions to develop the first hybrid Graphene-based photodetectors (PDs) and modulators (MDs) which will be integrated into three device demonstrators:

1) A miniaturized LiDAR; for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

2) PIC greenhouse gas sensor; which will be installed in the premises of a biogas production company 

3) An on-chip polarization diversity receiver (PDR); which will be used for biomedical optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in a cardiovascular application

Want to know more about the project and its partners? Visit Next-2Digits website!

We are looking forward to this collaboration! Follow the project also on LinkedIn and Twitter to receive all the latest updates!

Visit AMIRES website if you are interested in more projects!

ECOBALLIFE started last September in San Sebastian!

On the 13th of September, ECOBALLIFE kick-off meeting was celebrated in San Sebastian. The event was organized and hosted by Tecnalia.

It is a new adventure for AMIRES – our first ever participation in an European Defence Fund.

We are glad to welcome in our AMI portfolio the ECOBALLIFE project – Research in Eco-Designed Ballistic Systems for Durable Lightweight Protections Against Current and New Threats in Platform and Personal Applications – which will identify, create and improve knowledge, new materials and technologies to ensure a high level of protection against a wide range of threats, reducing the risk of injury to soldiers.

Project partners under the leadership of Tecnalia met in San Sebastian to discuss first steps on how to reach the project objectives of finding new material concepts and technologies to create proof-of concepts of new personal and military platform protection solutions that can protect against new threats. 

In the picture below you can see the participants who were present during the kick-off meeting in San Sebastian.

Latest updates regarding AMIRES projects here!

AMIRES will be present at the European Quantum Technologies 2023 in Hannover, Germany

Next week, from October 16th to 20th, Hannover is about to get a dazzling dose of quantum magic. It’s all happening at the European Quantum Technologies Conference 2023, and trust us, we don’t want to miss it!AMIRES’ will be present to disseminate the QU-Test and QU-Pilot projects. The coordinators for QU-Test, Gabriele Bulgarini (TNO) and Qu-Pilot, Mika Prunilla (VTT) will make presentations at the event on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday, prepare for a feast of knowledge during the Plenary Session. We’ll be diving deep into “Shaping Europe’s Digital Future: Chips Act and Pilot Lines” and “QT User Take-up: Success Stories and Infrastructure Access.” Mika Prunila from VTT, along with some other incredible speakers, will be the guides.
And on Thursday at the Parallel Sessions, “Scientific Advances Across the Quantum Domains.” The first track will be about “Deployment of Quantum Technology: Pilot Lines, Test & Measurements, and Standardization Partners.”. QU-Test coordinator and partners will be there to share groundbreaking insights.

For fresh updates and in-depth information, we invite you to follow our project page on LinkedIn and Website.
Stay tuned to discover the outcomes of this event as we anticipate the exciting developments that will unfold.

We are eagerly looking forward to this remarkable gathering, and we can’t wait to engage with you at the forefront of quantum technology.

PANCAIM organises PANORAMA Study: Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis – Radiologists Meet AI!

In the context of PANCAIM project, coordinator Radboudumc is organising the first ever large-scale, international, multi-reader, multi-case study assessing and comparing radiologists and AI for pancreatic cancer diagnosis: 

PANORAMA: Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis – Radiologists Meet AI! 

PANORAMA is the world’s first international reader study and AI grand challenge for PDAC detection on CECT where radiologists and AI algorithms from across the globe will be assessed in a standardized, bias-free environment. With over 1500 patients involved, this cutting-edge, multi-center study is poised to redefine early pancreatic cancer detection! Its design is forged in collaboration with a scientific advisory board comprising 13 international experts in radiology, histopathology, surgery, and AI.

PANORAMA consists of two sub-studies:

  • An AI study where an annotated dataset representing clinical reality will be used by global AI development teams to develop AI models. Trained algorithms will be submitted to the GrandChallenge platform for evaluation. Submitted algorithms will be ranked based on their performance on a hidden testing cohort of 400 unseen scans.
  • A reader study which will include around 400 cases from multiple institutions that will be read by a panel of 40+ international readers with varying levels of expertise. 

Ultimately, PANORAMA aims to benchmark state-of-the-art AI algorithms developed in the grand challenge, against abdominal radiologists participating in the reader study to evaluate the clinical viability of modern pancreas-AI solutions at PDAC detection and diagnosis in CECT. 
To learn more, check out the article on the PANCAIM website!

If you are an abdominal radiologists handling contrast CT scans in your routine clinical practice and interested to join the PANORAMA reader study, please sign up using this form and be part of this journey to push the boundaries of early pancreatic cancer detection! 

WE ARE HIRING!

“Quantum Immortality…..The Joke That Never Dies”

Technologies that rely on quantum phenomena are all around us. If you would like to be a part of the Horizon Europe Quantum projects do not hesitate and BECOME ONE OF US!

We are friendly multicultural company with lovely offices (full of coffee and cookies) based in Prague 6. We cannot wait to welcome YOU on board, we can promise that you will meet new people, you will travel and you will be given space to learn and grown.

If you would like to know more about the position, read HERE.

Relive the Highlights of Switch2Save final workshop!

From the 20th of September to the 21st of September, Switch2Save celebrated the workshop on Smart & Efficient Building Envelopes: Lessons Learned & Future Prospects and the final meeting at Impact Hub Athens.

Thanks to National Technical University of Athens that hosted and organized the event. It was an opportunity for partners to present, to learn, to visit the windows installation and to participate in an interesting discussion about the next steps of the project. Also, the attendees had the opportunity to meet the brilliant students behind the award-winning “Smart Stores” project.

Moreover, the line-up was amazing! We had a very exciting presentations in two different sessions –  for the Switch2Save project and for the end-user perspective – where the expert speakers illuminate the path forward.

Below, you can see a group photo that summarize the two-days event. Also, you can watch here a short video summarizing what the event was about!

More AMIRES projects here!

Looking for partners to improve stroke care

AMIRES and University of Hradec Králové are looking for collaborators for the upcoming Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) call on improved prediction, detection, and treatment approaches for comprehensive stroke management – HORIZON-JU-IHI-2023-05-03.

University of Hradec Králové mHealth platform HealthReact enables patient-specific health interventions based on real-time data collection & evaluation and integration of vital data from a variety of sources, with great potential for application in stroke care.

Key features of the platform include:

  • Data Integration: seamless gathering of data from wearables, unobtrusive sensor pads, accelerometers for movement patterns, cognitive assessment tools, and heart rate variability monitoring via API, ensuring a comprehensive view of patient health.
  • Real-time Evaluation: real time data processing, enabling timely interventions and care adjustments based on patient-specific rules related to vital signs.
  • Dynamic Interaction: event-triggered prompts and feedback mechanisms for patients tailored to individual health metrics and trends, enhancing patient engagement.
  • Comprehensive Reporting: regular insights on patient health metrics, trends, and potential areas of concern, ensuring continuous remote monitoring and feedback for healthcare professionals.

Find out more about the technology and project ideas here and get in touch. 

We look forward to cooperating on Horizon Europe & other research and innovation projects!

AMIRES at theNext-Gen OoC and Organoid Workshop

Our colleague Kristin Aldag from the Health & Biotech programme recently represented AMIRES in the Next Generation Organ-On-Chip & Organoids Workshop in Zürich! 
 
Organised by AMIRES long-term partner CSEM, the event held on 24-25 August 2023 brought together a dynamic mix of pharma and biotech industry, startups and academic groups in the Organ-on-Chip (OoC) and organoid field and we were happy to be among them!

AMIRES is active in the OoC and organoid field mainly with our projects Tumor-LN-oC and Organtrans.

The event was a fantastic opportunity to discover future directions of the research and innovation in this area and build new collaborations for future endeavours. Excellent speakers presented their groundbreaking research and results using OoC and organoid technologies. Panel discussions addressed cutting-edge advancements in the field and explored ways to accelerate the translation of these advanced in-vitro models from the lab into real-world industry and clinical applications, e.g. in personalised medicine and drug development. We also had the pleasure to connect with our partners from Elveflow, who were represented at the conference with a booth exhibiting their state-of-the-art microfluidic instruments. 

Our key takeaways from the workshop include the fact that OoC technology is the emerging state of the art in biomedical research and will play a determine role in the future. The field has progressed immensely in last 20 years, however many challenges remain which hinder or slow down the adoption on a large, industrial scale. These include the questions of standardisation / harmonisation of the technology for enhanced cross-compatibility, questions of validation and model qualification as well as regulatory acceptance. As a result, OoC are currently used and developed mainly on a smaller, experimental scale for research applications and are not yet accepted as a gold standard in large-scale industrial applications (e.g. drug development), or in clinical applications (e.g. personalised medicine, regenerative medicine). Neverhteless, there is a big European innovation ecosystem with many SMEs and startups active in the field and developing novel solutions for biomedical research, which result in a lot of innovation activities, demonstrating the huge potential for revolutionising drug development, disease research and personalised medicine. 

More insights and conclusions from the conference were presented to AMIRES colleagues in the monthly AMILecture. 
 
A big thank you to the organizers for putting together such an insightful and impactful event and the chance to be a part of the discussions! It was a great opportunity to exchange ideas, grow our partner network and gain valuable insights that will undoubtedly contribute to ongoing and future projects at AMIRES. We are looking forward to applying the knowledge gained and continuing to drive innovation in the Organ-on-Chip and organoid field with our projects!

Takeaways from the AMI deep tech event “the PRAGUE NEXT-GEN TECHNOLOGY MEET-UP”

If you are curious about how the lab tour ended up by looking at our college Martina Chopart, stay calm, luckily, she did not hit the Laser Kill. And now you can find some of our insightful takeaways from the meet-up of lasers, photonics and much more.
Our next deep tech event – the PRAGUE NEXT-GEN TECHNOLOGY MEET-UP, organized by AMIRES, HiLase Centre and the “Brain4Industry”-European Digital Innovation Hub, took place on 20th September 2023 at HiLASE Centre in Dolní Břežany. The goal of this meet-up was to show opportunities and connect Czech SMEs with pilot lines’ coordinators from our portfolio projects while exploring the latest trends in photonics, micro-optics and 2D materials. With its list of speaker talents and great dinner, the meet-up fed our spirits and provided good, quality time with our friends in the industry.
A room was packed with people, especially SMEs in the field of #microoptics, #medtech #photonics #innovation, who showed up for presentations of #technology services and talks with inspirational speakers – even some that travelled from afar in order to join us.
Here are some insightful notes from speakers: 

  • PHABULOuS Pilot Line- there is still a possibility to sign up for their Open Call that may help you to move towards volume production of free-form micro-optical components.
  • PhotonHub provides a unique service by collating the broad training offerings in photonics from RTO’s, training centres and industry across Europe into a single online catalogue of the European Photonics Innovation Academy.
  • The 2D Experimental Pilot has launched its fourth multi-project wafer (MPW) run where universities, research institutes and companies can include their designs as dies on joint wafers. (Visit 2D-EPL multi-project wafer run 4 | Graphene Flagship)
  • MedPhab Pilot Line is the first EU Pilot line that supports photonics medical device development.
  • There are two projects in 2D materials- MatEl (PZT and Graphene MATerials innovations for advanced opto-Electronic applications in AR and biosensing) and Next-2Digits (The next generation of sensors and imagers enabled by 2D materials digital integration).

We also supported attendees with information on how Czech companies can take advantage of public funding by applying in open calls (if you still need some support contact us here).

Thanks to all the speakers and participants that joined us.
A special thanks to our speakers Ioanna Zergioti, from National Technical University of Athens:; Nathalie DEBAES, from Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Jan Hesse, from JOANNEUM RESEARCH;  Miika Soikkeli from VTT and Harry Heinzelmann, from CSEM; to our great moderator Roman Pašek and last but not least to Tomáš Mocek, Sanin Zulić, Jana De Merlier and  Martina Řeháková who supported us in organizing.

FRIENDSHIP public deliverable on Environmental Mitigation Potential is on air!

FRIENDSHIP last public deliverable on Environmental Mitigation Potential has been released.
In the deliverable, SINTEF assessed the integration and environmental mitigation potential of the solutions for solar heat integration in industrial processes developed in FRIENDSHIP.

The assessments are carried out on 4 facilities partnering in the project: Moosburg, Tarragona, Nettgau and Mangualde. The facilities are spread out both geographically, from the North to South of Europe, and industrially, from chemicals to wood processing. Therefore, the results reflect the potential of the FRIENDSHIP solutions in a variety of locations and for a range of resources and energy-intensive industries, allowing an extrapolation to industries outside the FRIENDSHIP consortium.

Based on the findings described in the report, SINTEF identified a set of general recommendations that are meant to identify facilities within resources and energy-intensive industries in Europe where the FRIENDSHIP solutions have high integration and environmental mitigation potentials.

Download the deliverable here!

It’s official: UK to associate to Horizon Europe

After multiple false dawns, London and Brussels have finally agreed a deal to allow the UK to rejoin. The UK will also join the Copernicus space programme, but is out of Euratom and the ITER fusion project.

The UK government and European Commission have have struck a deal to allow the country to associate to Horizon Europe after more than two and a half years of delay.

This morning they released a joint statement that will have UK and EU scientists breathing a sigh of relief after being stuck in limbo since 2021.

“The EU and UK are key strategic partners and allies, and today’s agreement proves that point,” said Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in a statement. “We will continue to be at the forefront of global science and research.”

The deal means that UK scientists will now be able to receive European Research Council grants and coordinate academic-industrial consortia in the Framework programme.

Up to now, they have been forced to rely on UK equivalent grants and funding instead of being seamlessly integrated into Horizon Europe.

While UK academics have still been able to join consortia under the industrially-focused Pillar 2 of the programme – the biggest part by value – uncertainty about the future meant that UK participation in the programme halved, raising fears that UK scientists were being forced out of European academic networks built up over decades.

UK-based ERC grant winners have faced an agonising choice over whether to move to the EU to keep their awards, or stay and settle for a UK equivalent scheme.

More information here!

Nearly €170 million to support novel technologies

The European Innovation Council (EIC) has selected the next set of proposals under the 2023 EIC Pathfinder Open call. 53 new projects will receive altogether up to €169.5 million and will develop cutting-edge technologies throughout a wide range of fields – health, artificial intelligence, computing, environment, and energy.

The successful applications were chosen among 783 evaluated submissions, with the highest number of selected applicants coming from France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Participants mostly come from higher education and research organisations, with SMEs accounting for around 18% of participants.

Selected proposals will receive not only grants, but will also have access to tailor-made coaching under the EIC Business Acceleration Services.

More information here!

Stay tuned for new updates regarding our projects!

FRIENDSHIP at the International Congress of Refrigeration 2023


The 26th International Congress of Refrigeration (ICR) took place in Paris from 21st to 25th August 2023 with around 1 000 participants.

Organized by the Association Française du Froid (AFF) and held every four years, this is the world’s largest gathering of scientists and professionals in the field of refrigeration and air conditioning. This year the selected theme was “Towards efficient, controlled and smart Refrigeration”; therefore, experts could present and disseminate their results of research, development, and innovation in this field.

In the technical paper session 49 “Sorption systems: equipments” , Hélène Demasles, Anouk Muller, and Hai Trieu Phan presented their paper entitled: “Development of NH3/H2O absorption chillers for negative cooling in industrial solar systems”, written in the framework of FRIENDSHIP.

During the presentation, the whole FRIENDSHIP solution was presented to the public, who was also encouraged to explore the e-learning videos created by INES PFE.

The paper focuses on the work carried out by the CEA-Liten team within Work Package 4, in particular the conception and manufacturing of the 10kW ammonia-water chiller prototype. After a technical highlight of the GAX architecture, the results obtained during the characterization test campaign were presented and discussed with peers.

PANCAIM realizes implementation of a novel AI algorithm for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer on CT

We’re pleased to share a significant advancement from the PANCAIM project – The first ever implementation of a PANCAIM AI algorithm for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer on CT!

In our pursuit of generating breakthrough knowledge to increase understanding of PDAC biology and patient stratification for pancreatic cancer by the seamless AI–powered integration of genomics, medical imaging and clinical data in order to optimize treatment strategies in a personalised medicine approach, PANCAIM has now reached an important moment.

Last year, Radboudumc developed and published an AI algorithm that has been demonstrated to detect PDAC cancers on CT images that can easily be overlooked even by experienced radiologists, At the project meeting in July, this algorithm was for the first time implemented via the teamplay digital health platform, a cloud platform owned by project partner Siemens Healthineers, on a real, new pancreatic cancer case at the Karolinska Institutet.

Read our full press release here!

With the novel secure and privacy-preserving edge computing approach of Teamplay, which is already in use at thousands of hospitals worldwide, the sensitive data of cancer patients stays within the hospital, paving the way towards widespread validation of the PANCAIM AI-algorithms in clinical routine settings. After 2.5 years of collaboration in PANCAIM, this first real application is a significant milestone for the project and pancreatic cancer research as a whole!       

As we celebrate this technical milestone, we’d like to thank our partners for their excellent  collaboration, expertise, and a commitment to advancing pancreatic cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The project will now focus on upscaling developed unimodal AI algorithms, drive forward the development of multimodal AI models and start the clinical validation process required in order to implement these algorithms routinely in the clinical workflow to offer AI-based decision-making support to clinicians in diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.

MEET OUR TEAM: MATHIAS LEANDRO FERNANDEZ

Meet Mathias Leandro Fernandez, a 23-year-old visionary hailing from San Juan, Argentina. With a multilingual edge in Spanish, English, and Italian, Mathias embarked on a journey in Industrial Engineering at UNSJ, Argentina, before advancing to Industrial Organization Engineering at the University of Málaga, Spain.

Driven by a lifelong interest in emotional intelligence and self-growth, Mathias transformed into a Life Coach after training at the Leadership Training School, Buenos Aires, in 2022.

Mathias’s thirst for knowledge extends to project management, innovation, and entrepreneurship, culminating in his recognition during the Flash Session Hackathon 4 by UMA Link in May 2023. Awarded a scholarship, he excelled at the European Innovation Academy 2023 in Porto, Portugal, contributing as Chief Product Officer for HOTTBOXX. This startup optimizes delivery driver routes, elevating service quality.

Mathias Rodriguez embodies youthful vigor, innovation, and a commitment to personal and collective progress. His journey is an inspiring testament to continuous learning and making a positive impact.

Beyond his achievements, Mathias enjoys sports, travel, and channeling positivism towards animal welfare.

In AMIRES, Mathias will be working as an Intern involved in different tasks helping our team. Thanks to IAESTE Czech Republic every year we open a door to an intern who spends with us 2 months, this year we are pleased to welcome Mathias for our new internship.

Policy report on Open Innovation Test Beds

In July 2023, the European Commission published a policy report “Open Innovation Test Beds for Advanced Materials: Examples and lessons learnt from one type of Technology Infrastructure”. The document contains recommendations that aim to improve the visibility, functionality, efficiency, and sustainability of the test bed model, and to help establish an interconnected innovation ecosystem that will make this instrument crucial in the support of the European Green Deal and the Twin Transition. In AMIRES portfolio, there are three OITB projects OASIS, FlexFunction2Sustain (funded under Horizon 2020) and Convert2Green (funded under Horizon Europe) and the experience of the first two is taken into consideration in the report.

Under Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 the Commission invested €319 million in supporting Open Innovation Test Beds. OITBs address the challenges of the industrial transformation by providing support to the scale-up and diffusion of technologies. The core services provided by OITBs are to develop, test and upscale technology to advance from validation in a laboratory to higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) prior to competitive market entry.

OITBs potential users are mainly industrial players, especially SMEs, which seek support to develop and integrate innovative technologies towards commercialisation of new products, processes and services, whilst ensuring feasibility and regulatory compliance. More information can be found in the Explanatory Note on OITBs.

Read the full report here: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/0aaf1e05-2082-11ee-94cb-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

EC adopts new guidelines: Building a Climate-Resilient Future

New guidelines to help EU countries update their climate adaptation strategies.

The European Commission today adopted a new set of guidelines to assist Member States in updating and implementing comprehensive national adaptation strategies, plans and policies, in line with the European Climate Law and the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change.

From extreme heatwaves and devastating droughts, to deadly forest fires and rising sea levels eroding coastlines, the inevitable impacts of unchecked climate change are well known and starting to manifest themselves. The latest findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report underlined the urgency to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Today’s guidelines aim to help Member States upgrade their preparations for this emerging reality of rapidly intensifying impacts.

Read the original article here.

Read news related to AMIRES projects on our website!

Commission proposes 10 new industrial Horizon Europe partnerships

Policymakers will have to decide whether to back partnerships in new sectors, including brain health, forestry, solar photovoltaics and raw materials.

The plan for the next Horizon Europe partnerships that are due to start from 2025 is finally on the table, with the European Commission proposing ten new programmes that will pool public and private funding.

These will cover topics including brain health, cultural heritage, solar power, and textiles, adding to the current portfolio of 49 joint research programmes.

If approved by policymakers, these partnerships will be part of the strategic plan for Horizon Europe from 2025-2027, the final three years of the current €95.5 billion research and innovation programme.

Research partnerships that combine private and public money have been part of the EU’s research frameworks for the last three decades. They are intended to boost industries that need a leg up to advance innovation. In more recent years, they have been looked to as a tool to advance EU policy and geopolitical goals in areas such as the green and digital transitions.

The entire article here

More information regarding to AMIRES projects in our website!

FRIENDSHIP passed the second review!

On 3rd and 4th July 2023, FRIENDSHIP consortium met online to discuss the project advancement in the second reporting period and to have the 2nd Review meeting.

On the first meeting day, the M36 meeting took place and the partners concentrated on the progress of the running Work Packages, their highlights, results, and challenges. In the end, the consortium members reached a clear vision of the directions to take and on the objectives to accomplish in the next 12 months.

During the second day, the Review meeting was held, and the discussion focused on past deviations, future timeline and expected results. As for the 1st Review meeting, the Project Officer, Charles André Lemarie, also joined the meeting and provided valuable feedback on the behalf of the The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

The project is reaching the validation phase; therefore, several publications are expected in the upcoming months.

LASER World of PHOTONICS is over and it was an incredible festival of photonics

The fair trade featured a combination of research and technology trends that are shaping applications and end markets. We loved seeing the offering and impact of projects in which AMIRES partners, namely 3 pilot lines lowering access barrier for innovative European business in three domains:

JePPIX: Open access pilot line for manufacturing of InP-based photonic integrated circuits.

Phabulous: Highly advanced & robust manufacturing technology for optical free-form micro-structure.

MedPhab: Manufacturing of diagnostic devices and instruments for treatment based on photonics.

Part of the trade show was for the second time also event on quantum technology where Quantum Flagship presented a portfolio of projects, including QU-TEST & QU-PILOT, recently launched projects which will support open testing, experimentation and pilot production capabilities for quantum technologies.

Moreover, automatica event on smart automation and robotics took place in parallel with LASER World of PHOTONICS for the first time. In their start-up competition, we could spot Meep, who presented themselves with their doctor-at-home device based on silicon photonics chip technology. A great example of innovative solution supported by PhotonHub and MedPhab ecosystems!

Finally, this event also marked 20th anniversary of EPIC – EUROPEAN PHOTONICS INDUSTRY CONSORTIUM and we wish them many more years of supporting partnerships in photonics industry!

Nanotechnology for a sustainable future

On June 28th, 2023, a workshop on Sustainable Functionalised Nanomaterials was warmly hosted by AMIRES in the beautiful city of Prague, Czech Republic. Organised in the frame of the EU-funded project – Convert2Green and FlexFunction2Sustain, the event brought together a variety of renowned experts, researchers, and industry leaders who delved into the latest advancements and practical applications of nanotechnology in creating a sustainable future.
 
In today’s rapidly evolving world, where the need for sustainable solutions has become paramount, the field of nanotechnology stands at the forefront of innovation. Nanomaterials, with their unique properties and versatile nature, hold tremendous potential to revolutionize various industries and address pressing global challenges, said Vaclav Smitka, CTO at AMIRES for opening the event and introducing the importance of the workshop’s topic.
 
The special guest in the opening session, Petr Očko, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade and CEO of CzechInvest, presented the current status of the Innovation Ecosystem in the Czech Republic. He enlightened the audience with valuable insights on the ongoing activities of the business and investment development agency CzechInvest by specifying the role of the Technology Incubation project designed to support innovative small and medium-sized companies and start-ups.
 
Structured into four thematic sessions, the agenda was comprehensively covering the whole value chain. The talks in session Sustainable design and manufacturing proved that the latest advancements in sustainable nano-functionalized materials is a pioneering field that promises to revolutionize the industry and combat pressing environmental challenges. For illustrating the end-of-life options for bio-based plastics, strategies to minimize waste generation, maximize resource efficiency, and promote responsible disposal or recycling were presented. Moreover, a dedicated session on sustainable materials in applications aimed at exploring how innovative materials can drive positive change in various industries. The speakers highlighted concrete industrial applications utilizing sustainable materials and technologies, including examples of best practices of environment-friendly solutions in various areas of application (sustainable packaging, reprocessing, smart textiles, smart therapies, healthcare).
 
Lastly, the concept and objectives of Open Innovation Test Beds Convert2Green and FlexFunction2Sustain were presented and showcased their significance in fostering sustainable materials development and manufacturing.  During the panel discussion, the participants discussed how to move from project ideation and available funding streams to a successful cooperation and to involve more SMEs.
 
With a wealth of expertise and knowledge-sharing, the workshop provided the ideal platform for exploration of sustainable functionalized nanomaterials. Many opportunities exist at the value chain level, opening new avenues for innovation regarding nano and biomaterials that increase sustainability. The event served as an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences to enrich the community and stimulate the establishment of interdisciplinary collaborations.
 
If you missed the workshop and you would like to learn more, the presentations can be downloaded HERE.

MedPhab 3.5 years of successfully accelerating innovation in photonics-based medical devices

Cork, Ireland was the location in where MedPhab partners gathered for their M42 meeting on June 14 and 15, 2023. The host Tyndall Institute made sure their guests were comfortable to discuss the progress of the pilot line in the last six months.

The Consortium, led by Prof. Jussi Hiltunen and supported by the management of ABIMI, is in a good position on the progress of the project’s objectives after successfully passing the review meeting with the European Commission and reviewers few months back. The use-cases, that validate technology maturity of MedPhab partners, are close to finish, however still challenges are ahead on the last steps of this process. The open call for the external demo cases finalized in April 2023, and 8 cases were selected in the last cut-off to start implementation in July 2023. For this reason, the Consortium will propose extending the project duration and formally requesting approval from the European Commission. Special attention was given in the discussions about the MedPhab non-profit association as the continuity and sustainable model for MedPhb project, led by Christina Liedert, the Executive Director. In addition, the efforts of the dissemination and marketing were acknowledged and encouraged to continue in the upcoming events, such as COMPAMED MEDICA in Düsseldorf in November this year.

Do not miss to follow this successful story on the medphab.eu and medphab.com websites and their social media channels!

PANCAIM M30 Meeting in Stockholm: Promising progress on datasharing and AI development

From 8-9 June, we participated in the PANCAIM M30 meeting hosted by Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm!

Project partners presented their respective work packages and activities over the past six months. AMIRES is participating in PANCAIM as partner for project management and dissemination and is actively engaged in consortium coordination, taking an active role in organising the meeting and preparing materials, moderating discussions around data sharing and strategic questions in the project such as its sustainability exploitation.  

Partners gave a status overview of the transfer of multimodal data to the common data repository which is up and running, and data transfer of radiology and pathology imaging, clinical records, and genomics data has progressed significantly in recent weeks. 

AI developers in the consortium shared updates on the development of unimodal and multimodal AI algorithms: There have been good advancements in developing unimodal AI algorithms with the potential to contribute to early detection and accurate diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and a better understanding of the disease. Additionally, first steps have been made in the development of multimodal AI algorithms that will enhance diagnostic accuracy, and survival predictions and offer personalized treatment recommendations for pancreatic cancer patients.

In addition, we have started to discuss the validation of the developed algorithms and their clinical deployment. Rigorous validation of AI algorithms is considered a top priority of all partners and absolutely crucial before deploying them in real-world clinical settings. Therefore, we are starting to discuss the validation with previously unseen data to assess the accuracy of developed models to estimate the prognosis of individual patients at diagnosis, to predict treatment response and to evaluate treatment, in order to ensure that developed models achieve the highest levels of effectiveness, precision, and reliability. The most promising AI algorithms developed in the project, which have demonstrated their capability to predict clinically relevant outcomes, will then be integrated within an established healthcare platform and further validated in an environment that resembles a routine clinical application as closely as possible.

Many active discussions took place at the meeting, both during the sessions as well as informally over lunch and coffee breaks. For instance, we started discussing and trying to identify solutions that will support the continued growth and impact of our research and activities, and therefore ensure the long-term sustainability of the PANCAIM project and its results. We are also exploring possible ways for the inclusion of additional data sources to our repository and sharing access to gathered data to researchers to be used for further investigations.

Lots of work remained to be done in the project, but we are happy about the progress and proud to be steadily moving towards our objective of providing unique new digital tools for pancreatic cancer clinicians and patients. For more about the project, please visit https://pancaim.eu/ 

Thanks to our hard-working partners for the productive meeting and the good collaboration in this demanding project – we are already looking forward to the next meeting which will take place here in Prague!

ORGANTRANS M42 and review meetings in Prague!

Exciting Developments in EU-Funded ORGANTRANS project: M42 and review meetings in Prague!

We are thrilled to share the remarkable progress made during the final ORGANTRANS project M42 and review meetings that were hosted by AMIRES in Prague, Czech Republic on 30-31 May. The meeting aimed to present the consortium’s results and discussing plans for the exploitation and continuation of the groundbreaking technology developed under the project. The consortium members also addressed vital regulatory considerations that facilitates the swift integration of these advancements into clinical practice. Additionally, representatives of the European Commission were present to review the progress made by the project and provide valuable feedback.

The ORGANTRANS project aimed to revolutionize organ transplantation by leveraging the power of stem cells, bioengineering and 3D bioprinting. The platform developed within the project is a future alternative for organ transplantation medicine as it proposes a disruptive alternative to donor organs for patients with chronic end-stage liver diseases. The innovative approach involves utilizing a patient’s own healthy cells to generate new liver tissue in laboratory conditions using a cutting-edge liver tissue bioprinting platform. Additionally, this research created novel technologies that can be applied to other organ systems and tissues in the field of regenerative medicine.

Thus, the story goes on, see us soon!

Follow us on the project website!

More AMIRES news here!

AMIRES at Sustainable Places Conference 2023!

Last week (14-16 June 2023) AMIRES was at Sustainable Places Conference 2023!

This year more than 250 people gathered in Madrid to present their Horizon projects, discuss their findings and network with each other.

AMIRES was there to represent our energy projects ComBioTES, Condor, FRIENDSHIP and Switch2Save.

ComBioTES joined the workshop: “Low-TRL Renewable Energy Technologies” for the second year in a row. Although the discussion was brief, ComBioTES got many hints for improvements and several points of reflection.

FRIENDSHIP took part in the workshop: “Renewable Heating and Cooling Solutions for Buildings and Industry: 4th Edition“, where H2020 EU-funded projects experts from the biomass, geothermal, solar thermal, waste heat recovery, and heat pump sectors discussed a common strategy and next steps forward.

Switch2Save was presented in the workshop: “50 Shades of Industrial Deep Energy Retrofit”, where the speakers shared their feedback and lessons learned to empower the next phase of housing retrofit policies.

Finally, FRIENDSHIP, in cooperation with ASTEP, organized and moderated a workshop dedicated to “Solar Energy in Industrial Processes: How to Meet the Expectations of the European Commission”. The presentation of the projects was followed by a panel discussion about the main challenges and solutions for the broad implementation of SHIP systems in Europe.

As always, Sustainable Places was a great way to enhance projects` visibility and to find new opportunities of networking and potential future collaborations.

AMIRES and CSEM gladly organised the 3rd Regenerative Medicine workshop

On 1st June, 2023, in the frame of the OrganTrans EU-funded project, bringing together researchers, SMEs and clinicians in the field, who exchange their perspectives regarding the opportunities and challenges in Regenerative Medicine. The speakers had the opportunity to network a day before during the dinner and enjoy an excellent traditional venue at Café Imperial.  

Structured around a keynote lecture, and sessions focusing on clinical needs, and enabling technologies presentations, the workshop was the perfect opportunity to exchange on future technology solutions, network, and start new collaborations with information about enabling the funding of the research in this field. 

During the keynote speech, renowned clinician and researcher Prof. Jan Belohlavek from the General University Hospital in Prague, explained the current status in the clinics and research of refractory Cardiac Arrest, extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR), reperfusion (ECMO), microcirculation, and different ECMO settings. He enlightened the audience with a summary of the opportunities of new methods that may help patients to survive prolonged cardiac arrest and how more research is needed for the complete regeneration of essential organs, such as the heart. 

Four EU-funded projects (AMELIE, PREMSTEM, JOINTPromise and Organtrans) were represented at the event. All of them are funded by the European Union under the same Horizon2020 topic call titled SC1-BHC-07-2019 – Regenerative medicine: from new insights to new applications. The workshop provided an invaluable platform for representatives from these projects, to interact, network, and exchange their experiences and challenges faced in their respective fields of research. Representatives presented how the research and development process for complex solutions on RegMed which have potential to reach the clinics for diverse diseases and conditions, e.g. muscle, bone, liver, brain. All these solutions require work, time and funds to provide evidence of their effectiveness, from the proof of concept through preclinical studies and clinical trials. 

The next block of the event consisted of three presentations on different aspects of clinical needs in Regenerative Medicine, starting with the Czech company, BIOINOVA who is involved in clinical trials for the validation of their cell therapy products. Daniel Scherman, founder of the “Paris Centre of Pharmaceutical Research” at the Paris Pharmacy Faculty in France , presented the potentials of molecular methodologies for cell engineering and provide alternatives to cell therapies modifications using non-viral methods but plasmid-based modifications. SME Betthera presented how it is essential to consider health economics and regulatory aspects from the early stages of development of Regenerative Medicine solutions, and how they could help if they are medical devices, new therapies or ATMPs (Advanced therapy medicinal products). 

Lastly, three SMEs and one research centre, HEALIVA, PHOSPRINT, CELLAION and CSEM, presented us their groundbreaking work on the field as technology enablers. From cell therapies for wound healing, to laser bioprinting, liver therapy solutions, lab automation and AI, biomonitoring and technology transfer to industry. 

The Q&A session and the networking breaks allowed a fruitful exchange between the speakers and the audience, as a result of the diverse points of views of the participants, positioned in different places of the value chain. Thanks to our inspiring speakers for coming to Prague and sharing your thought-provoking presentations, which facilitated insightful discussions! We also thank our wonderful audience for your engagement with the speakers on this challenging field. 

We were glad to see so much interaction during the coffee breaks and hope that the event will inspire new collaborations and partnerships! 

Read the final report here. 

More information about AMIRES projects in our website!

AMIRES had the pleasure to attend EuroNanoForum2023

EuroNanoForum 2023: transitions from academic research to industrial applications  

From 11 until 13 June, AMIRES team had the pleasure to attend EuroNanoForum 2023 and to become part of the major European conference on nanotechnologies and advanced materials. Following the tradition to be held every other year in the country currently holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the 2023 edition of EuroNanoForum took place in Lund, Sweden.

Organised in the premises of Lund University, one of Scandinavia’s oldest and largest institutions for education and research, the event provided an open forum for representatives from industry experts, academics, policymakers, and other stakeholders to discuss the latest developments in nanotechnology. The program boasted an exciting mix of sessions with insightful discussions on the materials for fossil-free energy production, energy storage and energy efficiency, novel applications for 2D materials, quantum technologies.

The event put a focus the ‘safe and sustainable by design’ concept, highlighting the need to take it into consideration from the very start and showed how it builds on experience acquired from work on nanomaterials. During the panel discussions on European Infrastructures, the participants presented their view on innovations and industrial applications by identifying the key aspects and collaborative models for reaching success.

Deep Tech & ENESUS teams were lucky to take part in the event and to contribute by sharing the impactful outcomes from their work. Several projects from our portfolio related to both nanotechnologies and advanced materials were presented on AMIRES booth in the exhibition area or showcased as good examples during various presenters’ talks. The projects  RoLA-FLEX, MatEl, Qu-Test and Qu-Pilot, FlexFunction2Sustain were presented by posters during a separate session when the visitors had the possibility to interact with the authors. As always, it was a great pleasure to meet partners from our projects and long-term clients as well as to pave the way to new collaborations.

In addition to that, our colleagues participated in a closed on-site Workshop on the Future of Open Innovation Test Beds, organized as a satellite event on 14 June in the framework of Convert2Green and FlexFunction2Sustain projects. Under the slogan “It all begins with a conversation”, the workshop got together representatives from various ecosystems in order to discuss crucial issues that are unfolding during the OITB projects’ implementation. Lots of positive examples from completed OITB projects and best practices in terms of the collaborations between the ecosystems were shared.

During the round table discussion, specific challenges related to the standardization activities and IP management in OITBs were addressed and all participants agreed on the importance of those activities. All OITBs brainstormed on the future actions that can strengthen the community and how to ensure the long-term viability of the OITB ecosystem. During the discussion, it was clear that system sustainability can only be ensured if OITBs cooperate in a regular way with the central aim of addressing industry needs by promoting a broad and consolidated access to physical facilities, capabilities and services across Europe.

More information about our participation in new events here!

MEET OUR TEAM: MARTINA CHOPART

Soon it will be 2 years since Martina joined AMIRES as Project Manager. She started in the Deep Tech team, however, her passion for the environment attracted her strongly enough that she moved this month to the Energy & Sustainability team where she will take care of project Convert2Green (Converting Facilities Network for accelerating uptake of climate-neutral materials in innovative products).

Martina graduated from the Bachelor’s program in Translation and Interpreting at the Charles University of Prague and she continued her studies at the University of Valencia, following the Master in European Studies program at the Faculty of Law. In 2019, she obtained a Master of Science degree in International Development from the University of Manchester, focusing her research on the impacts of fossil fuels extraction in South America.

She gained her first professional experience at Chameleon Events Ltd., where she organized international conferences in the Energy sector. After returning to Prague, she worked for the Investment and Business Development Agency under the Ministry of Trade, supporting strategic investment projects from the EcoTech and HealthTech sectors in establishing themselves in the Czech Republic.

About her job Martina says: It brings a lot of opportunities to learn, travel and meet interesting people, and of course, great colleagues are the best part.

In her free time she loves going to the gym, traveling, reading and petting animals

Moreover, In AMIRES, Martina is involved in H2020 projects NanoQI (Multimodal X-ray and Hyperspectral Thin-Film Nano-material Evaluation and Quality Imaging), and TINKER (Fabrication Of Sensor Packages Enabled by Additive Manufacturing).

Clustering four cutting-edge projects!

During our Regenerative Medicine Workshop in Prague, Czech Republic, on June 1, 2023, we had the privilege of clustering four cutting-edge projects (ORGANTRANS, AMELIE, PREMSTEM, JOINT Promise).

All of them are funded by the European Union under the same Horizon2020 topic call titled SC1-BHC-07-2019 – Regenerative medicine: from new insights to new applications.

The workshop provided an invaluable platform for representatives from these projects, coming from four different countries (Switzerland, England, France, Belgium) to interact, network, and exchange their experiences and challenges faced in their respective fields of research. Through engaging discussions during the session and in the networking spaces, they explored innovative solutions and fostered collaborations to overcome obstacles and drive advancements in regenerative medicine.

Gilles Weder (CSEM, Switzerland) presented the groundbreaking #ORGANTRANS project that  addresses the growing need for liver transplants, which are the only effective treatment for various liver diseases, causing 2 million deaths annually worldwide. To date, only 10% of transplantation needs are  met. Targeting chronic end-stage liver diseases and residual healthy tissues, ORGANTRANS combines autonomous self-assembly with biomimicry. The project relies on organoid technologies as building blocks, complemented by bioprinting for the recreation of the architecture of the tissue for vascularisation. Additionally, this research created novel technologies that can be applied to other organ systems and tissues in the field of regenerative medicine.

Chara Simitzi  (University College London, England) unveiled the remarkable AMELIE project, which targets obstetric sphincter injuries that occur in 5.5% of postpartum women, and the current surgical management is not appropriate for all patients. AMELIE is developing a novel tissue engineered product consisting of autologous skeletal muscle cells attached to microspheres for the treatment of obstetric trauma induced incontinence.

Cindy Bokobza  (INSERM, France) shed light on the PREMSTEM project, which focuses on regenerative #stemcelltherapy for repairing  #braindamage caused by #prematurebirth, that might affect to the 15 million babies that are delivered prematurely every year. PREMSTEM project evaluates human mesenchymal stem cells to repair the preterm brain. In addition to migration capacity and regenerative properties, mesenchymal stem cells are immunosuppressive, anti-inflammatory and enable relatively simple and minimally invasive access via the umbilical cord.

Isaak Decoene (KULeuven, Belgium) took the audience on a journey through the @JOINT Promise project, unveiling the fascinating world of complex #jointimplants that enables regeneration within the body and holds great promise for individuals seeking relief from #joint-related ailments. There is no joint defect treatment leading to permanent regeneration for the time being. The project is setting up an end-to-end automation platform for the manufacture of complex organoid-based implants.

Four perspectives, with four outstanding developments that try to solve four different clinical needs: chronic liver disease, sphincter muscle disfunction, brain damage in neonates and joint-related diseases. These solutions will benefit from newborns, postpartum women, to the people that suffer joint issues or liver disease. These projects are solutions for treating and managing disease and disability, improving the European Commission objective of the SOCIETAL CHALLENGES in Health, demographic change and well-being.

Commission puts forward €13.6B research budget for 2024, with €12.8B for Horizon Europe

The European Commission wants the EU to spend a total €13.6 billion on research and innovation next year, with €12.8 billion going to Horizon Europe. That is €400M more for the research programme than 2023, but in the face of rampant inflation the European Parliament doesn’t see this as a major increase.

Under the Commission’s proposal for the 2024 EU budget, in addition to €12.8 billion for Horizon Europe, a further €800 million for research would come from other programmes, such as €281 million for the Euratom nuclear research programme.

The largest chunk of the Horizon Europe money, €6.4 billion, will go to collaborative projects under pillar II. Funding for fundamental research amounts to €3.4 billion, of which €2.1 billion is to be distributed through European Research Council grants. The innovation pillar gets €1.66 billion, including €1.1 billion for the European Innovation Council.

All parts of the EU’s research and innovation landscape would get more money – if not more spending power – apart from ITER, the magnetic fusion device under construction in France. The project will see a €250 million cut to €556 million, “due to a slowdown of the budget implementation.” Of this, €50 million will be transferred to energy initiatives in the EU infrastructure programme, the Connecting Europe Facility.

Inflation is combining with challenges ranging from ushering in a net-zero future, to cushioning the blows from Russia’s war in Ukraine, leaving MEPs with the sense that the €189.3 billion overall budget for 2024 put forward by budget commissioner Johannes Hahn, cannot sustain the union’s ambitions.

The budget has also been hit by an increase in interest rates, with Hahn telling MEPS the cost of borrowing “almost doubled from the amount initially forecast for 2024.” This is a new type of budgetary headache for the EU, which only began borrowing in its own right two years ago, before rising inflation led the European Central Bank to increase interest rates. Based on 2020 numbers financing costs for 2024 were expected to be €2.1 billion. The latest forecast is €4 billion.   

The European Parliament has been calling on the Commission to revamp the budget to ensure it is fit to deliver on policy promises. The Commission may deliver – a review of the long-term EU budget is scheduled for 20 June. While it’s unclear whether it could spell major changes, MEPs hope for the review to shake up what they see as an unsatisfactory proposal.

“For us, this is a decoy budget for next year, because the actual budget is going to come later on, in a couple of weeks,” said centre-left MEP Victor Negrescu in a discussion at the Parliament’s budget committee. “We want to see not only a review but an actual improvement that would allow us to meet people’s expectations.”

The Commission’s doesn’t see it this way. Hahn insisted the review and the 2024 proposal are separate matters. But Jan Olbrycht, chair of the budget committee, said the review and next year’s budget are “more or less two sides of the same coin.”

The member states and the Parliament will now start working on their respective positions on the budget before they convene to negotiate the final numbers in late October. But the Commission’s review of the long-term budget may shake up the budget talks and will be weighed in the negotiations.

To read the full article, take a look here!

For news related to AMIRES projects, click here!

European Green Deal: EU Modernisation Fund invests €2.4 billion to accelerate the green transition in seven EU countries 

Today, the European Union’s Modernisation Fund has disbursed €2.4 billion to 31 projects in seven beneficiary countries to help modernise their energy systems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in energy, industry and transport, and improve energy efficiency. It is the joint largest disbursement to date and will provide a boost to Europe’s green transition. These investments help those Member States to reduce dependency on Russian fossil fuels, meet their 2030 climate and energy targets, and contribute to the EU’s long-term commitment to reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

Thanks to revenues from the European Emissions Trading System, additional investments were made in Romania (€1.1 billion), Czechia (€1 billion), Bulgaria (€197 million), Poland (€47 million), Croatia (€88 million), Latvia (€5 million) and Lithuania (€1 million). The amounts disbursed today bring total disbursements from the Modernisation Fund since January 2021 to around €7.5 billion, benefitting 10 eligible Member States. The projects supported today focus on renewable electricity generation, modernisation of energy networks and energy efficiency.

Examples of proposals that have received funding today include:

  • modernisation of the electricity distribution grid in Bulgaria to accelerate the electrification of transport, storage deployment, and the decarbonisation and decentralisation of energy consumption and production;
  • deploying photovoltaic and energy storage capacity for public water service providers in Croatia;
  • improving energy efficiency and energy savings in new buildings for the public sector through the ENERGov Programme in Czechia; 
  • introduction of electric vehicles and corresponding charging infrastructure in Latvia;
  • renovation of multi-apartment buildings in Lithuania;
  • supporting cogeneration for district heating in Poland;
  • new renewable electricity production capacities,  district heating, and gas infrastructure to replace coal-powered energy in Romania.

The next deadline for beneficiary Member States to submit investment proposals for potential support by the Modernisation Fund is 15 August 2023 for non-priority proposals , and 12 September 2023  for priority proposals.

More information here!

For news related to AMIRES projects, click here!

Launch of ESNA – hybrid alliance for open innovations!

FlexFunction2Sustain – Open Innovation Ecosystem for Sustainable Nano-functionalized Flexible Plastic and Paper Surfaces and Membranes – reached a big milestone with the establishment of its independent European Sustainable Nanotechnology solutions Association (ESNA).
 
The thematic focus of ESNA is the surface modification of plastic and paper surfaces and membranes with nanotechnologies for sustainable and/or smart innovative products. By interconnecting various players, the association creates a framework for efficient collaboration on technical and business level by providing easy, fast-track access to the facilities and services to SMEs, start-ups and industry.

Read the Press Release HERE!

CONDOR Progress Meeting in Paris

On May 22-23, the CONDOR consortium met for a project meeting to share updates and align on next steps for building up a modular device for solar-driven production of energy. The all-round enjoyable visit was cordially hosted by ENGIE LAB CRIGEN at their premises in Stains, Paris. Those partners who could not make it in person were able to connect digitally so that discussions with the entire consortium could take place.

The two-days concise but vivid meeting gave the partners the possibility to get an overview of the current status of the development process of CONDOR technology. Being at Month 31, it was crucial at this point to review the specific research activities performed for both device compartments and to discuss how the outcomes can be integrated. In the coming 6 months, the partners will work on the design and assembly of CONDOR prototype. In this regard, a draft of the P&ID integrated system was presented together with an outlook for the planned activities. Moreover, the consortium discussed the device validation in the testing site, which will be on the rooftop terrace of CNR-ISOF in Bologna, Italy.

In line with the discussion hold, the partners visited the laboratory of ENGIE Lab CRIGEN. Being known for its experience in the energy transition, devoted to green gases (hydrogen, biogas and liquefied gases), new energy uses and emerging technologies, the host showed the outcomes of various collaborations. In addition to that, they presented their work for CONDOR project related the photoelectrochemical cell system for the production of syngas by co(photo)electrolysis of CO2 and H2O.

A big thank you to ENGIE Lab CRIGEN for hosting the meeting, and thanks to all our partners for joining  in Paris and online for many discussions and important decisions!

Find out more about CONDOR on project website https://condor-h2020.eu/ and follow their social media channels LinkedIn and Twitter to get the latest updates.   

eCAP consortium makes strides towards improved diagnostics of reflux disease

On 18-19 April 2023, the first annual progress meeting for eCAP project took place in Strasbourg, France, hosted by the project coordinator – Institute of Image-Guided Surgery of Strasbourg. The consortium devoted the two days to taking stock of the progress made in the first year of the project and fleshing out the work plan going forward. eCAP ambition is to develop a novel medical device combining a smart capsule with an e-health platform to enable enhanced diagnostics and patient empowered disease management for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Therefore, leading to improved clinical outcomes for patients suffering from gastrointestinal disorders across the globe.

In the first year of the project, the consortium focused on the mechanical design of the device, steered by Tyndall National Institute. The collaborative efforts are yielding promising results: the Imagination Factory, Tyndall National Institute and EnteraSense have designed and fabricated the first iteration of the capsule and implantation device. Meanwhile, Sentron has developed a novel flow detection method for diagnosing GERD and Integer is working on maximising the battery life of the capsule to ensure longer and more accurate patient monitoring. Meanwhile, the e-health workstream of the consortium has been further strengthened by the addition of a new partner – RDS (Rhythm Diagnostic Systems).

In the coming 12 months, the partners aim to deliver the first fully functional version of the eCAP capsule and digital platform, ready for clinical validation in France. This testing will be followed by clinical trials in Ukraine and Kenya to test the universality of the approach.

AMIRES is humbled to contribute to the management and communication activities of such an international project and looks forward to hosting the consortium partners in Prague in October for the next project meeting.

Read more on project progress on eCAP website and stay tuned by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Innovative new tools for cancer research: Tumor-LN-oC project enters second half

Last week, AMIRES travelled to Finland for the Tumor-LN-oC M24 project meeting, marking the halfway point of the 4-year project. The meeting took place in Turku and was hosted by Abo Akademi University, the only Swedish-speaking university in Finland.

The meeting was an opportunity for the consortium to share updates and find solutions to shared challenges in the development of the tumor-lymph node-on chip platform. A virtual meeting with the project officer confirmed that we are well on track to achieve the project objectives and adjustments to the workplan do not negatively impact the project as a whole.

Jointly with the coordinator Ioanna Zergioti from the National Technical University of Athens, AMIRES led the presentation on project management, administration and finances. This is especially of interest since Tumor-LN-oC is the first lump sum project which AMIRES manages, which requires some additional clarifications, but ultimately gives us valuable experience when it comes to growing number of lump sum projects in Horizon Europe.

AMIRES also presented on the activities we are leading on the dissemination, communication and exploitation work. Tasks in this work package also include the project IP strategy, as well as the commercialisation roadmap which was produced by AMIRES during the last months in a second, updated version in cooperation with all the partners. The prospects for commercial exploitation of this technology look very promising, though the path to the market will be long and accompanied by many regulatory processes, necessary approvals and certifications to ensure the reliability and  efficacy of the platform as a research tool and potentially, in the future, IVD device.
The formal discussions were complemented by a guided visit to the laboratories in the Turku Bioscience Centre in which local researchers presented their facilities and experimental setups, a common dinner and viewing party of the Eurovision semi-final.

Overall, we are happy to report that the Tumor-LN-oC project has made considerable progress in its 2 years of implementation: the different technological modules that are essential to the development of the platform, including microfluidics, spectroscopy, microoptics, automatic image analysis and bioprinting have been developed and  optimise independently.

The second half of the project will now focus on integration of all these modules into the Organ-on-Chip platform and its optimisation with the ambition to keep the platform as user-friendly and affordable as possible, despite its complexity. The consortium will also soon start planning the validation of the integrated organ on chip platform with real patient samples, which will be a critical step in demonstrating the efficacy of the technology and its potential for clinical use.

Thanks to the Tumor-LN-oC team for their excellent work and to the Abo Akademi University for hosting us in Turku, it was a pleasure!

As we move into the second half of the project and continue with the development of the Tumor-LN-oC platform, we are excited about the potential of this technology and the impact it could have on cancer research by providing unique new tools for metastasis diagnosis, drug development  and personalised medicine. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with our partners and exploring new ways to enhance this innovative technology!

Learn more about the project and our progress so far on the website!

AMIRES was in the M42 meeting for Switch2Save!

Our colleagues, Lenka Bajarova and Vaclav Smitka, enjoyed the M42 meeting hosted by Fraunhofer_ISC in Würzburg, Germany!

It was an interesting journey, full of discussions, presentations, and feedback, between the partners.

With only few months to go, it was crucial at this point to review the technical facilities by checking the building installations and the pre- and post-installation assessment.

During the M42 meeting, the jury decided the winners of the Architectural Design Competition, and a brainstorming session took place for the final workshop. You can already save the date in your calendar for 20/9/2023!

More information about the final event coming soon. Keep up to date here!

Keep up to date following S2S social media:

MARVEL project workshop | 21 April 2023, Milan, Italy

On 21 April 2023, we had an Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) dedicated workshop in Milan, Italy with the main slogan “Extracellular vesicles: From research to medical application and market readiness”. It was organized by SCITEC-CNR and AMIRES in the frame of the MARVEL EU-funded project

The workshop was attended by 48 experts and young investigators working in the expansive field of Extracellular Vesicles. Structured around presentations from invited speakers, the workshop aimed to maximise the exploitation potential of the developed results and to create a base for future networking and new partnerships. With this aim, participants also had the chance to participate in a round-table discussion with industrial representatives and leading researchers in this field. The round table titled “Engage & Connect: best practices on the innovation pathway” was structured around short presentations of the panellists on the current needs in their specific areas of interest and on envisioned future trends. During the roundtable discussion, the panellists emphasized the nowadays needs and trends in the EVs field from the point of view of academia, translational (clinical) research, and market.

Overall, the workshop was a success and provided an excellent platform for experts to share their knowledge and collaborate to advance the field of EVs. We would like to express our cordial thanks to all who attended the workshop and helped make this event a success. We have much pleasure in thanking our invited speakers, MARVEL partners and several organizations, in particular: CNR SCITEC ‘Giulio Natta’, CNR-ITM, Libera Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, USI Università della Svizzera italiana, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), HansaBioMed Life Sciences Ltd, Paperdrop Diagnostics and Amires for their support and the very efficient help during the symposium.

The organizers gladly acknowledge also many other local people from CNR SCITEC ‘Giulio Natta’ where the event took place, in particular scientific organizing committee (Marina Cretich and Alessandro Gori), local organizing committee (Paola Gagni, Greta Bergamaschi, Roberto Frigerio) and communication and dissemination manager (Yevhen Horokhovatskyi), who helped with the organization and ensured that in all instances the formal steps went smoothly.

MARVEL project – final

On 20th April 2023, MARVEL project partners (SCITEC-CNR, ITM-CNR, Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino, UniSR Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, HansaBioMed Life Sciences, Paperdrop Diagnostics SL, Amires) met for the final MARVEL meeting in Milan, Italy, hosted by the project coordinator, SCITEC-CNR. This was a unique opportunity to meet in person again and share the vast amount of experimental results obtained by the MARVEL team over the past 30 months, as well as decide further strategy for the exploitation of the developed technology.

Preface
The idea of the use of extracellular vesicles (EVs), specifically exosomes, as biomarkers, carriers, and therapeutic agents has been well demonstrated in different researches, leading to the explosion of interest in EVs in the early 21st century. Nevertheless, to be able to use EVs for clinical research or therapeutical development the EVs must be separated from multiple contaminants, often of similar size and/or density. Apart from this, a particularly arduous task is to move the isolation of specific EVs subpopulations beyond the analytical scale and towards scalable processes.

MARVEL story
MARVEL was an ambitious, multi-actor project, gathering 6 European partners and funded by the EU’s research and innovation funding programme – Horizon 2020 for 30 months under the support of the European Innovation Council. The project started in November 2020 and finished in April 2023. For the 30 months of the project, MARVEL has implemented various approaches to overcome bottlenecks in extracellular vesicles isolation to scale up the process beyond the analytical. For this purpose, MARVEL’s team employed a new technology for reversible isolation implemented with membrane-sensing peptides. This represented a paradigm shift from antibodies to peptides as an alternative class of affinity ligands characterized by the high efficiency of extracellular vesicles capturing.

Summing up the 30 months of the project’s implementation, it is worth saying that the achieved results were perfectly aligned with the planned objectives. To achieve these objectives, the project was divided into several stages. The first stage was dedicated to the analysis of technical requirements and specifications as well as the selection of the criteria for the system demonstration. In addition to this, specific attention was given to the biological sample’s parameters, their selection, and processing.

During the second stage, a strong focus was given to the development of new affinity peptide ligands that outclass antibody-based isolation methods in terms of capturing efficiency, versatility, and cost-effectiveness. The third stage focused on the integration and optimization of the developed technology into several systems and clinical environment testing, leading to ground-breaking innovations for extracellular vesicles deployment in cardiac repair and the non-invasive diagnosis of bladder cancer. Moreover, our consortium agreed to perform additional research analysis on the characterization of the isolated extracellular vesicles. This step led to a more precise evaluation of the effectiveness of the MARVEL multifaced and versatile platform for scalable extracellular vesicles isolation.

Finally, since the MARVEL platform can be scaled to other systems, the fourth stage of the project was focused on further plans and actions for the commercial exploitation of knowledge and MARVEL technology after the project ends. Thus, the story goes on, see us soon!

AMIRES has been on teambuilding!

We are sorry we have been out for three days, but we were in Šumava National Park enjoying nature, working and having fun! It was a great experience where we combined working sessions and hiking.

These working sessions were led by our CEO, Rudolf Fryček, and divided in teams. We had useful time for presentations and discussions. Also, we had enough time to play the guitar, bowling and card games.

We have recharged our batteries and we are ready for everything that lies ahead. We cannot wait for the upcoming projects, the next meetings and following events!

In the pictures below, you’ll find out some of our activities and why AMIRES is the smiling company.

Kick-off meeting of the Qu-Test & Qu-Pilot!

We are glad to welcome in our AMI portfolio the Qu-Test & Qu-Pilot projects. These Quantum projects will support pilot production capabilities, open testing and experimentation for quantum technologies in Europe. 

From the 19th -20th of April, AMIRES hosted the kick-off meeting where more than 80 quantum key leaders met in Prague, including the European Commission Project Officer, Christian Trefzger, PhD, who has presented quantum projects contribution to EU quantum roadmap.

The setup of the Quantum Testbed and Pilot line were the key topics of this first meeting.

You can watch the highlights from the kick-off meetings in the video below!

Keep up to date on QU-TEST & QU-PILOT page to know more about our quantum projects that have just started! Discover more about our projects here!

AMIRES at Hradec Economic Days 2023

AMIRES was invited to the HradecEconomicDays2023 on April 14, 2023 hosted by the University of Hradec Kralove in the Czech Republic. AMIRES Health & Biotech programme manager, Dr. Mariana Pacheco Blanco, participated as a panellist during the Technology transfer session, chaired by Prof. Ondrej Krejcar.

Mariana presented the opportunities from Horizon Europe (HE) for funding research and innovation projects in the Health/Biotechnology sector, as well as how AMIRES can support organisations in preparing competitive proposals.

Many upcoming calls from HE in the health cluster with a deadline in Fall 2023 are organised as two-stage evaluations and with a new type of grant: lump sum grants. There are some small but significant differences between a conventional grant type and the lump sum, and those also impact in the way the project has to be designed during proposal preparation. AMIRES has experience in the lump sum proposal preparation in HE for other clusters. In addition, AMIRES counts in its portfolio of a running project (TUMOR-LN-OC) which is part of the H2020 lump sum pilot programme.

From the other presenters, the attendees could learn about the programmes to support Czech companies for funding their R&D (Research and Development) activities, for example. through Czech invest and to researchers and other organisations through the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR) grant programmes. The second part of the session featured successful stories in the knowledge and technology transfer, and their funding search experience, with speakers from Prague Bio, an incubator and innovation centre, Spadia laboratory, one of the largest diagnostic providers in the Czech Republic, Malaysia University and the venture for skin care, She Empire company, as well as TRILAB Czech 3D printing company.

After the sessions, a networking lunch took place in which the speakers could interact between each other and with the other participants.

We are looking forward to next year’s conference to learn more about successful technology transfer!

Visit our website to know more about the upcoming events!

FRIENDSHIP presented at « BePositive »

On 21-23 March 2023, the French energy transition exhibition « BePositive » took place in Lyon, France.

This is a national event in the energy and sustainable building sector with 4 exhibition sectors: new energy systems, energy in buildings, building solutions and wood energy.

During the event, one of our partners, Pierre Dury from INES – PFE, presented results that were generated in the framework of FRIENDSHIP, in a speech entitled: “SOLAR HEAT IN INDUSTRY AND SOLAR DISTRICT HEATING: A VECTOR OF SAVINGS AND DECARBONISATION”.

The presentation arose the interest of more than 40 professionals attending the meeting, who asked several questions.

Regenerative medicine in the 3rd edition

Did you know that we are already organising the 3rd edition of the Regenerative Medicine Workshop? However, the story begins earlier.

The first edition took place as an intensive Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop “FROM LAB TO CLINIC”, which took place on 28 April, 2021. Together with speakers more than 80 people attended this event.

The second workshop was organised on 12 October 2022 in Prague under the motto “From project to market”: Paving the way towards real world impact of European Research and innovation. Around 50 participants discussed, among others, the importance of Health Technology Assessment for the economic and social impact of new therapies, medical devices and emerging technologies.

The third workshop will take place on 1st of June in Prague. It will bring together different EU-funded projects, initiatives, companies and researchers to exchange outcomes and experiences in the development of innovative technologies in the regenerative medicine field. It is the perfect opportunity to learn more about relevant technology trends and interests of the key players in this field.

Registration is now open! Take a look here!

Find out more about the REGMED story and for the 3rd edition REGMED2023 workshop in Prague

Switch2Save smart windows now being installed in Sweden and Greece

Lightweight, switchable and smart glass technologies can significantly improve the energy management of buildings with large-area windows and glass facades and contribute significantly to reducing energy consumption for heating or cooling. Improving the availability and cost efficiency of such smart glasses and the corresponding manufacturing processes is the declared goal of the EU-funded Switch2Save joint project. The project partners are now on the finish line and have installed the first electrochromic insulating glass units to demonstrate and test the potential energy savings in a Swedish office building as well as in the demonstration site in Athens.

The project led by Fraunhofer FEP was launched in 2019 and in the meantime, prototypes of novel switchable windows have been developed. These windows can be retrofitted in existing buildings to support the energy efficiency of heating and air conditioning systems. The new solution is characterized by its ability to integrate different types of optically variable smart coatings into a building envelope. The partners Chromogenics AB from Sweden and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC have developed novel electrochromic coatings for this purpose. These enable a window to be switched between a dark and a clear state. Fraunhofer FEP and the University of West Bohemia Pilsen have realized a roll-to-roll deposition process for thermochromic vanadium oxide. This material leads to a self-sufficient regulation of the transmitted thermal radiation depending on the outside temperature. The use of roll-to-roll technology also supports the development of cost-efficient manufacturing. Both types of these smart coatings can be produced on lightweight, flexible substrates such as ultra-thin glass and PET films.

Two buildings with different climatic conditions in Greece and Sweden were selected for the project. In Sweden, in the Vasakronan owned Rental Office Building in Uppsala (VAS), the Switch2Save consortium have already replaced 50 windows and 200 m² glass façade area with the smartglass solution and is performing a full “before-after” comparison of the energy demand. In Greece, the installation is at this moment done at the test site at National Technical University of Athens. Later, it would be installed in late spring in the General State Hospital of Nikaia Agios Panteleimon (NHOSP). All the findings will accelerate the widespread implementation of energy smart glass and significantly contribute to the goal of a CO2-neutral building stock in the EU before 2050.

As the project will finish at the end of September 2023, its results and real time installations will be presented during a final workshop, that will take place on September 21st in Athens, Greece.

Follow the LinkedIn project page !

Keep up top date to all AMIRES projects here!

MedPhab successful second review meeting

On March 29, MedPhab completed the second EC review meeting since the start of the project in January 2020.

During this meeting, achievements and highlights of the pilot line during the last 18 months were presented to the EC Project Officer (PO) and three experts who evaluated the progress as external reviewers. The main topics included: a) the progress of the pilot line operational processes through the Front Office and the aligned way of working of the pilot line, b) the technology maturation through the use cases and the external demo cases, c) the progress on the engagement with external companies through the open calls, d) dissemination to stakeholder groups within the medical community, e) growth of the ecosystem through the community management platform (https://community.medphab.eu/ ) and interactions with other EU initiatives and pilot lines (e.g. PhotonHub) and f) the business planning, through a sustainability model of a non-profit association, which has launched the commercial website (https://medphab.com/ ). In addition, on the frame of the review, two of the external companies (Spectracure and Femtoarrays) that had participated as demo case,s were interviewed by the Project officer and reviewers. Overall, they have been fully satisfied with the services received from MedPhab pilotline.

The pilot line has encountered some challenges, including technical and changes on the consortium.   However, mitigation strategies have been implemented successfully. During an open discussion, the reviewers and PO have acknowledged and congratulated the consortium for the progress during this period. They appreciated the openness and transparency of the consortium and the dedication of partners and coordinator, Prof. Jussi Hiltunen. The positive evaluation of this panel from the European Commission, strengthen the motivation and efforts to continue the work  on the MedPhab photonics pilot line dedicated for medical diagnostics.

ABIMI is very happy in contributing to this successful story!

Know more about our projects in our website!

MEET OUR TEAM: MARCO MESSINA

We are thrilled to introduce our new colleague Marco who joined AMIRES team as a Project Manager in April 2023. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in International and Diplomatic Affairs at University of Bologna, Italy, Marco obtained his Master’ degree in International Relations at University of Bologna.

Before joining AMIRES, Marco has worked in a Public Administration, in the South of Italy, as a support for the programming and planning of public projects, as well as their management, monitor and control.

Marco likes to spend his free time with friends and play different kinds of sports, mainly football and volleyball, which he has played since he was a child. Also, he likes watching movies and listening to music. Finally, when able to, he likes to travel and discover new places.

In AMIRES, Marco is supporting the Deep Tech team and will be involved in RoLA-FLEX, Next-2Digits and ECOBALLIFE projects.

Welcome on board Marco! 

Last cut-off of open calls on the MedPhab demo cases programme

Last chance for SMEs and companies to take part on the MedPhab demo cases programme.

AMIRES leads the application procedure and helpdesk of MedPhab open calls for the demo case programme. Do not miss the opportunity to receive high quality services in the development of medical devices using photonics technologies in the last cut off on April 30 2023.

This is the last chance you can receive up to 75% support of the funding of these services from the EU budget.

For more information please visit Open-Call Medphab post or contact our helpdesk here!

To know more about MedPhab project, click on the following link!

AMIRES will participate in Hradec Economic Days

We will be presenting at Technology transfer workshop.

The session is held on 14 April 9:00 at the room J1. Participation in the session is free of charge and takes place in the building of the Faculty of Informatics and Management of the University of Hradec Králové.

Our colleague Mariana Pacheco Blanco will speak at the conference about the current Horizon Calls.  

You can check the agenda on the following link, so you don’t miss a thing 😊

Looking forward for it!

Know more about our upcoming events!

FlexFunction2Sustain in M36: what has been done?

Three years after the start of the project, FlexFunction2Sustain published an overview highlighting the achievements of its implementation. Committed to create a network for innovative solutions for sustainable and smart products powered by nano-functionalized paper and plastic, this Horizon2020 funded initiative is aimed at supporting SMEs, start-ups and industries in the development and market launch of pioneering products.
 
To achieve its ultimate goal, the technical facilities of consortium members have been upgraded to enable processing of biopolymers; increase process reliability and productivity; complete process chain. All facilities and technological solutions developed within FlexFunction2Sustain are being verified in various industrial use case scenarios. At Month-36 of the project, the partners successfully demonstrated roll-to-roll processing of bio-degradable micro-structured surfaces for security labels; roll-to-roll manufacturing of conductive PET based membranes for filter applications; demonstrators of fully recyclable drink pouches and operational organic solar cells that were deposited on recycled PET films.
In order to accelerate the uptake of the ecosystem services, an Open Call  was launched in September 2021 with three cut-offs dates for applications. The winners for each deadline are available at the project website (please refer to: firstsecondthird cut-off results).

As a step in the establishment of the Ecosystem, ESNA –European Sustainable Nanotechnology Solutions Association has been registered. Created as non-profit association according the French 1901 Law of Associations with a place of business in Paris, France, the association will closely interact with for-profit independent companie(s) who will commercialise the results created in the framework of the OITB activities. The Single Entry Point (SEP) will provide an easy access point to the services of the OITB partners for the customers worldwide, with a main focus on the European Union market. SEP will be selected through a tender procedure which will be launched in the upcoming days.

Discover more about FlexFunction2Sustain project and its main advancements HERE.

A new group of deep tech start-ups to receive Accelerator investments with increase in women-led start-ups

A new set of 32 companies have been selected to receive European Innovation Council (EIC) funding, combining grants and equity, following the first 2023 EIC Accelerator cut-off in January. They were selected out of applicants that applied for the Accelerator Open call. This first cut-off in 2023 did not include the EIC Accelerator Challenges calls. 40% percent (13 of the 32 companies) have a female CEO, CTO (Chief Technology Officer) or CSO (Chief Scientific Officer) which is the highest share to date.

The companies were selected in a highly competitive process, in which 159 companies were interviewed by juries of experienced investors and entrepreneurs, out of a total of 476 applications. The 32 selected companies will together receive close to €196 million of funding in a combination of grants and equity investments. The equity investments will be made through the EIC Fund. The selected companies have a geographical spread spanning 14 countries. 94% of recommended funding is for beneficiaries in EU Member States, of which 17% is for widening country applicants.

While the blended finance (grants combined with equity investments) recommendation remained broadly the same as in recent cut offs (53%), grant first recommendations rose again (38%) with grant only moving in the opposite direction (9%).

More information pin the EIC website!

The Quantum Future Begins in Prague

1 April 2023 – Announcing the start of the quantum projects. With the power to create unbreakable encryption, supercharge the development of artificial intelligence, and radically expedite the development of new drug treatments, quantum technology will revolutionize our world. On the 19th-20th April 2023, the quantum journey will begin in Prague with the kick-off meeting of the Qu-Test and Qu-Pilot project.  

These projects open up new applications in the fields of metrology, imaging, secure communication, and highly complex calculations by supporting SMEs of the quantum supply chain with experimental production and open testing for quantum technologies in computing, communication, and /or sensing in Europe. Renowned quantum scientists will gather in Prague to build upon their spectacular achievements in quantum research:  

  • In the Qu-Pilot, they are aiming to develop and provide access to the first, federated European production facilities for quantum technologies, linking together existing infrastructures in Europe.
  • The network of the Qu-Test will support the creation of a trusted supply chain through the validation of quantum devices, chips, components, and systems by the testbed network as an independent third party.

Both projects are intended to cater to the needs of the industry and support it via Open Calls, thus boosting EU’s position in the quantum race.

Involved partners: VTT (FI); TNO (NL); IMEC (BE); CEA (FR); AIT (DE); FBK (IT); FhG (DE)- (departments: HHI, IAF, IOF, IPMS, INRIM); CSIC (ES); SHP (DE); ABIMI (CZ); IFAG (DE); IQM (FI); QILIMANJARO (ES); Thales Alenia Space (IT); CRYOHEMT (FR); Lab14 (DE); LUXQUANTA (ES); QUANDELA (FR); THINKQUANTUM (IT); Diatope (DE); MAGCAM (BE); PTB (DE); INRIM (IT); LNE (FR); OBSPARIS (FR); IOTA (FR); IFAT (AT); QUANTWARE (NL); SILENT WAVES (FR); ALICE & BOB (FR); Alea Quantum (DK); AUREA TECHNOLOGY(FR); Single Quantum (NL); exail (FR); QUANTUM OPTICS JENA (DE); SENER (ES); and CRYOCONCEPT (FR).

Download the full press release HERE

 

 

Continue reading

European Prize for Humanitarian Innovation: first edition kicks off

The prize will be awarded to organisations and companies that are developing technology to deliver better quality humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people affected by crises and natural hazards.

The Commission launched the first edition of the European Prize for Humanitarian Innovation (InnovAid) at the European Humanitarian Forum, on 21 March 2023.

The European Prize for Humanitarian Innovation (InnovAid), supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under Horizon Europe, recognises the European actors that have developed game-changing and lifesaving technological solutions which have enhanced the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of humanitarian response. The prize is aimed at incentivising change and inspiring other humanitarian actors to scale up actions and foster innovation.

Know more about it in the European Innovation Council website!

Commission supports 151 reform projects in Member States to strengthen resilience and competitiveness

The Commission has approved a new round of 151 projects under the Technical Support Instrument (TSI), to support all Member States in preparing, designing and implementing up to 326 cutting-edge reforms in 2023.

The supported projects respond to a reform need expressed by Member States while being strongly aligned with the European Union’s priorities for modern and efficient public administrations, sustainable growth strategies and resilient economies.

Many reform projects are also linked to the challenges of the Recovery and Resilience Plans and the REPowerEU Plan.

Read the full article in the European Comission website!

LOPEC: the perfect place to experience the future of printed electronics

From February 28 to March 2, AMIRES team had the pleasure to attend LOPEC and to become part of the leading platform for the printed electronics community. Following the tradition, LOPEC offered a good mix of key stakeholders and value chain members supporting the growth and development of electronics applications. In total, 168 exhibitors from 25 countries showed innovations and trends in the field and more than 2,300 visitors from 43 countries joined the event in the ICM – International Congress Center Messe München.

We were lucky to take part in the event and the key benefits of our participation can be summarised as follows:

  • Projects’ dissemination and impactful outcomes
LOPEC gave us the chance to meet partners from our projects and long-term clients as well as to benefit of the networking opportunity. Several projects from AMIRES portfolio related to the printed and flexible electronics technologies were presented in booths and by project partners.
Great achievement that needs to be mentioned is the smart-ski, which was successfully developed within the Horizon 2020 project Smart2Go (where AMIRES was involved in the project management, dissemination and exploitation activities), was awarded as Best Publicly Funded Project Demo category at the OE-A Competition 2023. Combined with the high laboratory-based reliability and validity of the PyzoFlex® prototype, the developed technology aims at providing skiers with relevant information about the skis’ condition as well as performance feedback which has a positive impact on both the safety of the skier and the product lifetime. For further information for the large potential for the smart system integration as a turn-key solution for energy management of wearables can be found on Smart2Go project website (HERE).
  • LOPEC 2023 Start-up Form
One of the highlights at the LOPEC was Start-up Forum competition where Roman Pašek, Programme Manager for Deep Tech at AMIRES,  participated as a Jury. The Forum offered entrepreneurs and start-ups the opportunity to present their business ideas and products in highly thought-provoking pitches, with the goal of adding partners and investors for their project. The presentations showcased both technologies for making large area printed electronics and novel end-user applications for printed electronics products. The jury, composed of experts in business, investment, and technology, selected the winners in two categories. As Best Business Case was shortlisted a project offering a wearable printed measurement system in combination with software that enables therapists, researchers, and patients to digitally manage musculoskeletal disorders. For Most Impactful Technology or Product category, the winner offered an atmospheric plasma surface functionalization technology that is a key enabler for printing on challenging surfaces.
  • New ideas and knowledge sharing
LOPEC2023 presented the latest state of the technology and great new applications for a lot of end-user industries by highlighting the entire spectrum of flexible, organic and printed electronics, and showing the potential that lies in this key technology. In terms of the novelties and trends, it is visible that applications with sensors from typical industrial parameters to medical biosensors will only increase. The new products, such as indoor solar cells will drive new applications in smart buildings and infrastructure. In addition to that, the sustainability has come into even sharper focus of LOPEC with talks and exhibits revealing many innovations from the world of green electronics. Lots of positive examples for truly sustainable solutions, which are more environment-friendly, lighter, cheaper, and more digital manner, for company’s or product’s ecological footprint were showcased.

LOPEC is, indeed, the perfect place to experience the future of printed electronics.

Looking forward to LOPEC2024!

MARVEL project | Meet our partner HansaBioMed Life Sciences

MARVEL project consortium consists of 7 partners (CNR-SCITECCNR-ITM,  Istituto Cardiocentro TicinoVita-Salute San Raffaele UniversityHansaBioMed Life Sciences,  Paperdrop DiagnosticsAmires) and each of them provides unique competence and complementary expertise. Collectively, they cover the whole spectrum of skills required for the development of a multifaceted and versatile platform enabling scalable Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) isolation in various contexts of EVs research and deployment, in diagnostics and therapy.

Today, we would like to introduce one of our partners, HansaBioMed Life Sciences Ltd. The company is entirely dedicated to the research and development of products in the field of exosome sciences. Their mission is to develop and commercialize proprietary platforms, kits, reagents, and equipment for exosome research in the Life Science market. HansaBioMed collaborates with various international research groups, both Academic and Industrial, and participates in research projects, such as the MARVEL project.

Watch an INTERVIEW with one of the HansaBioMed representatives Dr. Natasa Zarovni to know more about HansaBioMed, their involvement in the MARVEL project and current challenges and horizons in Extracellular Vesicles research.

FRIENDSHIP: Publication on one-dimensional ejector model for mixtures!

FRIENDSHIP is glad to present our newest paper about one-dimensional mathematical modeling of two-phase ejectors, which is now published online in the journal Applied Thermal Engineering.

The paper, One-dimensional mathematical modeling of two-phase ejectors: Extension to mixtures and mapping of the local exergy destruction, was written by SINTEF and it is based on the research work on innovative ejector chillers for cold production, done in the framework of FRIENDSHIP.

The article addresses the knowledge gap on the efficiency of ejectors operating with mixtures, by presenting a one-dimensional ejector model for mixtures. The authors also present new experimental data for ejector operation with CO2 that improve the model as well as critical mass flow rates and pressure lifts from experiments reproduced within 3%.

Congratulations to the authors!

ComBioTES public deliverable about Energy Management System is on air!

One of ComBioTES` objectives is to develop a modular-based intelligent optimal energy management system (EMS) algorithm based on a data-driven approach, with each module carrying out certain functions, e.g., control, communication, data management, modelling, forecast and optimal decision-making.

The developed algorithm will optimally manage and control the energy flows of the compact thermal energy storage, to meet a number of operational objectives simultaneously, e.g. meeting end users‘ comfort requirement, operating the system at minimum cost and using its flexible storage capacity to provide various electricity grid operation needs, like peak load reduction, reducing renewable energy curtailment and grid balancing.

DTU wrote a public deliverable containing explanation and requirements of the EMS architecture, each module and specification of modular interfaces, in order to guide the EMS development and implementation. An MPC-based control architecture is also presented, as an illustration of the minimum requirement.

Download the deliverable here!

FlexFunction2Sustain Progress Meeting in Freising

On March 2-3, the FlexFunction2Sustain consortium met in person to celebrate the completion of the third year of project implementation. The all-round enjoyable visit was cordially hosted by Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV at their premises in Freising, Germany. Those partners who could not make it in person were able to connect digitally so that discussions with the entire consortium could take place. The two-days concise but vivid meeting gave the partners the possibility to get an overview of the current status of the OITB’s development process from both technical and business perspective.
With only a year to go, it was crucial at this point to review the technical facilities by checking the statues of the machine upgrades and their interconnection with the ongoing use cases. Among the achievements highlighted during the meeting was the upgrade of REMIX Pilot line and its accreditation for PP flexible film recyclability evaluation as well as the upgrade of BIODEGRADIX Pilot line certified for TUV Austria audit. In line with the discussion hold, the partners visited the technical facilities at Fraunhofer IVV known for its experience and offering in roll-to-roll coating, extrusion of flexible polymer films and in developing corresponding multilayer structures for flexible packaging applications with various functionalities.
On the second day, the partners summarised what has been achieved during the course of the project from business perspective. The European Sustainable Nanotechnology Solutions Association (ESNA) association is now being registered. The very next step is the announcement of a call for tender and selection of a Single Entry Point, which will be a one-stop shop for future customers. Moreover, discussion on the successful transition to a sustainable OITB business by ESNA took places and how to moved forwards towards the future operation of the association and its sustainability in terms of potential investment opportunities.
The Project Adviser Susana Xará at Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the External Advisory Board  members also joined the meeting. They followed the progress and gave valuable feedback and recommendations for the future work of the project. 
Striving for better results becomes easier when we combine the strengths. The FlexFunction2Sustain partners are strongly motivated to collaborate in the remaing months till the end of the project and to put their best efforts in order to achieve impressive results to showcase.

FRIENDSHIP: New publication on electroplating of selective cobalt-chromium coating!

FRIENDSHIP is pleased to announce that our newest paper about electroplating of selective cobalt-chromium coating is now published online in the journal of Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.

The paper, Environmentally sustainable electroplating of selective cobalt-chromium coating on stainless steel for efficient solar collectors, was written by Absolicon Solar Collector AB and the Department of Physics of Umeå University and it is based on the research work on electroplating of selective cobalt-chromium coating for solar collectors.

Indeed, the most important component in a solar collector is the receiver, which by use of a selective surface absorbs and converts solar irradiance to thermal energy. In the article, a novel selective surface for low-to mid-temperature solar collectors is developed, studied, and presented. The surface is produced by electroplating a cobalt-chromium coating on a stainless-steel substrate using an electrolyte based on a deep eutectic solvent. The method described makes electroplating more sustainable, efficient and competitive to industry standards.

Congratulations to the authors!

PRESS RELEASE: SuPerTandem to bring new Photovoltaic Technology with higher efficiency

We find ourselves in an era when the demand for affordable green energy exceeds the alternative energy supply and thus, we have to look for new alternatives to the currently well-known sources of renewable energy.

EU leaders have allocated huge financial resources to help scientists and industries to put their hands and heads together to work on new technologies and manufacturing techniques to secure supply of green energy technology in Europe and increase implementation of green energy.
One of the successful examples of such collaboration between top European research capacities and industrial players is the SuPerTandem project financed with the sources from Horizon Europe research aid programme and SERI, the Swiss state secretariat for education, research, and innovation.

The SuPerTandem project team is working on a breakthrough perovskite photovoltaic tandem technology with the aim to offer to the solar energy market a perovskite solar panel which is affordable for only 20 EUR per square meter, made of low-cost, widely available raw materials and manufactured by low carbon footprint production process.

Project coordinator Sjoerd Veenstra, TNO, explains the potential of the technology: “The novel perovskite solar modules we jointly develop are flexible, ready for integrated solutions, highly efficient, thin, lightweight, and circular – a combination of qualities which cannot be found in nowadays Photovoltaic panels.

The above listed attributes increase the attractivity of the new technology throughout the whole spectrum of end users such as electric car manufacturers, farmers, or simply everyone who enjoys spending some days off grid.

The professional team formed by top notch researchers and industrial players met at SAULE Technologies, in Wroclaw to share the latest results and best practise and to unite on further steps to work on efficiency, stability, circularity and scaling the technology to an industrial relevant level.
The project partners come from 15 Top European institutions active in the field of perovskite photovoltaics – namely represented by: TNO – Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, HZB Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, Fraunhofer ISE, SAULE Technologies and Saule Research Institute, TuE – Eindhoven University of Technology, CEA – Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, 3D Micromac, FOM Technologies, SALD – Spatial Ald Innovators, Tecnalia, AMIRES, EMPA, Flisom and Fluxim.

You can find us on our website or LinkedIn.

SuPerTandem Project Coordinator: Sjoerd Veenstra, TNO, sjoerd.veenstra(at)tno.nl
SuPerTandem Project Manager: Jaroslava Kašparová, AMIRES, kasparova(at)amires.eu

The project members to meet in Wroclaw.
Flexible perovskite photovoltaic module developed and printed by SAULE s.a.
The SuPerTandem team in the laboratories of Saule Research Institute.  

ORGANTRANS: Consultation with EMA expert panel for regulatory approval

In translational science, where research is aimed at translating results in basic research into results that directly benefit humans, especially in a such complex project as the ORGANTRANS EU-funded project, it is inevitable to start communication with regulatory agencies as early as possible. Even at the project’s validation phase, ORGANTRANS representatives already contacted a multidisciplinary group called the Innovation Task Force of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and met with more than 25 experts from all over Europe which included scientific, regulatory, and legal competencies. The fruitful discussion during this meeting will help in the further development of the ORGANTRANS product for the benefit of public health.

Find out more about the ORGANTRANS project.

FRIENDSHIP: Ongoing manufacturing of the Thermal Energy Storage

In the past months, CEA worked on the prototype of TES (Thermal Energy Storage) to integrate into FRIENDSHIP solution. So far CEA selected and characterized the Phase Change Material (PCM) and finalized the design of the prototype.

Several heat exchanger designs were considered, using parallel or concentric tubes, with or without inserts, in square or triangular array. Thermal performances of these configurations were then assessed using both a 2-D Finite Element Method tool and a one-dimensional dynamic model to estimate whether the storage prototype can be charged and discharged within rated charge and discharge times. The simulation results from these models helped to refine tubes and inserts dimensions, resulting in the selection of three promising storage options.

Unfortunately, the manufacturing of the storage prototype suffered from severe delays due to the manufacturer and its subcontractor in charge of the drawings and calculation note to comply with the requirements of the selected manufacturing code.

However, meanwhile CEA had the time to adapt the existing test facility, LHASSA, to reach the testing conditions of the FRIENDSHIP prototype (higher mass flow rates), and to upgrade its control system.

The estimated delivery date of the prototype is now June 2023.

Do not miss FRIENDSHIP next publications!

ORGANTRANS technology was featured in Horizon Magazine

For some people with liver cancer, a liver transplant is the only hope for a cure. However, the availability of donated organs for transplant is severely limited and patients on transplant waiting lists are often dying.


Nowadays, many scientists are working on different alternatives to donor transplants for saving the lives of liver-cancer victims. One such alternative is developed within the EU-funded ORGANTRANS project. This technology proposes to take some of the patient’s healthy cells and print them with a 3D bioprinting liver tissue platform into a new organ in laboratory conditions.


Recently, the coordinator of the ORGANTRANS project, Gilles Weder from the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), gave an interview about this technology describing its readiness level, current challenges, and 10-year horizon. The interview was published in the Horizon: The EU Research & Innovation Magazine in the article entitled “A silent killer, liver cancer prompts race to improve organ replacements”.

Find more about the ORGANTRANS technology here.

Visited our website to know more about projects!

ORGANTRANS technology was featured in Horizon Magazine

MEET OUR TEAM: VÁCLAV SMÍTKA

Today we would like to introduce you Václav, our Chief Technology Officer. Václav joined AMIRES in 2013 as one of the first employees of the company.

He graduated from the Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering in 2009. At the same faculty he finished his Ph.D. in 2013 with the specialization on laser scanning and deformation measurements methods.

His first contact with the research and innovation project is dated back to the time of his studies and employment at the Department of Special Geodesy where he took part in many research and development programmes and projects as a coordinator as well as a member of a research team. At that time he had no idea that preparation and management of these projects would become one of the main part of his professional career.

In AMIRES, Václav started out as a Project Manager, but over time he became more and more involved in the preparation of new project proposals, which became his main job in the company. Currently, he oversees all the activities associated with the new projects preparation and is also involved in new customer acquisition. In addition, Václav is a leader of the Energy and Sustainability team.

About his work he says: “As a tech enthusiast, what I value about my work is that I can be in close contact with people who not only come up with brilliant innovative ideas, but can also transfer and implement them into concrete devices and technologies.

Václav divides his free time mainly between family and sport. He loves volleyball, which he has been playing for more than 25 years. He is also a big fan of ice hockey and American football. His favourite teams are HC VERVA Litvínov and Pittsburgh Steelers.

AMIRES will host the Kick-off Meeting of the Quantum projects

Two projects Qu-Test and Qu-Pilot will have a kick-off meeting in Prague, hosted by AMIRES on the 19th-20th of April 2023. These Quantum projects will support experimental production capabilities and open testing for quantum technologies in Europe. 

The Qu-Pilot consists of 21 partners from 9 different countries aiming to develop and provide access to the first, federated European fabrication (production) capabilities for quantum technologies, building on and linking together existing infrastructures in Europe. Qu-Pilot will implement the first stage of the capability innovation roadmap for providing experimental (pilot) production capabilities and a roadmap for transferring such capabilities to an industrial production environment, as was proposed in the awarded FPA. It will provide experimental production capabilities for quantum technologies in computing, communication and /or sensing through 13 service-provider organizations available to users, including industry, in particular SMEs and contribute to developing European standards in the field. Qu-Pilot will provide services for the development of a European supply chain of quantum technologies, provide European industry, especially start-ups and SMEs, with the necessary innovation capacity, and make sure that critical IP remains within the EU. The initial service offering will be validated through use-cases with companies within the SGA. A minimum of 20 such use-cases are expected and of those 11 are already part of this Qu-Pilot. 

The Qu-Test brings together 13 service providers for a federated network of testbeds and 11 industrial users from the European quantum community. The network brings together competences and infrastructures across Europe to offer testing and validation services. A first goal of this cooperation is to support the creation of a trusted supply chain through the validation of quantum devices, chips, components and systems by the testbed network as an independent third party. A second goal is to discuss and agree on unified sets of parameters to characterize quantum devices. Methodologies and procedures will be harmonized among the partners of the testbed network in a step towards establishing standards for quantum technologies. Qu-Test is aligned along three testbeds: quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing. In more detail, the Quantum Computing Testbed will measure, characterise and validate cryogenic quantum devices, cryogenic qubits such as superconducting and semiconducting qubits, photonics qubits and ion traps. The Quantum Communication Testbed will characterize devices for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) and provide design and prototyping services to support innovation in the supply chain of quantum communication technologies. Finally, the Quantum Sensing Testbed will benchmark sensing and metrology instruments provided by industry and use a large suite of quantum sensors (clocks, gravimeters, magnetometers, imagers) to validate industrial use cases aiming at generating new business cases for quantum sensing and metrology devices. With additional services of IPR support, business coaching and innovation management, Qu-Test supports the European quantum industry.

We are exited to welcome more than 60 quantum key leaders who will move the full ecosystem forward. 

You can find more about AMIRES projects in our website! Don’t forget to follow us to be keep up to date!

Programming Vascularization on Micro- and Macro-Scale in 3D Printed Tissue Constructs

When it comes to growing tissue constructs in vitro, ensuring the cells’ supply with oxygen and nutrients by integrating functional vascular structures remains a major challenge. Within the ORGANTRANS project, DWI Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials is developing a synthetic bioink that supports the growth of microvascular structures from dispersed spheroids. At the same time, the bioink can be printed into 3D structures with open, interconnected networks to ensure the nourishment of growing functional liver tissue.

This element is an essential block of the ORGANTRANS technology which aims to create a liver tissue 3D printing platform and replace liver transplantation for end-stage liver failure patients. In the long run, this platform can be scaled to other organ systems, as organoid technology is one of the largest parts of regenerative medicine.

ComBioTES: Publication on Demand Response applications!

ComBioTES project is pleased to announce that our first scientific article, written by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), is now published online in the journal Energy Reports. 

The paper is related to the research work on the development of the control system to shift the electrical load of the system to low price periods, while satisfying the specified indoor comfort requirements. 

More specifically, a building heating system coupled with an active Phase Change Material (PCM) TES device and a Heat Pump is simulated to characterise its potential for Demand Response applications. A control-oriented numerical model for the PCM TES was developed to simulate the dynamics of the coupled building heating system. Indeed, simulation results indicate that utilising an active PCM TES over a sensible TES offers significant advantages for DR applications in building heating systems in terms of load shift flexibility, energy costs and consumption.

Congratulations to the authors!

Read the full article here: Demand response with active phase change material based thermal energy storage in buildings.

New project in 3D printing using multi-material components

On the 30th and 31st of January, we travelled to Paderborn University to kick off the Horizon Europe Project MADE-3D.

The project has 13 partners, from 10 different countries around Europe. The objective is to optimize the printing process of multi-material components, providing solutions to the most often issues that happen, such as residual stress, cracks, or thermal expansion.

MADE-3D’s ambition is to provide design freedom for highly complex components by using concurrent engineering, besides, Additive Manufacturing process modifications, component design, and recyclability will be developed in parallel.

Kick-off meeting of Convert2Green project in Athens!

We are happy to welcome in our portfolio new Horizon Europe project Convert2GreenConverting Facilities Network for accelerating uptake of climate neutral materials in innovative products.

From the 18th -19th of January, Convert2Green team met in Athens to launch the works on specialised services and aid tools for innovative SMEs heading towards Greener Europe.

The OITB will provide services for SMEs and start-ups with innovative ideas and products to help them to move quickly and safely from lab to fab and to the market.

Clean Autonomous Vehicles, Smart health, Industrial Internet of Things, Low Carbon Industry and Clean energy – are the industrial domains to be focused on.

The innovators from the above mentioned fields can start looking forward to the top-notch services delivered by Convert2Green OITB representatives all over Europe: Business model creating, Value chains access, Novel financing strategies, Economic feasibility assessment, or Business case calculation.

Open calls for SMEs interested to try our services to be opened soon!

You can know more about our projects here!

OrganTrans gathered for the prefinal M36 meeting

The meeting was hosted by Utrecht University partner in the unusual and interesting place, the railway museum in Utrecht (Netherlands) with the participation of Amires and other partners of the EU-funded.

Since the project will be finishing in June, it was an important moment to discuss and make final decisions on the integration and synchronization of the key components (bioprinting, bioink, cells, maturation platform) as well as optimization of the workflow for the development of a functional liver construct. Key decisions on the functional analysis of the constructs were discussed. Additionally, during this meeting, OrganTrans Consortium received valuable recommendations from the experts of the External Advisory Board.

The platform developed within OrganTrans project, is a future alternative for organ transplantation medicine as it proposes a disruptive alternative to donor organs for patients with chronic end-stage liver diseases. Importantly, this research creates novel technologies that can be applied to other organ systems and tissues in the field of regenerative medicine.

Follow our progress on our posts and see you at 3rd Regenerative Medicine Workshop on June 1st in Prague, Czech Republic.

Workshop on “Integration of novel materials into silicon photonics”

AMO GmbH and RWTH Aachen University organized a workshop on November 21-22, 2022 in Aachen, brought together experts from academia and industry to discuss recent advances on the integration of novel materials into silicon photonic platforms and presented the recent advances of the field, and to discuss the possible advantages and challenges posed by different materials – from quantum dots, to perovskites, to 2D-materials, etc. – and by different integration strategies.

The workshop was organized by AMO GmbH and supported by H2020 projects – POSEIDON nanophotonics, INSPIRE platform, MOCCA, PlasmoniAC, Graphene Flagship and 2DEPL, and by the German BMBF via the project NeuroSys Cluster.

FRIENDSHIP: Prototype of the absorption chiller under testing

After investigating numerically, the different GAX (Generator-Absorber heat eXchange) cycles for absorption cooling at -20°C and -40°C from solar heat, a prototype was designed for typical FRIENDSHIP operating temperatures. This prototype was designed to meet at cold demand at -20°C using solely environmentally friendly refrigerants (ammonia and water). In addition, the chosen architecture prioritizes widely available components over custom-made ones to minimize the manufacturing costs. The prototype was built and integrated in a test rig in the INES platform for thermic studies and underwent a series of tests to evaluate its performances under various working conditions and demand profiles.
Using the experimental data gained from the in-lab testing campaign, the numerical model was adjusted to better predict the prototype’s performances. Upon completion of the lab tests, the chiller prototype will be integrated in the larger FRIENDSHIP prototype in Grenoble for further experiments including the solar field and the heat storage.

ComBioTES at BUILD-UP webinar

On Thursday 26th January from 11.00H – 12.30H CET, BUILD UP welcomed the online webinar ‘’Energy generation and storage technologies in buildings’’. The event was organised under the January 2023 Topic of the Month “Renewable heating solutions for buildings”.
The webinar presented two projects that explore technological solutions for heating/cooling coupled with renewables (SunHorizon and HAPPENING) and two projects that explore aspects of energy/thermal energy storage (MiniStor and ComBioTES).

ComBioTES was presented by the Project Manager and the Project Coordinator who explained the state of art of the project, highlighting the first results and commenting on the challenges the project is facing at the moment.

The livestream of the presentation is available here.

Taking on pancreatic cancer with artificial intelligence: The PANCAIM M24 Meeting in Madrid

From the 19-20 of January, the PANCAIM Consortium met in Madrid at the premises of CNIO, the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, for the project’s M24 meeting to share updates and align on next steps for datasharing and AI development.

After 2 years of the project, the PANCAIM team reaffirmed the urgent need to improve healthcare and outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients. Overall, the meeting got the consortium a little bit closer to developing impactful and trustworthy AI applications to improve the detection, treatment and prognosis for patients with this critical disease.
 
The meeting provided space and time for many important discussions in PANCAIM: While principal investigators mainly discussed the strategic aspects of the project including priorities for the next few year, other team members got together to discuss technical questions and find a common approach to shared challenges.

Among others, partners discussed how to speed up the transfer of data into the central PANCAIM repository and potentially connect to other clinical centers in the future to ensure sufficient quantity and diversity of source data – this is absolutely essential for both training and validation of the AI algorithms which should finally serve as decision-making support for doctors in the hospital.

In the next few months, the PANCAIM team will work hard to train and improve unimodal AI applications, which will serve to identify the most relevant features in radiomics, pathomics and genomics respectively. The current status of these models was presented and critically reviewed in the meeting with our External Advisory Board in the afternoon, who gave valuable feedback and recommendations which will be taken into account going forward.

A delicious Spanish dinner and delicious pastries during the coffee breaks kept all participants happy and ready to engage. A big thank you to CNIO for hosting us, and thanks to all our partners + EAB members for joining us in Madrid and online!

Follow the project on LinkedIn and Twitter to receive all the latest updates. We are looking forward to continuing this project and make a much necessary impact for pancreatic cancer patients in Europe!

European Cancer Imaging Initiative

The European Cancer Imaging Initiative will unlock the power of imaging and Artificial Intelligence for the benefit of cancer patients, clinicians and researchers.

The European Cancer Imaging Initiative is one of the flagships of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). One of the objectives of the Plan is to make the most of the potential of data and digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or High-Performance Computing (HPC) to combat cancer.  

The aim of the European Cancer Imaging Initiative is to foster innovation and deployment of digital technologies in cancer treatment and care, to achieve more precise and faster clinical decision-making, diagnostics, treatments and predictive medicine for cancer patients

The Initiative will showcase how medical images can be accessed, used and pooled, while ensuring a high level of ethics, trust, security and personal data protection in full compliance with EU values and rules. It will make large amounts of cancer images and linked clinical data easily accessible to European clinicians, researchers and innovators in line with the European data strategy and supporting the goals of the European Health Data Space. 

Red the full press release at the European Commission official website.

    European Cancer Imaging banner
@EuropeanCommission

Commission launches new calls worth over €600 million

Following the adoption of the Horizon Europe 2023-2024 work programm, the European Commission has launched new calls for 2023 worth over €600 million to support research and innovation under the five EU Missions – Adaptation to Climate Change, Cancer, Restore our Ocean and Waters, Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities and A Soil Deal for Europe.

This investment is expected to result in, for example, better preparing local and regional authorities to face climate-related risks, optimizing minimally-invasive diagnostic cancer interventions, restoring at least 25 000 km of free-flowing rivers, providing Climate City Contracts with 100 cities, and rolling out of the Soil Mission living labs.

More information about this article here!

Know more about other European Commission news in our website.

New Project on Material Innovations for Advanced Optoelectronic Applications Has Just Started!

On 17th January 2023, we traveled to Greece to kick off the Horizon Europe Project MatEl, coordinated by the National Technical University of Athens

The vision of this project, which unites eight partners from five European countries, is to create the next generation of optoelectronic devices with multiple functionalities in a miniaturized footprint. 

Project MatEl’s objective is to introduce novel on-chip integration schemes enabled by innovative laser processing of advanced materials, such as graphene or PZT.

We aim to demonstrate the universal vision of the project on two applications in Augmented Reality (AR) and advanced biosensing, accelerating the industrial adoption of hybrid OEICs.

MatEl project benefits from the strong presence of innovative award-winning SMEs, key players in nanomaterial development, and the academic excellence of the coordinating National Technical University of Athens.

We are looking forward to this collaboration! Follow the project on LinkedIn and Twitter to receive all the latest updates!

Innovative technique for extracellular vesicles isolation developed in the MARVEL project

MARVEL project partner, CNR-SCITEC, is currently working on the optimization and validation of membrane-binding peptide-modified beads for unbiased (universal) and scalable isolation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) from different kinds of biological fluids (plasma, urine, serum, etc.). 

Extracellular vesicles are secreted by cells into the extracellular space and they are implicated in a wide range of physiological processes and diseases. This has led to an explosion of interest in using EVs in a variety of tissue engineering applications. For example, EVs have great potential to be used as markers for disease initiation, progression, and response to treatment, as well as hold huge potential as mediators of tissue regeneration. Nowadays, the main drawback of antibody-based affinity isolation by beads is the low scalability and underrepresented isolation (only sub-populations are isolated).

In MARVEL, we are developing a bead-based affinity isolation system by using a universal, yet highly specific, interaction with membrane sensing peptides. This allows scalable capturing of all small EVs unbiased by the differential expression of surface markers. The MARVEL technology outperforms tetraspanin antibody capturing and ensures high recovery and exquisite specificity against common contaminants.

Currently, we are validating our technology in cell culture supernatants, serum/plasma, and urine.

More information about the MARVEL project here.

We would like to remind you that the MARVEL project consortium met for the M24 meeting hosted by AMIRES in Prague, Czech Republic. We are happy to be a part of this progress!

You can find out how it went in our article.

1st Review meeting for ComBioTES

On 10th and 11th January, ComBioTES consortium met together in Brussels to discuss the project advancement in the first 36 months and to have the 1st Official Review Meeting.

On the first meeting day, the M36 meeting took place and the partners concentrated on the progress of the running Work Packages, their highlights, results, and challenges. In the end, the consortium members reached a clear vision of the directions to take and on the objectives to accomplish in the next 6 months.

During the second day, the Review meeting was held, and the discussion focused on past deviations, future risk assessment and mitigation plans. The Project Officer, Juan Ramon De la Cuevas, also joined the meeting and provided valuable feedback on the behalf of the The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

ComBioTES M36 and Review meetings were characterized by a collaborative and proactive behaviour of all the participants.

Exciting six months are ahead of us. Do not miss our next publications!

AMIRES Gender Equality Plan is right here!

We are excited to announce that its Gender Equality Plan has been just published. We always believe that, in order to make big changes in the world, one must start with small steps on the individual and organisational level. AMIRES has always believed that within those steps it is natural to support women in their professional and private lives.

Also, we believe that a successful team is based on diversity and a multidisciplinary approach. Apart from diversity in terms of gender, AMIRES is an example of cultural diversity, bringing together individuals from Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Serbia, Spain, and Ukraine.

In addition, the AMIRES female team is a perfect example of multidisciplinary expertise, bringing together a combination of skills and knowledge that encompasses different fields, such as business, political sciences, engineering, international affairs, languages and biomedicine. Therefore, in AMIRES we have learned that tackling situations from different angles provides more efficient and effective solutions thanks to a multidisciplinary and enriched vision.

Furthermore, AMIRES is committed to promoting gender equality even beyond its organisation. Namely, AMIRES will go a step further and take actions to promote gender equality among its partners and clients. These activities mainly relate to proposal preparation and project implementation phases where AMIRES is involved.

Although, AMIRES has encouraged the female representation in leading positions in consortia and has in place the revision of the Gender Dimension section in proposals by the Gender Equality Board, these actions have been not monitored through formal procedure.

The AMIRES management together with the Gender Equality Board will ensure that attention is paid to gender aspects and will suggest appropriate actions where necessary. AMIRES is proud creating a positive and favourable working environment for all its employees regardless of their nationality, gender, age, ethnicity, religious affiliation or disability. This action plan is a living document and will be updated if relevant.

Read the AMIRES Gender Equality Plan HERE.

Gender Equality's Canva design

Commission welcomes Energy Community’s agreement

Commission welcomes Energy Community’s agreement on 2030 energy and climate targets.

The 20th Ministerial Council meeting of the Energy Community, held in Vienna on December 15th, has reached agreement on a number of important issues which will further enhance energy cooperation between the EU, the Western Balkans and the three Eastern Partners – Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Crucially, the Contracting Parties agreed on an ambitious renewable energy target of 31% for 2030, as well as energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions targets.

At the Ministerial meeting today, the Parties also agreed to implement the EU electricity market rules. Once this is achieved, they will be able to fully access the EU electricity markets, and therefore to freely trade electricity with the EU. Member countries also agreed on strengthened compliance and enforcement of agreed energy rules. The meeting was chaired by Yaroslav Demchenkov, Deputy Energy Minister of Ukraine, which currently holds the rotating Presidency of the Energy Community.

Read more about it here

First Czech-led Research and Innovation Action in health to revolutionise quality of stroke care

2022 marked a new milestone on the health research landscape in the Czech Republic. For the first time, a Research and Innovation Action coordinated by an organisation in the Czech Republic has been funded in the field of health. As part of the European Commission’s flagship programme Horizon Europe, a grant of EUR 8 million was awarded to the project entitled “RES-Q+: Comprehensive solution for improving health care using a global register of stroke care quality”. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic (IHIS) under the leadership of researcher and neurologist Robert Mikulik, supported by Co-Coordinator Hendrik Knoche, an Associate Professor in human-computer interaction at Aalborg University, Denmark. AMIRES is glad to have supported the proposal writing and project management of RES-Q+.

The goal of RES-Q+ is to improve the quality of care for stroke patients, save patients’ lives and reduce healthcare costs. The project will build on the Registry of Stroke Care Quality (RES-Q) – a global academic platform launched in 2017 and the largest stroke care quality registry in the world to date. To achieve its ambitious objectives, RES-Q+ will strive to automate data input and maximise the use and benefits of the platform by:

  • creating a fully automated tool for obtaining & processing data on the health care services provided to the patient;
  • evaluating data & providing feedback to care providers through AI-enabled virtual assistants, which precisely target problem areas;
  • creating virtual assistants for stroke patients to monitor their condition.

RES-Q+ will be carried out by a consortium of 21 leading European institutions: hospitals from Eastern, Western and Southern Europe, universities, IT companies, law firms, as well as the World Stroke Organization, Stroke Alliance for Europe, and ANGELS Initiative, which supports providers in enhancing stroke care worldwide.

Find out more on the project in the press release here. See the news coverage of RES-Q+ in Czech Television here (CZ only). 

Become a PROJECT MANAGER of European R&D&I projects in ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY

To reinforce our team, we are opening position for Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Energy & Sustainability domain. The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of H2020 / HE projects and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals.

Is admin and analytical work something what is not boring you?

Do you want to learn more about projects which are good for our future?

Do you want to be a part of international dynamic team?

Let us know, we are already looking forward meeting you!

Read full info HERE.

MedPhab: Congratulations for your three years!

It has been three years of advancing medical devices based on photonics technologies

Three years already finalized for MedPhab, pilot line for photonics-based medical devices, and EU-funded initiative. To discuss the progress and remaining challenges, the consortium met in Philips premises in Eindhoven December 13 and 14, 2022. Key highlights of the results of MedPhab include the successful participation of the pilotline in COMPAMED/MEDICA trade fair this year, the interest of almost 30 companies in MedPhab services, the implementation of six external demonstrator cases selected by an open call, the preparations for the sustainable plan and operations, as well as the building of the ecosystem through the community management platform. In addition, we received recommendations on the sustainable operations of our experts in the External Advisory Board: Furio Gramatica, Ulrich Stärker, and Robert Sanders, which will be taken in consideration for the last year of the project.

Next year brings high expectations in the completion of several activities, including the establishment of MedPhab sustainable operations and continuation of further demonstrator cases, as the open call remains open until April 2023. If you are an SME that would like to further develop a medical product utilizing photonics technologies, find more information HERE. Or if you belong to the ecosystem of the medical devices using photonics, you can be part of MedPhab community here.

Webinar Recording: How to apply for FlexFunction2Sustain Open Call?

On 30th November 2022, FlexFunction2Sustain organized a Webinar Feasibility meets economical interest. The event was specifically aimed at promoting the Open Call for proposals for innovative solutions for sustainable and smart products powered by nano-functionalized paper and plastic in order to support SMEs, start-ups and industries in the development and market launch of pioneering products. The webinar provided insights on the FlexFunction2Sustain Open Innovation Test Bed offering and details of the Open Call application and selection process.

The video recordings for each session can be found at the following links:

The overall budget for the Open Call programme is 2.25 M€. Up to 20 projects will receive a granted access to complete set of services integrating technical, business, ecosystem expertise which will enable them to build up sustainable business cases. The Open Call will remain open for applications until January 27th, 2023.

Detailed information about the conditions of the Call can be found here. Further assistance is available through the Helpdesk by email to helpdesk@flexfunction2sustain.eu or by phone to +420 226 217 422 (Monday – Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM CET).

MEET OUR TEAM: JOAN GUARDIA

We are thrilled to introduce our new colleague Joan who joined AMIRES team as a Junior Marketing Specialist in December 2022. After graduating from a bachelor’s programme in Business and Management at Universitat de Barcelona, Joan obtained his master’s degree in Marketing and Commercial Management at ESIC Marketing & Business School in Barcelona. While doing his master’s degree, Joan worked in FMCG at Affinity Petcare as a Consumer Insights Assistant.

In his free time Joan enjoys running, reading, and is taking up yoga classes. Also, he is a FC Barcelona supporter and loves to travel and visit new places. Finally, he is currently studying an online degree in history, art and geography.   In AMIRES, Joan is supporting the marketing activities of the company.

Welcome on-board Joan.

ComBioTES: bio-based PCM selection process

One of the goals of ComBioTES is to select a Bio-based Phase Change Material (PCM) for heating and hot tap water, which is biodegradable, chemically stable and with as less safety issues as possible.

In the first place, Roquette and CEA has developed a grid of selection of the bio-based PCM, with relevant parameters on performance, safety, supply, cost etc. It led to a first screening PCM suitable for ComBioTES, with the selection of Octadecanol, RT70HC, Crodatherm 74 and Isosorbide (more specifically, POLYSORB® PA developed by ROQUETTE, which contains an additive to improve stability and reduce the risk of thermal degradation).

Octadecanol, RT70HC and Crodatherm 74 were already known and have already been characterized by partners from ComBioTES in previous projects. Since Isosorbide experiences supercooling, preliminary characterization and tests were performed to assess (or not) its use  as PCM.  

Thus, Roquette characterized the thermo-physical properties of the Isosorbide in lab conditions with measurements at small scale of the properties relevant for TES applications. Roquette supplied 150 Kgs of Isosorbide to CEA to test it in actual TES conditions.

Eventually CEA performed some melting/solidification tests with the 500 mL dedicated installation in photo. CEA also completed tests without and with systems to help the solidification. Those systems were “seeding” (i.e., addition of solid particles of Isosorbide to initiate the solidification) and “bubbling” (i.e., nitrogen bubbling inside the vessel). The test results show that Isosorbide is experiencing supercooling at small-scale reactor, with primary nucleation and that seeding, and bubbling are efficient to initiate the crystallization.

In the end, Isosorbide is kept as potential PCM in ComBioTES. Its performances and its supercooling behaviour will be evaluated at reactor-scale (prototype of PCM thermal storage) in task T2.1 to conclude on its suitability (or not) in the project.

Introducing our new partner: SusDAT – Data miracles for SUStainability – Partner for data collection and processing

 SusDAT develops smart systems for gathering data from various sources such as sensors, cameras or other systems providing data through API. Gathered data can be processed on-site using edge computing methods and/or sent to a cloud for deep analysis. Data from various sources are combined using data fusion methods. SusDAT creates algorithms for data processing, classification and decision making using machine learning methods. Performed analysis could include image analysis, anomaly detections or pattern recognition.

Visit the official website HERE.

For more information please contact : info@susdat.com or frycek@amires.eu

EU to invest €13.5 billion in research and innovation for 2023-2024

The Commission has adopted the main Horizon Europe work programme 2023-24, with around €13.5 billion to support researchers and innovators in Europe to pursue breakthrough solutions for environmental, energy, digital and geopolitical challenges.

As part of the broader EU €95.5 billion research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, this funding will contribute to the EU reaching its climate goals (€5.67 billion), increasing energy resilience (€970 million), and developing core digital technologies (€4.5 billion). It will also address targeted actions to support Ukraine (€70 million), boost economic resilience and contribute to a sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic (€1 billion).

More than €600 million will be invested in the five EU Missions in 2023. This will support research and innovation, which is expected to result in, for example, better prepared local and regional authorities to face climate-related risks, the restoration of at least 25 000 km of free-flowing rivers, Climate City Contracts with 100 cities, the roll-out of soil monitoring programmes or optimise minimally-invasive diagnostic cancer interventions.

Read the full Press release HERE.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: €1.75 billion in new calls for researchers and institutions

On the 7th December 2022 the Commission announced new calls to support researchers’ training, skills and career development under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the EU’s flagship funding programme under Horizon Europe for doctoral education and postdoctoral training. With a total budget of €6.6 billion over 2021-27, the MSCA support researchers from all over the world, at all stages of their careers and in all disciplines. They also benefit institutions by supporting excellent doctoral, postdoctoral programmes and collaborative research and innovation projects, boosting their global attractiveness and visibility and fostering cooperation beyond academia, including with big companies and SMEs.

The MSCA will provide over €856 million in 2023 and €902 million in 2024 covering the five main actions of the work programme:

  • MSCA Doctoral
  • MSCA Postdoctoral
  • MSCA Staff Exchanges
  • MSCA COFUND.
  • MSCA and Citizens

Under the new work programme, the MSCA will also fund a Feedback to Policy initiative to make stronger thematic links between MSCA projects, raise visibility of their contribution to key EU policy priorities and gather stakeholder feedback on ways to maximise the programme’s impact.

The calls follow the adoption of the Horizon Europe 2023-24 work programme.

Red the full press release at the European Commission Press corner.

AMIRES Investments as pre-seed or seed partner

AMIRES Investments s.r.o. is a newly created legal entity with the aim to support young entrepreneurs and companies. It provides a broad range of support, from the advice and guidance during the incorporation and in early stages of the company, through interim management up to a membership in governing bodies (e.g. Board of Directors) to help companies achieve their business aspirations. The broad range of contacts collected by experts during many years will be mobilized for significant advancement of technology readiness and customer feedback collection. AMIRES Investments will also advise on and facilitate private and public fundraising via multiple national or international opportunities. This equity-based support is focused on DeepTech companies, active in Medical, Energy, Environment, Industrial and Agrotech domains.

AMIRES Investments activity:

  • Pre-seed, Seed and Angel Equity investments
  • Advisor and/or Board member
  • Interim management (incl. general management, marketing and sales)
  • Strong support for public (Horizon Europe) funding
  • Early-stage financing (e.g. before incorporation or TRL 3-6)

Advantage of AMIRES Investment support:

  • Acceleration of company business planning
  • Strengthened partnership with suppliers and/or pilot or early-stage customers
  • Balanced team expertise needed for further fundraising
  • Significant growth and validation / demonstration enabled by various funding instruments
  • Increased overall company performance

For more information, contact Rudolf Fryček – frycek(at)amires.eu

European Green Deal: Commission proposes certification of carbon removals to help reach net zero emissions

The European Commission adopted a proposal for a first EU-wide voluntary framework to reliably certify high-quality carbon removals. The proposal will boost innovative carbon removal technologies and sustainable carbon farming solutions, and contribute to the EU’s climate, environmental and zero-pollution goals. The proposed regulation will significantly improve the EU’s capacity to quantify, monitor and verify carbon removals. Higher transparency will ensure trust from stakeholders and industry and prevent greenwashing. Carbon removals can and must bring clear benefits for the climate, and the Commission will prioritise those carbon removal activities which will provide significant benefits for biodiversity. Moving forward, the Commission, supported by experts, will develop tailored certification methods for carbon removal activities delivering on climate and other environmental objectives.

This proposal is essential to the EU’s goal of becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To achieve this goal, the EU needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to a minimum. At the same time, the EU will have to scale up the removal of carbon from the atmosphere to balance out emissions which cannot be eliminated.

Read more about the proposal HERE.

Towards a Tumor-Lymph Node-on Chip platform: M18 meeting and first successful review of Tumor-LN-oC

Lung cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in Europe and the main cause of cancer death in men (2nd in women). Understanding whether and to which degree the cancer has metastasised to the lymph modes is key to correctly staging the cancer and for determining adequate treatment. But the connection and interactions between tumor cells and lymph node tissue is still not well understood. EU-funded project Tumor-LN-oC aims to fill this niche by developing a unique tumor-lymph node on chip-platform which can be used to study lymph node metastasis in an individual patient (personalised medicine) as well as research the effect of drugs on this process (drug discovery).

To do so, the project utilises a wide selection of tools ranging from cell and tissueengineering to laser bioprinting, MIP spectroscopy and a software for automatic image analysis. All of these technologies will be integrated in an automated system which can be interfaced with standard lab equipment. 

From 16-18 November, AMIRES travelled to Greece to meet representatives from all 11 partner organisation for the project M18 project meeting to present and discuss progress and challenges of the activities, and to find common approaches to individual and shared obstacles.Overall, partners are making promising advances in the development of their individual technological modules, and the integration into a consolidated organ-on-chip combined platform is starting to be in reach.

The 2-day internal meeting was followed by the review meeting where partners presented results and achievements of the first 18 months of Tumor-LN-oC to HaDEA, the EU funding agency, and the appointed external expert. The project received good feedback from the reviewers, as well as many useful comments and valuable recommendations that will be taken into account during future months. 

The interdisciplinary consortium which unites partners with a background in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science and machine learning and much more has proven to be well equipped to meet the ambitious objectives of the project. AMIRES leads the project management, dissemination and commercialisation work of Tumor-LN-oC, all of which are key for smooth implementation and exploitation of the project, thus creating and amplifying the desired impact. Tumor-LN-oC is also the first Horizon lump sum project in AMIRES portfolio giving us valuable experience with this type of project, which will become much more prevalent in coming years. 

FRIENDSHIP Progress Meeting in Munich

On 24th and 25th of November, FRIENDSHIP team got together for the M30 progress meeting. Six months after the first in-person meeting in Sweden, the consortium met again in Munich (Germany), hosted by Clariant, one of the project’s industrial partners.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Project Coordinator, Valéry Vuillerme (CEA), presented the project’s progress and took the opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work.

On the agenda over the two days, the consortium summarized the progress achieved so far and gave an overview of the work performed in the running Work Packages. In the end, partners also set the course for the future activities.

Whereas, on the second day discussions took place in specific workshops dedicated to the pre-design and decision-making tools, which will be implemented in the FRIENDSHIP website, and to the first training video that will be released soon.

In a separate workshop, the partners had a brainstorming session on the exploitation strategy of each Key Exploitable Results (KER). Thus, for each KER, result general description, IPR and TRL level were checked, discussed, and updated.

In addition, at the end of the meeting the consortium had the opportunity to visit Clariant industrial site in Moosburg and to see first-hand the structure of the plant and the challenges related to the implementation of the FRIENDSHIP solution there.

Exciting six months are ahead of us. Stay tuned for details!

MEET OUR TEAM: Marina de Souza Faria

Marina de Souza Faria joined AMIRES team as a Project Manager in November 2022. She has a bachelor’s and a teaching degree in Geography from the University of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. During her studies, she got a merit scholarship to study for one semester at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. For her master’s degree, she joined the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, the Faculty of Environmental Science for the program landscape planning/landscape engineering which she graduated with honours presenting her master’s thesis “Spatiotemporal Changes at Krkonose Mountains Alpine Tundra”. The thesis was a part of her internship at the Botanic Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Due to her research background in environmental science and technology (spatial science) she kept improving her experience at INRAE in Grenoble, France working on a biodiversity project concerning the spatial analyses of invasive species.

In her free time Marina likes to be in the nature, hiking and travelling to meeting different cultures and landscapes. Besides that, she like to enjoy the time talking with her family and friends.

In AMIRES Marina is supporting the Deep Tech team and will be involved in MADE-3D project.

Welcome on-board Marina!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

AMIRES Community Management Platform for photonics-based medical devices presented at COMPAMED

For four days, from 14th to 17th November, 5000 exhibitors from 70 countries and more than 81 000 visitors from various sectors of the global healthcare industry travelled to Düsseldorf, Germany, to attend MEDICA 2022 and COMPAMED 2022 (the biggest fair in the field). Among them, was MedPhab pilot line, which was one of the exhibitors of the IVAM Product Market (The International Microtechnology Business Network) at COMPAMED. In addition, several partners of MedPhab – VTT, Screentec, CSEM, Philips, Jabil – gave individual presentations at the High-Tech Forum IVAM.

Every year, COMPAMED/MEDICA dual event brings together stakeholders from medical technology and service providers, suppliers, integrators, and policy makers. The interactions ignite the new networks, projects, ideas, and business partnerships benefiting the healthcare industry.  The COVID pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of healthcare, through acquisition and deployment of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, electronic medical records, sensors, high-performance components, biocompatible materials, and others. The deployment of these innovative technologies is dependent on product approval, regulatory affairs, certification as well as market peculiarities. 

AMIRES is at the heart of these topics. On the one hand, AMIRES has a relevant network with research organisations, universities, and companies as technology and knowledge providers. On the other hand, it is in close contact with health economics, regulatory experts, and clinicians. This position allows to leverage the company’s extensive knowledge and expertise in European framework projects that impact healthcare.

With this vision, combined with the need to connect numerous stakeholders of the medical supply chain, specifically in photonics technologies, AMIRES and its sister organisation ABIMI (AMIRES, The Business Innovation Management Institute, z.ú.) have created the community platform for medical photonics through the MedPhab pilot line (EU-H2020 funded project No. 871345). MedPhab community management platform, presented at COMPAMED-MEDICA is a digital platform that showcases a comprehensive catalogue of prototypes, technologies, products, and services in medical photonics and enables sharing information, announcements, and news to the benefit of the ecosystem. The community management platform is available HERE.

Organizations that belong to the value/supply chain of photonics-based medical devices and actively contribute to the ecosystem as key opinion leaders or stakeholders, can become part of the platform. Building bridges and connecting organisations through the ecosystem will contribute to accelerating the introduction of innovative products to the market and revolutionizing healthcare through photonic technologies.

One of the building blocks of the ORGANTRANS technology: Vascularization of 3D hydrogels in vitro by endothelial and mural cells

All organs depend on blood vessels for nutrient and oxygen supply. The growth of functional blood vessels in 3D bioprinted tissue constructs for regenerative medicine applications currently remains a challenge. VIB, in collaboration with DWI Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, assesses vascularization approaches of 3D hydrogels in vitro, by incorporating vascular endothelial and mural cells into the hydrogel bio-ink.

For liver tissue engineering, these approaches will be applied in the ORGANTRANS project to generate bioprinted, hydrogel-based liver organoid structures with preformed microvessel networks to facilitate connection with the host vasculature.

Find out more about the ORGANTRANS technology HERE.

Compressor prototype for the heat pump is installed!

In the last months, SINTEF developed a lubrication free turbo-compressor for the steam heat pump of the FRIENDSHIP system.

The designed compressor prototype allows temperature lifts of up to 30 Kelvin in a single stage compression and was dimensioned to a capacity range of around one ton per hour of compressed steam, based on a heat source temperature of 100°C (atmospheric pressure).

The prototype was designed for a multistage compression approach and the last stage has the ambition to achieve a pressure of 15 bar, which will give a condensation temperature of approximately 200 °C.

In October the turbo compressor rig was finally installed in Norway, with a two-stage setup using turbo compressors from Rotrex. The impellers are made from titanium, rotate up to 90.000 rpm and operate oil free. Also, they are equipped with a purge chamber, where pressurized air is used to drain out steam condensate, for improving sealing between the impeller and the oil filled gearbox.

Moreover, after each compression stage de-superheating stage through water injection is employed to reduce the inlet temperature into the next compression stage.

In the end the steam is extended in an expansion valve and regenerated in a condenser, i.e., steam supply tank.

Now it is time to begin the testing phase, which will include the testing of the new compressor flange seals, of the new thermos-seals between compressor section and steam regenerator tank, the testing of water supply and purge air system.

InPulse project success story: PhotonFirst creates Modular Photonics Platform with chips from JePPIX Pilot Line

Photonic integration is essential in realizing our digital future: light-speed, super-efficient, precise and compact. The JePPIX Pilot Line enables fabless businesses to bring their Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC)-based product to market fast and cost effective. We bridge the gap from prototype to PIC production by facilitating an open-access foundry model.

The possibilities of PICs are many. PhotonFirst, the global innovation leader in integrated photonics sensing, collaborated with partners of the JePPIX Pilot Line to design and fabricate indium phosphide optical chips for their Modular Photonics Platform. With standardized building blocks, this platform allows PhotonFirst to configure a dedicated sensing solution for each customer without developing the system completely from scratch. With a wide range of combinations, this covers the vast majority of customer requirements and lowers the threshold of using integrated photonics for measurement and data generation substantially. PhotonFirst’s customers are active in various fields of applications, including aerospace, mobility, and medical.

The next steps of the Modular Photonics Platform are miniaturization and greater manufacturability. Nick Singh, CTO of PhotonFirst, says: “Our ongoing cooperation with the partners in the JePPIX Pilot Line and our customers will enable us to make high-quality chip-based sensing more accessible in the next few years. Together, we are committed to driving the industrialization and use of high-performance indium phosphide Photonic Integrated Circuits.”

The JePPIX Pilot Line brings together Europe’s key players in the fields of PIC manufacturing, design, software, equipment development and technology R&D. Amires is part of InPulse project which has been enabling JePPIX Pilot Line since January 2019. JePPIX is now open to provide extra support to innovative businesses through co-financing their development projects aimed at transitioning from the first proof-of-concept circuit to production.

Find out more about JePPIX services at www.jeppix.eu/jeppix-pilot-line/services/ and about financial support to EU-based business at https://www.jeppix.eu/jeppix-pilot-line/request-financial-support/

MARVEL M24 meeting in Prague

On 10 – 11 October 2022, the MARVEL project consortium met for the M24 meeting hosted by Amires in Prague, Czech Republic. During the meeting, our team was preparing for the final stage of the MARVEL project, keeping in mind that we have only 140 days to fully achieve our goals and deliver all the results on time! Summing up the last 24 months of the project it is worth saying that the achieved results are perfectly aligned with the planned objectives. Moreover, our consortium agreed to perform additional research analysis on the characterization of the isolated EVs. This step should lead to a more precise evaluation of the effectiveness of the MARVEL multifaced and versatile platform for scalable EV isolation. This platform is based on peptide probes with high specificity and stability. Wish us good luck and track our progress!

 

First six months of eCAP confirm the need for innovative e-health solutions in digestive disease diagnostics

November marks the end of the first six months of eCAP – a collaborative research and innovation project determined to tackle the worldwide gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) epidemic by developing a diagnostic smart capsule connected to an e-health platform. On the occasion of this milestone, the consortium partners met over a day-long teleconference to discuss project progress and plan next steps. ABIMI is supporting the dissemination and management activities within eCAP.

Over the course of the last half a year, the consortium has successfully completed the activities laying the groundwork for eCAP specifications and user design. Moreover, partners have undertaken the initial mapping of the regulatory landscape and established the methodology for the health technology assessment and cost-benefit analysis of eCAP. This scoping work is aimed at ensuring the project results in meaningful innovation catering to the needs of a growing patient population on the one hand, and health care systems stretched for resources on the other.

The stakeholder interviews conducted by Imagination Factory – work package leader for User Specifications – indicate eCAP consortium is on the right track. Both, patients and clinicians look forward to innovative technologies to increase the accuracy and ease of use of tests utilized for diagnosing gastroesophageal reflux. While patients would appreciate improved comfort, clinicians and nurses stress the need to cut the inefficiencies and costs related to the devices currently on the market. The stakeholder input gathered will feed into the mechanical design of the smart capsule, the work for which has been kicked off under the leadership of Tyndall National Institute.

At the M6 Progress Meeting, the consortium was also happy to welcome the contributions from its freshly formed External Advisory Board and Ethics Advisory Board. The Boards are composed of renowned experts from fields ranging from gastroenterology and medical devices to regulatory and ethics.

Read more about the meeting and project progress on eCAP website here.

First NanoQI Workshop and M30 Meeting

On the 18th of October, the NanoQI project partners had a chance to meet after over a year to discuss their progress on the M30 meeting. All partners were glad to discover in person one of the application sites – the thermal curing oven of perovskite solar cells at the TNO, in Eindhoven and to receive feedback from our external advisors.

On the second day, 19th of October, the meeting continued with an external event, showcasing the project results to almost 60 external participants during the Quality Control in Thin-Film Applications workshop.


TNO & Solliance welcomed us at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven where the project partners presented their impressive results and explored the potential pathways to industrial applications of the NanoQI methodology. Perovskite and tandem solar cells were the overarching theme in the talks, as well as the exhibition.

To close the day, the workshop participants could experience the project first-hand in a live demo of the hyperspectral imaging cameras, which were on display as well during a tour of the TNO pilot line, where the integrated x-ray diffractometer was also introduced.

We are looking forward to successfully finishing the NanoQI project!

ComBioTES: storage system designed!

ComBioTES system is composed of two storages, one PCM-TES (Phase Change Material-Thermal Energy Storage) and one Versatile TES. Therefore, one of the most crucial tasks of the project is to design and manufacture them.

In the first place, CEA performed four batteries of tests in their equipped laboratory, to determine the behaviour of the PCM and the latent TES. The first batteries of tests were done to compare the real performances of the HMH’s latent heat storage with the Sodium Acetate Tri-hydrate (SAT) as PCM and with the first bio-based PCM supplied by Roquette. Whereas, the following batteries of tests were performed on CEA’s highly instrumented experimental TES, to learn more about the PCM behaviour, in perfectly known and controlled heat exchange conditions.

Afterwards, CEA finalized the design of the PCM-TES and Versatile TES, according to the requirements established in the first phase of the project. The PCM-TES has an optimal design and 3 backup designs, while, for the Versatile TES the design is complete, and the engineering phase has just started.

The plan for the next months is to manufacture both TES and start the testing phase in Spring 2023. There is more to come!

AMIRES long term cooperation with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement of the Technical University of Košice

In Prague, we were glad to kick off the collaboration between AMIRES, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement of the Technical University of Košice (TUKE), Slovakia.

AMIRES acknowledges Marek Schnitzer, and part of his team Dr. Miroslav Kohan, Tomáš Bálint, Nikola Lisá in joining the Second Regenerative Medicine workshop on October 12 at the Technology Centre CAS, as well as in the RegMed workshop dinner a day before, on October 11.

Marek Schnitzer presented during the workshop the capabilities, results and use cases on bio-additive and additive manufacturing in personalized 3Dprinted implants of the TUKE Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement. All presented implants were designed in cooperation with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement (KBIaM, SjF, TUKE) with the spin-off company CEIT Biomedical Engineering, s.r.o., later Biomedical Engineering, s.r.o.(ISO13485 certified) and produced by the additive technology with porous structure from titanium alloys Ti-6Al-4V, composites and other materials.

The main interests of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement at TUKE are development of biodegradable materials such as polymers, composites, and others, development of instrumentation for additive manufacturing (production /printers) in clinical settings, bioreactors and quality measurement of filaments, composite structure, and ceramics. The members of the department have experience in collaborating in National projects, however they search to increase their collaboration with European organisations in the Horizon Europe framework.

The Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement at TUKE welcome organisations to partner in new endeavours to reach wider impacts on tissue engineering, implantology and regenerative medicine.

FlexFunction2Sustain M31 meeting was full of discussions

On 12th and 13th of October, AMIRES participated in the 31-month consortium meeting of the FlexFunction2Sustain project in Athens, Greece.

On the agenda over the two days, the consortium has recapped on the progress achieved forwards the objective to create an Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) for sustainable nanofunctionalised flexible plastic and paper products. An overview of the work performed in the running Work Packages was presented and the partners set the course for the future activities. On the second day, discussions in specific workshops dedicated to the establishment of the OITB Association took place. As a symbolic act which expresses the intent of joining the Association, the partners signed the “Athens Declaration”. Equally important was the progress with the FlexFunction2Sustain Use Cases as well as the Pilot Cases included in the project via the Open Call which aims at validating the future OITB services. In a separate brainstorming session, the partners discussed how to increase the dissemination and promotional activities further to attract more proposals for the next and last cut-off date (27th January 2023).

We are looking forward to continuing working towards the launch of the OITB.

Despite challenges EU innovation performance continues to improve

The Commission has published the 2022 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard, which reveals that the EU’s innovation performance has grown by about 10% since 2015. Compared to 2021, innovation performance in 2022 has improved for 19 Member States, and declined for eight. Compared to the EU average, global competitors such as Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, and the United States continue having a performance advantage over the EU. Nevertheless, the EU has closed its performance gap with these nations and has surpassed Japan since 2021.

Members States fall into four performance groups: Innovation leaders (performance is above 125% of the EU average), Strong innovators (between 100% and 125% of the EU average), Moderate innovators (between 70% and 100% of the EU average) and Emerging innovators (below 70% of the EU average). Sweden continues to be the best performer in the EU. Other Innovation Leaders are Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland.

In comparison to last year’s edition, three countries have changed performance groups. The Netherlands has become an Innovation Leader, Cyprus a Strong Innovator and Estonia a Moderate Innovator.

The Czech Republic is Moderate innovators.

The report covers the EU Member States and several other countries in Europe and around the world. Compared to the previous years, this year’s edition included three additional countries, namely Albania, Chile and Mexico.

The full report is available HERE.

AMIRES was presented at ICEFPE22 and AGRIVOLTAICS 2022

Amires was presented at the 12th International Conference & Exhibition on Green Flexible Printed Electronics Industry (ICEFPE22) and AGRIVOLTAICS 2022, which took place from 10th to 12th October 2022 in Athens, Greece.  The event got together various stakeholders by providing them opportunity to discuss, network, make business and establish the strategy and policy for boosting the rapidly evolving Green FPEs Industry contributing to a Green, Digital, Decarbonized Industry and Circular Economy, Society and Planet.

During the event, Dr. Vaclav Smitka, Chief Process Officer at AMIRES, presented the company. His talk on R&I tools, services and opportunities: from research to impact provided a practical overview of the possibilities in the R&I ecosystem by justifying the tools, which could be utilised to further steer innovations. Moreover, successful examples from AMIRES portfolio of industry driven projects which will provide high-impact future innovative solutions in the Flexible Organic & Printed Electronics field were showcased. Financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research and innovation programmes, the examples demonstrate how research and innovation efforts can be aligned to achieve maximum impact.

More information about the event available HERE.

The registration for EIC summit 2022 is now open

The European Innovation Council is organising the second edition which will take place on 7-8 December 2022 in Brussels, in Tour & Taxi.

The first day of our flagship event will feature inspiring keynotes, major announcements and award the prestigious EIC Prizes. Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth will open the EIC Summit and the exhibition, join the session on New European Innovation Agenda and announce the winners of the EIC Women Innovators Prize and the iCapital Award. The first day will be web-streamed and open to a broader public.

The second day of the Summit will be fully dedicated to our EIC beneficiaries. The programme will be packed with a variety of practical workshops on finance, intellectual property rights (IPR), and deep-tech technology that will help our beneficiaries in their day-to-day work.

During the event, there will be plenty of opportunities for networking and meeting investors, EIC Board Members and Ambassadors or the EIC Programme Managers.

More information is available HERE.

Launch of another amazing project in AMIRES’ portfolio on sustainable electronics – ECOTRON!

AMIRES is excited to announce the start of the ECOTRON project. 

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are a staple these days, you can find them everywhere, from automotive components to everyday objects such as smart watches and medical devices. Despite all their advantages, PCBs are unfortunately not environmentally friendly. This is where ECOTRON steps in: new printed electronics (PE) technologies will be developed to replace the state-of-the-art PCBs. In addition, novel biobased or compostable materials for PE will be developed as well as PE designs that can be recycled to improve to overall circularity of the production process.

Renowned research centres, a university, SMEs and industry have joined forces to demonstrate the developed technologies in four use-cases: an on-body drug dosing device, athletes’ sport tracker, LED light foil and smart packaging for medicinal drugs.

This 4-year project funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe has just started. Stay tuned for more news and first results! 

MEET OUR TEAM: Jaroslava Kašparová

We are very happy to welcome Jaroslava, who joined AMIRES and Energy & Sustainability team in October 2022. Jarka graduated from University of Economics in Prague with her studies focused on International Trade, European Integration and Anglo-American studies.

She gained her expertise in a public sector working for the Ministry of Industry and Trade: being responsible for OECD and EU research and development policies – fighting for national interests in this field. Furthermore, she actively worked on creation and development of frameworks and rules of EU funds (OPPIK – Operational programme for entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness) and National aid programme TRIO which was created to support projects especially in KETs and to enhance cooperation between research organisations and private companies. After five years’ experience in the area of Research, development and innovation she dedicated her further career to trade diplomacy and she gained experience at a position of trade officer for bilateral trade relations between the Czech Republic and China, Taiwan.

She loves to spend her days at the sea anywhere in the world. With respect to the fact that staying at the sea is not always possible – she loves to run away from Prague for weekends in nature. Besides of running away from the city life, she invests her time in her family and close friends, plays guitar, and loves to move her body. She doesn’t like complainers and all the injustice of the world. Ah – and Alain Delon is the only man in the world she would be willing to iron shirts for.

In AMIRES Jaroslava acts as a Project Manager in Horizon Europe SuPerTandem projects (sustainable materials for development of highly efficient all-perovskite photovoltaic modules) and Convert2Green (climate neutral materials in innovative products).

Affordable – safe – secure – sustainable photovoltaic technology – that is the SuPerTandem project!

On the 4-5th October 2022, a top-notch international research team met in Brussels to unite on the first steps of the SuPerTandem project which will bring Europe a novel low-cost environmental-friendly photovoltaic technology.

In the next 3 years the team will be developing an innovative, scalable, low CO2 footprint photovoltaic technology for highly efficient two-terminal tandem cells and modules based on perovskite absorbers.

The project is led by TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) and AMIRES being responsible for project management and dissemination. The full consortium consists of 15 partners – creating an ideal combination of RTOs, Universities and SMEs.

Stay tuned for updates!

Is research the easy part? Key Takeaways from the Regenerative Medicine workshop

AMIRES was proud to organise the 2nd Regenerative Medicine workshop on 12 October, bringing together researchers, SMEs and experts in the field for an exchange of perspectives regarding the opportunities and challenges in Regenerative Medicine. It is worth noting that many participants have faced very similar challenges and obstacles in the sector, yet the situation differs, sometimes significantly, between countries and sub-sectors.

 

The event was kicked off the evening before with a networking dinner at which international guests had a chance to get to know each other and enjoy traditional Czech cuisine. 

3 EU-funded projects (Tumor-LN-oC, MARVEL and Organtrans) were represented at the event and shared with the audience their ambitions and achievements to date but also the difficulties encountered. 

  • Tumor-LN-oC proposes the development and validation of tumor-lymph node-on-chip microfluidic platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and lymph node tissue from the same cancer patient for metastasis research and drug test. 
  • ORGANTRANS (Controlled Organoids transplantation as enabler for regenerative medicine translation) aims to develop a disruptive solution that enables the 3D printing of tissue-engineered constructs and thereby provide an alternative to donor organs for patients with chronic end-stage liver diseases.
  • MARVEL (Evolving reversible immunocapture by membrane sensing peptides: towards scalable extracellular vesicles isolation) aims to develop an out-of-the-box solution for scalable small Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) isolation that is based on a paradigm shift from antibodies to peptides as an alternative class of affinity ligands, characterized by high efficiency of EVs capturing.

One of the shared challenges noted by the project representatives was the strategic decision between publishing and protecting the outcomes of the project given the different and sometimes conflicting interests in the consortium. A second obstacle identified was the coordination of the project exploitation activities to ensure that project outcomes are commercialised and transferred to the market, which usually requires close collaboration beyond the project duration. 

In the next block of the event, representatives from 3 companies (RESCOLL, Biomedical Engineering, Volumina Medical) shared their best practices and reflected on the challenges in transforming promising innovations in the RegMed field into a sustainable business model. The speakers and audience agreed that the biggest challenge in Regenerative Medicine is the successful transfer of innovations to the market and clinical practice, rather than the Research & Development itself, with the largest obstacle posed by the complex regulatory and legal landscape pertaining to medical devices: While in the pharmaceutical sector, manufacturers, as well as regulatory authorities, can operate under long-established processes, there are more gaps and uncertainties in biotechnology (such as cell and biomaterials production, bioprinting, organ-on chip devices), where regulation is barely keeping up with technological developments and possibilities. This goes hand in hand with the second key challenge identified: the fact that standardisation is (still) often absent and difficult to achieve, particularly when it comes to personalised medicine. This leads to the fact that quality management and regulatory procedures are considered only after successful prototyping, which is risky and expensive.

A potential solution is offered by Czech company Betthera, which specialises in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) looking into medical, economic, social and ethical implications of innovative technologies including a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. Conducting this type of analysis in the early days of development is key to advance from the prototype to product. Not only is it crucial to determine the potential market and value of the technology, it also serves as evidence for public and private funding organisations.

Lastly, experts agreed that it is essential to keep a patient-centred perspective and engage with clinicians and patients both during the development stages and clinical validation phase, making sure that the innovation addresses a real clinical need that benefits patients and is implementable in the clinic. This goes hand in hand with the necessity to approach R&D “as simple as possible, as complex as necessary” and not over-innovate, which might lead to increased scepticism and hesitancy to adopt the novel solutions. 

The fact that speakers came from different backgrounds ensured a diversity of perspectives and inspired a fruitful exchange, especially during the roundtable towards the end of the workshop. Thanks to our amazing speakers for coming to Prague and sharing your thought-provoking presentations, which facilitated insightful discussions! We were glad to see so much interaction during the coffee breaks and hope that the event will inspire new collaborations and partnerships. 

A huge thank you also to our amazing audience both in the room as well as online, for your engagement with the speakers on this difficult topic!

INSPIRE: new video released

INSPIRE projects has released a video! INSPIRE consortium aims to revolutionize photonic integrated circuit technology by combining the generic integrated foundry technology developed at Smart Photonics, and the silicon photonics pioneer IMEC, with the micro-transfer printing technology developed at X-Celeprint. INSPIRE has the ambition to strengthen the European manufacturing base by developing methods for SiN – InP integration which will remove expensive assembly steps in PIC-based product realization. Since the optical coupling happens through a silicon intermediate layer, the technology can be further ported to silicon CMOS photonics as well. INSPIRE will connect state-of-the-art manufacturing capability to leading-edge applications and also to industry clusters through JePPIX, ePIXfab and the EC manufacturing pilot lines. Learn more here

Multimodal AI for pancreatic cancer: A new momentum for PANCAIM 

On the 6th of September, PANCAIM had its first of three review meetings with the European Commission and appointed external experts to assess the progress of the project. After a successful rehearsal meeting, the consortium members presented the progress and achievements of the first 1.5 years of the project, but also addressed challenges encountered, risks identified and mitigation strategies. The appointed external reviewers were satisfied with the progress and curious to learn more about the timeline for the upload of available data into the repository as well as the common data model which was developed specifically for PANCAIM’s multimodal approach. The intense preparations for the review provided for a new momentum for the consortium and the work has picked up speed to reach the expected milestones and objectives of the next few months.

For a deeper view into the scientific activities in PANCAIM, check out the recent article published by PANCAIM researchers in the journal Cancers – “Setting the Research Agenda for Clinical Artificial Intelligence in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Imaging” which provides a comprehensive review of the state of the art of AI in PDAC and the need for improvements which will be made by PANCAIM (Available open access here).

In order to support the further work in PANCAIM and especially development of multimodal AI which will speed up significantly in the coming months, PANCAIM partner university of Glashow has shared a call for both a PhD student as well as a Research Associate/Postdoc – please share these offers with anyone who might be interested and feel free to contact the PANCAIM team if you are interested. 

OASIS – Access smart, lightweight composite materials and components

We’re thrilled to announce the publication of OASIS project video – Access smart, lightweight composite materials and components.

OASIS is an ecosystem of 12 nanotechnology manufacturing pilot lines providing nanomaterials, nano-intermediates, nano-enabled products and associated services for the development and commercialization of lightweight multifunctional products based on aluminium and polymer composites. It is a one-stop-shop offering the full suite of services from design and modelling to manufacturing, testing, scale-up and business support. Always tailored-made according to the customer’s requirements.

Find our more about the project OASIS here.

Only 2 days until the 2nd Regenerative Medicine workshop organised by AMIRES!

The Regenerative Medicine workshop organised by AMIRES Health & Biotech team will take place on Wednesday, October 12th, 2022 in a hybrid format – at the Technology Center CAS in Prague, as well as online.

The event will bring together different EU funded projects, initiatives and companies to exchange outcomes and experiences in the development of technologies in the regenerative medicine field. The online form for registrations is available here

We will discuss challenges and opportunities as well as best practices for innovations in regenerative medicine, among them:

  • Laser Bioprinting for regenerative applications and organ on chips (TUMOR-LN-oC)
  • EV-based therapeutics for cardiac repair and regeneration (MARVEL)
  • New alternatives to chronic liver patients (ORGANTRANS)
  • 3D printed personalized implantology and tissue substitute (Technical University of Kosice)
  • Scaffold biomaterials: from ideation to clinical use (Volumina Medical)
  • Economic and social impact of new therapies, medical device and emerging technologies (Betthera)

Click here to download the full agenda as PDF.

The event will close with a round table where speakers will exchange experiences on the challenges and hurdles of practical deployment of the new technologies in regenerative medicine.

Still not sure if you can join? Last-minute attendees are welcome! If you are interested in listening in, even for only few sessions, register here and connect using this Zoom link (the meeting opens on Wednesday 12.10. at 09:15 AM CEST). Participation is free of charge and open for all. 

We’re looking forward to welcoming our speakers and participants in Prague and online and hope to see you on Wednesday!

EuroSun 2022 – International Conference on Solar Energy for Buildings and Industry

EuroSun is one of the main events on solar energy for buildings and industry in Europe. This year the conference took place in Kassel (Germany), from 26th to 29th September, and its organization was a joint effort of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) and the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (IEA SHC).

More than 480 participants from over 50 countries joined EuroSun and contributed with speeches, workshops, and presentations. In particular, FRIENDSHIP took part in the session “System Modelling, Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization”, where the Project Coordinator, Valery Vuillerme, presented the poster below entitled “Data Clustering and Genetic Algorithm for the Design Optimization of a Hybrid Concentrated Solar System for SHIP”.

ComBioTES analysis of specifications and requirements

Since the beginning of ComBioTES, CEA, IEO, Voltalis and DTU have been working on the analysis of technical specifications and requirements for components of thermal energy storage (TES), to extract the full potential of the future system. They have also focused on system integration within buildings and consumer behaviour in the heating and electricity markets of several countries. As a result, now the project has a clear understanding of the technical challenges to overcome and a complete characterization of the market. Nevertheless, the team responsible of the task decided to limit long term predictions, as the unstable time we live in would have surely proved them wrong.


As a first step, IEO and Voltalis took into consideration 10 use cases, which refer mostly to power market rules and electricity tariffs for consumers in different countries in Europe and China. They categorized them into three general schemes: Use cases for power-to-heat with load shifting within the framework of time-of-use tariffs, use cases for PV prosumers, and capacity market use case.


At the same time, CEA identified technical constraints, specific constraints linked to the four demonstration sites and legal risks due to different National regulations. The constraints identified will be useful for the design of the TES, mostly to avoid considering designs that are not feasible, or whose installation on the different demonstration sites would be hazardous.


Finally, DTU made an overview of possible communication interfaces related to the energy management system (EMS) that could be applied in ComBioTES. Taking the Use cases defined previously as an input, they delivered technical specifications and a guideline for integrating the design and development of EMS and the TES component, from a function perspective.


More news about the TES design, the EMS setup and market analysis will follow!

WE ARE HIRING: JUNIOR MARKETING SPECIALIST FOR INNOVATION PROJECTS

Our team in AMIRES has a suite of exciting industrial and innovation projects in Energy and Sustainable programme underway (funded especially by Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe), and we are looking for the right candidate to help us execute them in the marketing role.

Our Junior Marketing Specialist will get involved in creating and running projects promotion campaigns and their content including social media and email marketing. Apart from that s/he will take care of the AMIRES brand and its continuous development.

Is Marketing your passion? Are you not scared of technical and innovative topics? Are you keen to learn and grown? If you answered YES, let us know, we are already looking forward to speak with you!

Click here to learn more about the role.

FRIENDSHIP: progress on the thermal storage

A prototype of TES (Thermal Energy Storage) is being designed for later tests at CEA, on two experimental facilities, with different Heat Transfer Fluids (HTF) -pressurized water and thermal oil- and operating ranges. Several heat exchangers designs have been considered, using parallel or concentric tubes, with or without inserts, in square or triangular array. A feasibility study was also conducted to investigate if extruded aluminium tubes could be used as HTF containers in the necessary temperature and pressure conditions. Thanks to this study, CEA has all the required documents to consult manufacturers for the CHS prototype, such as drawings and thermo-mechanical calculation notes in compliance with the European Pressurized Equipment Directive.

A suitable candidate for the PCM to be used in the storage unit was also characterized, thanks to thermogravimetric analysis, calorimeter evaluations, density measurement and heating cycles.

MEET OUR TEAM: OLJA KRISTIC

In September, our AMIRES family welcomed Olja Kristic, who joined us as a Project Manager in Energy & Sustainability programme.

Olja obtained a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia in 2012. Then, she continued working in the bioenergy sector in Serbia, Hungary and Germany – that is how she gained experience in research and international projects, market development and renewable bioenergy technologies.

Before joining us, Olja worked as a Project Manager in the European Commission in Brussels. The five years she spent there allowed her to learn a lot about the EU R&D funding framework, especially the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe Programmes, procedures and policies.


In AMIRES, Olja is managing Horizon Europe projects ECOTRON (How to minimize the ecological footprint for functional electronics?) and InVECOF (Innovative Value Chains for European Ceramic Oxide Fibres). She is also involved in proposals in Energy & Sustainability Programme.
In her free time, Olja likes to take long walks or go hiking. She is also very passionate about food and likes to explore new recipes and different cuisines.

We are happy to have Olja on board and we wish her the best of luck!

OASIS final event @ International Composites Summit 2022

The OASIS project final event took place on Wednesday 21st 2022 as part of the International Composites Summit 2022 in London. OASIS was present during the whole exhibition showcasing a number of demonstrators manufactured within the project at its booth. We also hosted a workshop to describe in more detail what OASIS can offer and what use cases it had already developed. The workshop was followed by a drinks reception which was the perfect opportunity for less formal networking at the end of the day.

This has been the last major dissemination event for the OASIS project itself as that will end in November 2022. However, that’s not the end but rather a new beginning. OASIS will continue to offer its services on a fully commercial basis taking advantage of the Single-Entry-Point structure that was established during the project.

We help companies access smart lightweight composite materials and components. We are OASIS.

Sustainable Places Conference 2022

This year the Sustainable Places Conference turned 10 years of existing and inspiring #sustainability and for the occasion a great event was organized in Nice (France) from 6th to 9th September 2022.
AMIRES was represented by Anastasia and Eleonora, who supported our four Horizon 2020 projects participating in the event.
ComBioTES and CONDOR joined the Low-TRL Renewable Technologies workshop, where 12 selected EU-funded projects shared their experiences dealing with the challenge of researching, developing, and demonstrating innovative, efficient, flexible, cost-competitive and environmentally safe low-TRL technologies.
FRIENDSHIP was presented at the Renewable Heating and Cooling workshop, which focused on a common strategy for increasing the use of renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling for buildings and industry.
Switch2Save took part in the Off-Site Plug-and-Play Prefab Systems workshop that concentrated on hybrid “Plug-and-play” prefabricated envelop systems, that not only regulate energy gains and losses across the envelop but also actively interface with the building, integrating renewable energy production systems and storage technologies.
Finally, AMIRES had the opportunity to visit Nice Smart City Innovation Center (IMREDD), a space that allows stakeholders at the university and in research to work alongside industrial leaders in the fields of innovation and smart cities.

Meet our partner – Paperdrop Diagnostics

MARVEL project consortium consists of 7 partners (CNR-SCITECCNR-ITMIstituto Cardiocentro TicinoVita-Salute San Raffaele UniversityHansaBioMed Life Sciences,  Paperdrop DiagnosticsAmires) and each of them provides unique competence and complementary expertise, that collectively cover the whole spectrum of skills required for the development of a multifaceted and versatile platform enabling scalable Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) isolation in various contexts of EVs research and deployment, in diagnostics and therapy. Today, we would like to introduce one of our partners, Paperdrop Diagnostics. They are focusing on the development of rapid diagnostic tests with improved sensitivity and specificity based on paper microfluidics, in particular on lateral flow immunoassays, similar to COVID19 and pregnancy tests. Paperdrop Diagnostics tests are a cheap and easy-to-use tool that requires just a single drop of a patient’s fluid (e.g. blood) to carry out the test using a paper sensor.
Watch a short interview with Dr. Daniel Quesada to know more about Paperdrop Diagnostics and their involvement in the MARVEL project.

32nd Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials | Bordeaux, France

From 4th to 8th September, our ORGANTRANS project partner, REGENHU, participated in 32nd Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials in Bordeaux, France. Dr. Mauro Petretta was a keynote speaker there, and he gave a talk about extending the capabilities of bioprinting within Parallel Sessions on “New bioinks for complex 3Dprinted tissue substitutes: from native functionality to disease modelling”. The ORGANTRANS project where Amires is a partner was mentioned as an example of the use case. From the presentations, it was clearly seen that the bioprinting world is expanding but it still needs more convergence and the use of multiple technologies combined in a single process that will allow pushing further the boundaries of research in this field.

eCAP project website goes online

After a successful project launch in May, eCAP website is now online.

Visit the eCAP webpage to find out more about the gastroesophageal reflux epidemic, reasons for Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) being severely underdiagnosed and what is eCAP consortium doing to help.

You can also get to know the project partners and ABIMI team involved and reach out to them for additional information via a dedicated contact form. The news section will keep you updated on the latest developments and project progress.

Click HERE and happy exploring!

AMIRES COOPERATES WITH KETMarket: Accelerates your product development – test them

AMIRES is committed to provide broad support to innovation, therefore we have partnered with prototyping and upscaling experts from KETMarket:

In the recent years, multiple Open Innovation Networks have been established in Europe to support small and medium enterprises (SME) and industry in developing new products faster and more efficient. All these networks gather leading universities, applied research organizations and companies offering bundled development services.

These networks include:

  1. Open Innovation Test Beds – support you in testing your idea and accessing all necessary technologies & services for your product development
  2. Open Access Pilot Lines – provide pilot and small series OEM manufacturing services for new products for earlier market deployment
  3. Digital Innovation Hubs – guide you through the digital transition and make your processes more efficient through digital technologies

Some of the networks recently launched open calls, though which you may receive subsidized access to the technical and innovation services provided by the networks with a budget between 60,000 … 150,000 €.

How does it work:

You submit a short (2-5 page) proposal describing your idea and the required services. If your project is selected, the network will deliver their services with 70 – 100% discount as selected projects are supported by the European Commission!

The following networks have currently an active open call:

  • FlexFunction2Sustain: Sustainable packaging, flexible electronics, and nano-enabled ecofriendly plastics and paper products. Deadline 27/01/2023
  • NewSkin: Services to manufacture and characterize a wide range of nano-enabled products on metal and plastic surfaces. Deadline 31/12/2022
  • NextGenMicrofluidics: Foil based microfluidic chips (lab-on-a-foil) or microfluidic composite devices. Submission is continuously open.
  • PHABULOµS: Pilot manufacturing of free-form micro-optics and microstructured surfaces on wafer, sheets, and rolls: Deadline: 30/11/2022
  • PHOTONHUB Europe: Photonics in a Broad Range of Applications: Test before Invest, Investor Access, Training and more. Submission is continuously open  

KETMarket will select for you the most suited innovation network and guides you through the application process. Describe and submit your product development needs today by visiting their WEBSITE.  

Or call them directly: +49 351 828 793 0

You are looking for more funding opportunities: Browse their funding database HERE.

Browse their technology and innovation database HERE.

Takeaways from the 2nd Next Gen Organ-on-Chip & Organoids networking workshop

On 23-24 August, AMIRES attended the 2nd Next Gen Organ-on-Chip & Organoids workshop organized by the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) by WEDER Gilles, PAOLETTI Samantha, REVOL Vincent, etc. in Geneva, Switzerland. CSEM also coordinates the EU-funded OrganTrans project in which AMIRES is a partner. AMIRES was represented by the attendance of our colleague Dr. Yevhen Horokhovatskyi.

Organoids are small, self-organized 3D tissue cultures derived from stem cells (body’s raw materials from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated) that can be crafted to replicate much of the complexity of an organ. This way of culturing tissues gives scientists a detailed view of how organs form and grow, providing them with new insights into human development and disease.

At the same time, the combination of biomimicry (organ-on-chip systems) and self-assembly (organoids) technologies can emulate the physiological environment and functionality of human organs on a chip for disAt the same time, the Organ-on-a-Chip is a cutting-edge technology that can emulate the physiological environment and functionality of human organs on a chip. This allows disease modelling and drug testing, giving the opportunity to see how drugs interact with these “mini-organs”, potentially revolutionizing the field of drug discovery and opening new approaches to personalized medicine. All of this, eventually, shows great potential in the novel drug development pipeline and future regenerative therapies.

When CSEM first organized the Next Gen Organ-on-Chip & Organoids workshop in 2020 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, it aroused great interest among both life science companies and research organizations. At CSEM first organized the Next Gen Organ-on-Chip & Organoids workshop in 2020 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and aroused great interest to this topic mainly among life science companies. At that time, many specialists, researchers, and leading industries attended this event presenting technical challenges and solutions in the application of the next generation organ-on-chip and organoids in disease modeling, drug testing, and organ replacement. Due to the COVID pandemics, CSEM organized also virtual events within this topic to replace the in-person event. However, after two years, CSEM hosted the 2nd networking workshop that had great success. Four partners of the OrganTrans project, CSEM, REGENHU, KUGELMEIERS, AMIRES, and more than 270 experts from the pharma & biotech industry, clinicians, organ-on-chip suppliers, regulatory experts, and researchers met under the same roof. Additionally, more than 25 organizations, including start-ups, large companies, and SMEs, presented their innovative products and emerging technologies at exhibition sessions.

Overall, the workshop focus was on the applications of organoids, 3D cell-based and organ-on-chip technologies for drug discovery and development, diagnostics, consumer safety, future regenerative therapies and organ replacement. The speakers presented data on the validation of the newest technologies of organ-on-chip, such as brain, kidney, lung, intestine, stomach, liver and many more. These chips are based on microfluidics, deep machine learning, automatized systems, and even personalized 3D bioprinting platforms. Such technologies complement the development of better disease organoid models, as well as the understanding of the different levels of interaction fostering future therapeutic approaches to human and animal health. However, the translation of this novel engineering platform into routine pharmacological and medical scenarios remains to be realized.

Summer internship at AMIRES

We are happy to say that we regularly open our door for a university student for an internship. Thanks to cooperation with IAESTE that is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization that brings together students and academics around the world and strives for the professional and personal development of students and young graduates we were happy to welcome during this summer our intern Sowmya who arrived from India.

Here is what she says about her internship:

“I am Sowmya Ashok Kumar, an M. Tech (Master’s in Technology) Biotechnology graduate from Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, India. I have always leaned towards research and development, which acted as a driving force for me to choose biotechnology which opened many opportunities to explore and learn fascinating concepts like how a single nucleotide can cause a radical difference in an organism. It completely changed my perspective on life and how research works. Apart from my course, I have worked on various projects with efficient product development. I was delighted to find this internship offer during my final semester through IAESTE, an international organization that coordinates internships for students and I applied for the same.

I was super excited about this offer, and my first trip to Europe. It was the best decision to apply for AMIRES, as the work culture was completely new to me, yet everyone was so kind and helped me adapt quickly. I got to work with new and upcoming concepts in LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), where I was free to explore different databases and software. It was a highly informative and creative process to discover various methods for modelling the life cycle of a product and assessing its sustainability and environmental impact on society. Thank you IAESTE and AMIRES for providing this great opportunity, which was a huge exposure for me.”

We thank Sowmya for her effort and help and we wish her all the best with her future!

MatEl project proposal has been successful!

AMIRES is part of a consortium which has recently secured funding for the MatEl project – PZT and Graphene MATerials innovations for advanced opto-Electronic applications in AR and biosensing – which has ambitious goals.

Europe’s leading position in photonics and electronics can only be secured by adapting to the next generation of optoelectronic devices requirements: high performance, multi-functionality and cost efficiency in miniaturized footprint. These can only be achieved if novel schemes for on-chip integration emerge. Among the established platforms for optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs), silicon nitride as a wide-band and low-loss material stands outs. However, Si3N4 itself has no active effect and the heterogeneous integration of active III-V and II-VI semiconductor chips is currently very complicated and costly. MatEl offers a unique solution to this challenge and promises to enable a novel on-chip integration scheme: Laser Digital Processing – Laser Transfer and Laser Soldering – will be employed for the accurate and fast alignment and bonding of any type of chip package (OEIC) on Si3N4. The hybrid platform will be enhanced by the monolithic integration of advanced materials (graphene and high-quality PZT), which will enable multiple functionalities in miniaturized footprint. MatEl will thus demonstrate two next-gen optoelectronic devices at TRL5: 1) 2D light source for AR displays with integrated RGB lasers and OEIC-based demultiplexers. 2) Bio-photonic sensor for antibodies detection with on-chip VCSEL at 850 nm featuring graphene photodetectors. Overall, MatEl ’s hybrid platform will combine the wide bandwidth and high confinement provided by Si3N4 with the active functionality of III-V and II-VI lasers, supporting a broad spectrum of next-gen applications, extending far beyond these demo applications. Hence, MatEl will reinforce the existing collaborations within the consortium and introduce new eco-systems, estimated to strengthen the EU photonics and microelectronics industrial capability by generating multi M€ turnovers to the involved SMEs and more than 200 new employment positions by the end of its timeframe.

We’re looking forward to starting the work soon and supporting the development of game changing technologies in the opto-electronics field.

New Product in House: AMIRES Ecosystem Management Platform (EMP)

AMIRES Ecosystem Management Platform (EMP) is a customizable IT tool for community building in any field. With the EMP tool, you can collect any relevant information around your particular field (such as organizations, available products or capabilities, news, and events…) and visualize it in an easy way in one place.
Depending on your needs, we can currently offer 4 customized modules for:

  1. Module: Marketplace of items (products/ services) search engine 
  2. Module: Organization profiles search engine 
  3. Module: Online content sharing – latest news, adds, reports… 
  4. Module: Tracking progress of your projects 

Appearance and layout of these modules can be customized. Differentiation is based on technology that you wish to showcase. Structure of the content is divided into individual filters on the left side and collected content on the right side. There are number of options to visualize your content with possibilities to add variety of labels (members, external…). AMIRES offers usage licence for EMP tool, with operational IT support. For more information, contact our product manager Jana Mwangi (mwangij@amires.eu). 

European Research and Innovation Days – Registration is open

Bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.

The event will take place online on 28 and 29 September 2022, allowing everyone to get involved from anywhere.

his year’s European Research and Innovation Days gives you the opportunity to discuss and shape new solutions to strengthen Europe’s resilience and its strategic autonomy. Join the event to debate how research and innovation deliver on the European Commission’s priorities.

More information and registration is available HERE.

New project for AMIRES portfolio – InVECOF – Innovative Value Chains for European Ceramic Oxide Fibres

In May 2022, the InVECOF project was launched. InVECOF addresses the development of a European oxide fibre and O-CMC component industry, decreasing dependence on non-EU producers.

InVECOF aims at creating a commercially available market within the EU for manufacturers of fabrics and O-CMCs (oxide ceramic matrix composites). Both O-CMC manufacturers and industrial end-users will exploit these new fibres in their manufacturing due to their superior performance and ensured security of supply.

The InVECOF project is led by Fraunhofer ISC and AMIRES is responsible for project management and dissemination. The consortium consists of RTO institutions, industrial producers of ceramic fibres and their end-users from aerospace and manufacturing industry from five EU countries.

Stay tuned for more up to date information and the website which will be launched shortly.

OASIS at International Composites Summit 2022

OASIS, through AMIRES and other partners, will be exhibiting at the International Composites Summit 2022 in London, UK, on 21st and 22nd September. You will find our booth (S5), showcasing a range of the project’s demonstrators, near the Forum area as shown on the floorplan.
 
As part of the event, OASIS will be hosting a workshop on Wednesday 21st from 4 p.m. (see the detailed agenda) followed by a networking drinks reception. The aim of the workshop is to introduce to the industry what unique services and capabilities OASIS can offer and show examples of client projects OASIS has already developed.
 
Participation at ICS 2022 (including OASIS workshop) is FREE. You only need to register.
 
We cordially invite everyone interested in composites and the offering of OASIS to join us for this great event!

ORGANTRANS at EUROoCS 2022 Conference

On the 4th and 5th of July, our coordinating partner, CSEM, had a booth at the EUROoCS 2022 conference in Grenoble, France. This meeting covered all aspects related to research, development, and application of organ-on-chip. Topics such as multi-organ and disease models, organoids-on-chip, technology platforms, standardization and qualification, regulatory aspects, and toxicity among others, were addressed. In addition to this, Stéphanie Boder-Pasche from CSEM presented a poster (P122) entitled “Perfusion platform for bioengineered tissues”. The perfusion platform is one of the building blocks of the ORGANTRANS technology which proposes a 3D bioprinting liver tissue platform to potentially replace liver transplantation for patients with end-stage liver failure.

More about the ORGANTRANS project and Amires involvement.

International Liver Congress™ 2022 | London

On 22–26 June, Kerstin Schneeberger from Utrecht University gave a talk about the ORGANTRANS developed technology at the International Liver Congress™ 2022 in London. Organized by the European Association for the Study of the Liver this event connected more than 430 faculty specialists in hepatology with more than 5,000 other international delegates. They shared their knowledge, discussed current developments, challenges, and the future of hepatology. The ORGANTRANS technology was presented as a bright example of the complex liver model creation enabled by the developed 3D bioprinting liver tissue platform. Covering the complete cycle of development from cell sourcing to tissue bioengineering this technology will replace liver transplantation for patients with end-stage liver failure. It is ORGANTRANS’s ambition that this novel technique can not only be applied to hepatic systems but also to other organ systems in Regenerative Medicine.

Women TechEU call is still open, apply by 4th October 2022, 14:00 (CET)

In June, the European Commission launched the second Women TechEU call. Following the very encouraging response to the first pilot in 2021, the Commission is more than doubling the budget to EUR 10 million this year, which is expected to fund up to 130 companies.

Women TechEU provides support to women-led startups at the earliest, riskiest stage of their company’s growth. In addition to a EUR 75 000 grant, the finalists receive mentoring and coaching for leadership, internationalisation, business modelling, implementation strategy, market entry, fundraising, negotiating with investors, and much more, through the EIC’s Women Leadership Programme.

By supporting women-led deep tech startups, the European Commission aims to create an equal and more prosperous European deep-tech ecosystem. In addition, the Women TechEU scheme promotes female leaders in their industries but also in their capacity of decision-makers.

This scheme is funded under the European Innovation Ecosystems work programme of Horizon Europe, with support from the European Innovation Council (EIC).

More information available HERE.

European Innovation Ecosystems Online Info Session – 07 September 2022

Do you want to know more about the calls and how to apply? On 07 September 2022, the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) is organising an informative webinar to learn more about the European Innovation Ecosystems Work Programme (EIE) and the Startup Europe initiative under the European Innovation Council Work Programme 2022.

The focus will be on:

  • building interconnected innovation ecosystems across Europe that foster inclusiveness (CONNECT destination)
  • reinforcing network connectivity within and between innovation ecosystems for sustainable business growth in Europe (SCALEUP destination). This includes support to women-led companies in deep tech (Women TechEU call).
  • building synergies with the wider European startup ecosystem via the second wave of actions under the Commission’s Startup Europe initiative (STARTUPEU call).

Five calls are currently open for various types of innovation ecosystem stakeholders. The deadline for submissions is 27 September 2022 for the CONNECT calls, 04 October 2022 for SCALEUP and Women TechEU, and 17 November 2022 for the STARTUPEU Call.

More information HERE.

Register HERE.

WE ARE HIRING – PROJECT MANAGER

To reinforce our team, weare opening position for a Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Deep Tech domain. The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of Horizon Europe projects and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals.

Are you ready to work in international environment? Are you ready to meet colleagues in the office? Do you enjoy communication and admin work? Are you eager to learn new things? If yes, then we are waiting for you!

See more details HERE. We are already looking forward to see you!

WE ARE HIRING – JUNIOR MARKETING SPECIALIST

Do you enjoy creating content? Are you fluent in digital media and interested in research, development and innovation projects?

If so, you would fit perfectly into our new open role in AMIRES. We are looking for a Junior Marketing Specialist to help us create and run innovation projects promotion campaigns and their content including social media and email marketing.

Read the whole job announcement HERE and submit your application till 12th of August 2022.

AMIRES visit to University of Hradec Králové

In July, AMIRES had the pleasure of visiting the Science Faculty of University of Hradec Králové (UHK), which we have been collaborating with in the last months.

The campus tour was followed by a great discussion on the plans for levelling up European cooperation of the Center of Advanced Technology and Department of Chemistry at UHK. The focus of future research and innovation projects will be on remote patient monitoring, oncology, neurodegenerative disease, CBRN-e, and many more.

The Center of Advanced Technology (CAT) at UHK has wide-ranging expertise in collecting and analysing health data. Unobtrusive pads developed at CAT can be placed under the mattress for vital functions monitoring by evaluation of micro vibrations. There are currently 230 pads deployed in 25 hospitals and senior centres across the Czech Republic to follow the disease progression of patients. CAT is likewise working on small on-body sensors and a cloud solution for data collection and evaluation, which facilitates the management of clinical studies for doctors and researchers.

The key research areas of the Department of Chemistry are Alzheimer’s disease, cancer theranostics, enzymology, metabolomics, and organophosphorus countermeasures. Among other research interests, the team is eager to develop theranostics tools for cancer and Alzheimer’s, decrease side effects of chemotherapy, and create powerful organophosphorus antidotes and bioscavengers. The Department of Chemistry, with expertise in the decontamination of B and C agents, is currently looking for collaborators for projects related to CBRN-e.

We welcome partners to join forces with University of Hradec Králové on these and related research topics and look forward to new projects together!

Industrial Technologies Conference 2022 – What a week it was!

In June, a very important event took place – not only for AMIRES, but for the whole European community working in the Industrial Technologies sector. Together with CEA, we organized IndTech2022 in Grenoble, France. Luckily, almost all of our team could be there.

Alongside inspiring sessions and workshops, the event created a space for various organizations and projects representatives to present themselves and network.

You could find us at the stand of AMIRES itself where you could find out about all our activities, but also in the villages, where our colleagues were happy to share information on the projects they were working on – FlexFunction2sustain, MedPhab, Phabulous & OASIS.

For more information, photos from the Conference and presentations, click HERE.

Smart2Go Project Finale in Oslo

The Smart2Go project reached its final day and the partners have reunited for one last time in Oslo for the final project meeting and the Smart Energy Supply Platform Workshop on June 27 – June 29. After successful three and a half years, the partners have achieved some impressive results to showcase.

It was a unique opportunity to meet in person at the Helly Hansen Headquarters in Oslo, to summarise what has been achieved during the course of the project. The unique location also enabled to see the physical demonstrators in action on the slope of the indoor ski arena SNØ. Moreover, it was also a tremendous opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the External Advisory Board Members and to foster partnerships for future collaboration.

All the partners were very well received at Helly Hansen and were delighted they could visit their showrooms and offices and hear more about the hosting partner’s other work and projects. Participants were thoroughly inspired by their work, both inside and outside the project.

Having a chance to discuss in person the results, as well as the learnings proved to be extremely beneficial for the partners, looking beyond the end of the project. Connecting this interactive experience with a hybrid workshop for external audiences titled “Smart Energy Supply Platform Workshop” turned out to be a tremendous success. Twenty three participants in-person had a chance to discover the project’s use cases first hand from presentations and demonstrations that included videos and visual explanations, as well as physical materials and testing. All of the workshop content was streamed and showed to the online audience as well, providing them a chance to interact with the presenters and other participants.

Additionally, the participants also had the chance to listen to short pitch presentations from the Smart2Go Design Contest Finalists and discuss with them the questions they had on developing their applications and ideas further. And lastly, EAB members or their colleagues finalized the meeting with presentations about current trends in the industry, which sparked exiting discussions. Overall, the meeting and workshop proved to mark a successful end to the project, establishing a base for further cooperation, both among the project partners and outside.

AMIRES at Sustainable Places Conference 2022

From 6th to 9th September, AMIRES will participate in the 10th annual edition of Sustainable Places Conference (SP2022) in Nice, France.

The Sustainable Places Conference is an annual conference which aims to foster networking and clustering between multidisciplinary experts, working towards more sustainable places. The event is renowned for showcasing results coming out of the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme via the participation of cutting-edge research and innovation projects. The agenda includes a thematic morning with roundtable discussions involving local stakeholders, parallel technical sessions and project-organized workshops which will explore the various conference themes and scientific publications in the field of sustainability.

During the event, AMIRES will present 4 projects from its Energy & Sustainability portfolio:

  • CONDOR and ComBioTES will take part in a collaborative workshop Low-TRL Renewable Energy Technologies workshop. The workshop will bring together EU funded projects dealing with the challenge of researching, developing and demonstrating innovative, efficient, flexible, cost-competitive and environmentally safe technologies, which are still at a low Technological Readiness Level (TRL 3-4).
  • Friendship will contribute to workshop RHC for Buildings and Industry Workshop 3.0, which will involve experts from the biomass, geothermal, solar thermal and heat pump sectors to discuss a common strategy for increasing the use of renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling for buildings and industry.
  • Switch2Save will be presented in workshop Off-Site Plug-and-Play Prefab Systems. The workshop is structured around three topics: a) overview of the technological developments achieved in each project; b) based on the project developments group active-passive-hybrid technologies in terms of their technical characteristics; c) use the technology mapping to assess the technology potential to contribute towards NZEB and positive energy targets.
Join us at SP2022!

Discover the project FlexFunction2Sustain in a new video

Watch the new video about the FlexFunction2Sustain project to learn more about the Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) for sustainable and smart products powered by nano-functionalized paper and plastic. The project aims to support small, medium-sized and large companies in the development and market launch of pioneering products through an ecosystem which:

  • provides users an easy access to holistic innovation services through a  Single Entry Point;
  • covers the whole range of services in the field of nano-functionalised materials;
  • offers complementary technical facilities as well as business solutions.

Enjoy watching!

Developing multimodal AI for Pancreatic Cancer: The PANCAIM M18 Meeting

From 16-17 June 2022, AMIRES participated in the 18-month consortium meeting of the PANCAIM project in Nijmegen. 

The central idea of PANCAIM is to successfully exploit available genomic, imaging and clinical data to improve personalized medicine of pancreatic cancer patients by  pooling data from almost 6000 patients at 5 clinical sites in Europe in a comprehensive online repository. Based on this data, combining manual and automatic annotation and analysis of features, the consortium will then develop algorithms through machine learning and AI training. These tools will help clinicians to make a more accurate prognosis and offer better treatment recommendations and outcome predictions for patients with pancreatic cancer, increasing the survivability and quality of life of those affected.

The PANCAIM M18 Meeting featured presentations of all work packages and a number of open discussions, during which partners shared progress and updates, discussed risks and challenges, and aligned on next steps. The common dinner at a local restaurant allowed team members to celebrate 1.5 years of successful project implementation and (finally!) get to know each other in person, facilitating even better future cooperation. After a very fruitful meeting, partners returned to their respective institutions with a renewed ambition for the project as well as a long to-do list for the coming months. 

Visit the project website or download the project leaflet to learn more about the project and its current status!

An exhaustive review on 3D liver cell models – ORGANTRANS technology is also there:

Nowadays, nanobiomaterials are extremely beneficial in many applications in health and medicine. Whilst nanobiomaterials offer various exciting new opportunities, their translation to the wider application in clinics is still slow. In this context, the #review published in Drug Delivery and Translational Research Journal by Melissa Anne Tutty, Dania Movia, Adriele Prina-Mello from Trinity Dublin College, Ireland presents the state of the art in the pre-clinical assessment of nanobiomaterials. In addition, this article describes the limitations of the current in vitro and in vivo liver models, and how tissue-mimetic 3D cell culture models can overcome such limitations, assisting in the translation of nanobiomaterials to the clinic.

Our project ORGANTRANS was mentioned in this article, as a bright example of the complex liver model creation enabled by innovative technologies, e.g. biofabrication offered by the #bioengineering company REGENHU. ORGANTRANS project consortium, coordinated by the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and formed by eight partners, two of which are transplantation centers, generates a 3D bioprinting liver tissue platform to potentially replace liver transplantation for patients with end-stage liver failure. ORGANTRANS will cover the complete cycle of development from cell sourcing and tissue bioengineering to clinical trials. Moreover, it is ORGANTRANS’s ambition that this novel technique can not only be applied to hepatic systems but also to other organ systems in regenerative medicine. Find out more about the review and ORGANTRANS project HERE.

Sustainable and smart becomes real – world´s first organic photovoltaic cell on recycled material made by EU-consortium FlexFunction2Sustain

The partners of the EU project FlexFunction2Sustain have committed themselves to create a network for innovative solutions for sustainable and smart products powered by nano-functionalized paper and plastic in order to support SMEs, start-ups and industries in the development and market launch of pioneering products. After the first two years, a number of promising results and prototypes have emerged and will be presented at the Conference for Industrial Technologies IndTech 2022 in Grenoble, France, June 27-29, 2022. Among them, a recently finalized highlight: the first working organic photovoltaic cell on recycled plastics. This represents a first major step in the development of more environmentally friendly product designs and flexible electronics. In the future, products such as smart packaging, but also interactive magazines in the field of advertising or consumer electronics can be designed based on these initial developments. Thanks to flexible electronics such as an OPV cell on recycled material, tomorrow’s products will be powered a little more environmentally friendly.

Read the Press Release announcing the outcomes of the FlexFunction2Sustain project.

M30 meeting of project MedPhab

After two and half years of the start of MedPhab, pilot line for photonics-based medical devices, the consortium was able to meet in person again in Oulu, Finland hosted by VTT on 15 and 16 of June 2022. Last time this happened was in January 2020 in Brussels during the kick off meeting, when plans of the pilot line were presented.  From that moment until this meeting many things have happened in the progress of MedPhab: technology map was defined, model cases (in vitro and in vivo diagnostics) finalized and published, use cases (in vitro, in vivo diagnostics: hospital use and home use) defined their specifications and are going into prototyping and integration. In addition, we had the launch of the open calls, receiving so far 20 companies in-take forms and the preparation of the first drafts of business and sustainability models of MedPhab. During this meeting (Month 30) the advancements on each of these topics were presented and deeply discussed.

One and half years are awaiting ahead of us, contributing to MedPhab’s main objective: accelerate the photonic devices development and industrialization for medical applications. Do not miss any updates and consult HERE.

MEET OUR TEAM: Anna Ivanova

We would like to introduce our new colleague Anna who joined our team May 2022.

Anna responded to our opened position for a Ukrainians and we found her experiences as a great fit for a Junior Marketing Specialist position. We are honestly happy that we can be a support to her in these times. Moreover, we are thrilled to share that AMIRES together sent 2 100 € to the account of the Ukraine Ministry of Social Policy.

More about Anna, originally from Ukraine, she graduated from The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration.

Through her various academic and practical experiences, she obtained thorough knowledge in the fields of policymaking, memory politics and conflict resolution. Anna acquired a profound understanding of EU affairs and policies through her traineeship at EuroClio, where she worked on fundraising and outreach for several EU-funded projects. In her role as a Social Media Coordinator and Research Associate at the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, she supervised researchers and managed the online presence of the Contested Histories project.

In AMIRES, Anna is involved in H2020 projects Switch2Save and is supporting other projects in Energy & Sustainability programme.

Welcome to the team Anna!

Registration is open for the European Sustainable Energy Week 2022

The European Commission has opened on the 16th June a registrations for this year’s European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) 2022. Under the theme “Going green and digital for Europe’s energy transition”, the event will take place from 26th to 30th September.

This year’s EUSEW will be organised in a hybrid format, both online and physical. Participants are invited to register and can chose to join the event on-site at the in Brussels or online to engage in discussions on different issues linked to the overall theme.

EUSEW 2022 highlights include:

  • The EUSEW Policy Conference, from 26th to 29th September. Main topics include REPowerEU, the digitalisation and integration of energy systems, energy efficiency, renewables, consumers and a fair energy transition, decarbonisation policies and international cooperation. Sessions are organised by the European Commission and energy stakeholders and include high-level speakers to discuss, debate and share best practices.
  • The prestigious Awards Ceremony for the European Sustainable Energy Awards, taking place on 26th September, in the presence of Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, recognising individuals and projects for outstanding efforts across four categories: innovation, local energy action, woman in energy and young energy trailblazer.  
  • The third edition of the European Youth Energy Day , taking place on 26 September within the activities of the 2022 European Year of Youth.  
  • A series of networking activities during the whole week where participants can connect with other members of the sustainable energy community, including a hybrid energy fair that gives organisations and associations the opportunity to showcase their initiatives and interact with participants and a series of energy talks.
  • The EUSEW extended programme, from 19 to 23 September, featuring 40 sessions leading up to the EUSEW Policy Conference.
  • From June to September, locally organised Sustainable Energy Days taking place around the world to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

More information is available HERE.

ORGANTRANS technical workshop: synchronization and testing of a 3D-bioprinting platform and a tissue maturation bioreactor

The developed 3D-bioprinting platform and tissue maturation bioreactor were recently tested by our ORGANTRANS Consortium during a dedicated workshop at Utrecht University. The workshop aimed to integrate these systems into one platform and synchronize their work stages. In addition, they optimized a PEG-based hydrogel 3D-printing technique within a controlled atmosphere to standardize the bioprinting process. Two different biocompatible sacrificial materials, which are used to create channels in the printed hydrogel construct, were evaluated. Moreover, partners tested the printing directly in a substrate, which would minimize the handling of the construct when placed in the bioreactor. These elements are the essential blocks of the ORGANTRANS technology which aims to create a liver tissue 3D printing platform and replace liver transplantation for end-stage liver failure patients. Additionally, this platform can be scaled to other organ systems, as organoid technology is one of the largest parts of regenerative medicine.

More information about the project.
 

eCAP: Towards universal access to digestive disease diagnostics

On 4 May 2022, a kick-off meeting took place for the eCAP project: recipient of a €4.7 million grant from the European Union’s Research and Innovation Programme Horizon Europe. The aim of the project is to deliver a novel medical device combining a smart capsule with an e-health platform to enable better diagnostics, patient empowered disease management and hence, improved outcomes for patients with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, a major source of population morbidity and care costs worldwide.

The consortium, composed of 10 partners from research organisations and industry across Europe and Kenya, will demonstrate the universality of the eCAP solution in clinical trials in France as well as low resource environments by bringing the device to patients who so far have had limited access to GI disease diagnostics.

AMIRES is proud to support the project management and dissemination activities in the project.

Read more on our plans in the press release here.

 

 

 

WE ARE HIRING!

Do you like challenges and adventures? Do you want to climb with us not only to the mountain peaks?

Go beyond the Horizon with our team and join us!

To reinforce our team, AMIRES (Czech Republic) is opening positions for Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Energy & Sustainability domain. The chosen candidates will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of H2020 / HE projects and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals.

Find out more HERE.

We are already looking forward to welcome you on board!

Thirty months of the ORGANTRANS project behind

On the 30th and 31st of May, the ORGANTRANS consortium met for the M30 meeting hosted by one of our partners, DWI Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials located in Aachen, Germany. The goal of this meeting was to share the latest progress and to discuss further steps needed for the final phase of the project. In principle, the entire development cycle from cell source and tissue engineering to a fully functional liver tissue 3D printing platform is almost finished. Nevertheless, the remained final phase of the project will include the synchronization and integration of work stages of all the systems and further testing in a relevant environment. The platform to create liver constructs developed within the ORGANTRANS project is a future alternative for organ transplantation medicine as it proposes a disruptive alternative to donor organs for patients with chronic end-stage liver diseases. Importantly, this research creates novel technologies that can be applied to other organ systems in the field of regenerative medicine.
To learn more about the project, click HERE.

INSPIRE project meeting in Eindhoven

On 23-24 May 2022, the INSPIRE consortium met in-person for the first time at TU/e to celebrate the 17 months of successful project implementation and to review the progress achieved so far. INSPIRE project responds to the ever-increasing need of high-performance PICs by combining the three dominant photonic platforms, Indium phosphide, Silicon nitride and Silicon (CMOS), with the aim of creating and leveraging volume manufacturing techniques. The industrial viability will be validated through process transfer into a pilot line foundry process and multi-coupon transfer printing to enhance the throughput and yield of the transfer printing process. To gain insights regarding the route to volume production, the consortium invited a member of our Industrial Advisory Board, Hitesh Ballani Microsoft Research Cambridge who shared his views on the topic. As a part of the meeting, partners had the opportunity to visit TU/e´s lab and cleanroom facilities.

We are looking forward to continuing the work on the project for 2 more years!

Discover INSPIRE project HERE

European Innovation Ecosystems work programme: upcoming calls worth €29.5 million

The European Commission has announced additional €11.7 million to strengthen the European Innovation Ecosystems.

The European Commission has adopted the amended European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) 2021-2022 Work Programme under Horizon Europe. It provides new funding opportunities for deep-tech start-ups led by women and the EU angel investment industry on top of existing actions that aim to create more connected and efficient innovation ecosystems.

The amended work programme clarifies the COFUND rate in the context of the forthcoming EIE calls due to open for submission on 14 June:

HORIZON-EIE-2022-CONNECT-02-01: Implementing co-funded action plans for interconnection of innovation ecosystems (budget: €8 million)

HORIZON-EIE-2022-CONNECT-02-02: Stimulating innovation procurement (budget: €4.5 million)

Standard changes to the HORIZON-EIE-2022-SCALEUP-02-01 Expanding Investments Ecosystems call conditions for lump sum topics were applied. 

The call has a total budget of €5 million and will open for submission on 21 June 2022.

More information is available here. The work programme document is available here.

CONDOR: Successful completion of first 18 project months

On 19th – 20th of May, CONDOR team met to sum up the achievements for the first 18 months and to plan future actions in the project. Hosted by AMIRES in Prague, Czech Republic, the consortium had the chance to reunite after the COVID-19 outbreak, which represented the first in-person meeting for the team.


The CONDOR partners seized the opportunity to show their progress from a scientific perspective with regard to the project’s ultimate goal to develop an innovative renewable energy system for fuel productions. Each work package leader gave a presentation to share insight into the work performed for the development of CONDOR device. The partners reviewed the progress in the synthesis and modelling of molecular catalysts and the preparation of photoanodes for water, chloride or biomass oxidation, and (photo)cathodes for syngas production. The discussions also covered the ongoing parallel activities aimed at syngas conversion to fuels by thermal or photoactivated processes.
Summing up the first 18 months of the project, it is worth saying that the achieved results are aligned with the planned objectives. Overall, the project is well on track and the first 11 deliverables were submitted as well as the planned milestones were reached on time.
Coordinated by the University of Bologna, the CONDOR project connects well reputed technology development teams and key industrial partners. In the project, AMIRES is responsible for the project management and leads the work package dedicated to the communication and dissemination of results and exploitation activities.


More information for CONDOR project can be found HERE.

How can you use smart glass technologies for energy saving? Show us by joining the Switch2Save Architectural Design Competition!

Glass is considered one of the integral components of modern architectural design. Think about today’s office buildings, airport terminals, train stations and shopping centers – their designs often incorporate glass façades or roofs. Glass is attractive, versatile and provides a visual connection with the outside world, which is why large-area glazing remains a continuing trend.

However, large glass areas can significantly increase the energy demands for cooling and air conditioning in summer. In fact, modern buildings with large glass components consume up to 100% more energy each year than buildings with small windows. With the aim of reducing energy demands in buildings featuring glass façades, roofs or large window-to-wall areas, the EU-funded Switch2save project is holding an Architectural Design Competition to collect energy saving design concepts for such buildings.

The competition focuses on non-residential sites – either new or renovation projects – and sets no design restrictions regarding the site size, location or climate. Participants are invited to submit design concepts which include an optimum exploitation of the Switch2Save electrochromic (EC) and thermochromic (TC) smart glass technologies. These are transparent energy-smart materials with switchable total energy transmission values to control the transfer of solar radiation into the building. EC and TC technologies also have the added advantage of providing greater indoor lighting comfort than conventional mechanical window blinds.

The competition is open to young architects, students, and/or multidisciplinary teams that include building physicists or engineers and are led by young architects or students enrolled in an academic programme from an accredited educational institution. Teams can have up to three members of any nationality.

For more information about the competition terms, important dates and the exciting awards, check the Switch2Save website.

To participate in the competition, register HERE.

The Switch2Save (Lightweight switchable smart solutions for energy saving large windows and glass façades) project aims to help make electrochromic (EC) and thermochromic (TC) smart glass technologies more easily available and affordable so as to contribute to the EU’s goal to become climate-neutral by 2050. The project is demonstrating the potential of its two representative buildings – Greece’s second largest hospital in Athens and an operational office building in Uppsala, Sweden. A total of 50 windows and 200 m2 of glass façades will be replaced with a switchable smart glass solution, following which a “before–after” comparison will be conducted of the energy consumption in both buildings for one year.

1 year of Tumor-LN-oC: Working towards a Tumor-Lymph Node-On chip platform

Last week, the Tumor-LN-oC consortium met in Eindhoven for the project’s M12 progress meeting. The meeting officially concluded the first year of the project, which was appropriately celebrated over a common dinner.

The M12 meeting focused on sharing updates, jointly solving any challenges that occurred and planning the next steps, but also made time for informal discussions and networking between the partners. Agenda items mainly concerned the progress and future plans regarding the various Tumor-LN-oC components, which are currently being developed and tested independently by partners and will one day form the Tumor-LN-oC platform. Partners also discussed at length the experiments around cell migration and the interaction between the tumor and lymph node cells on the preliminary chips.

In its role as management, dissemination and exploitation partner, AMIRES led the sessions on project management, communication and dissemination efforts, as well as a structured dialogue on the future commercialisation efforts of the consortium.

The chip fabrication workshop in the TU/e Microfab laboratory on the last day gave all team members a hands-on experience of the various steps of manufacturing and assembling the Tumor-LN-oC microfluidic chip.

In order to reach the ultimate objective of the project – a TRL 5 tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform, which will connect surgically removed human primary tumors and lymph node tissue (LN) from the same lung cancer patient  (a “biological twin” of the patient) – a lot of work remains to be done. Nevertheless, the platform, which will offer various analytical possibilities to analyse the cancer patient’s LN metastasis activity and monitor the treatment response, seems one step closer.

We are grateful to our partners for their commitment to the project and are looking forward to continuing the work in the next 3 years of project implementation! 

Read more here!
 

Halfway through FRIENDSHIP project

The Horizon 2020 project FRIENDSHIP reached the halfway milestone this month and for the occasion the whole consortium met for the first time, in Sweden.

The meeting started with the projection of the film: “Our Planet: Our Business” by David Attenborough, to remind about the vital role companies have in building a sustainable future.

On the agenda, an overview of the progress in the running Work Packages was presented. In addition to that, in the Third General Assembly, the consortium had also the opportunity to discuss management plans and implementations within the project. The second day, instead, was dedicated to technical discussions and to future collaborations among partners.

During the meeting, FRIENDSHIP also received very valuable feedback and suggestions by Mr. Thomas Ammerl, External Advisory Board member from BAYFOR.

The event was hosted by ABSOLICON who provided insight into the concentrated solar collectors they developed.

Future looks bright for FRIENDSHIP!

FlexFunction2Sustain in M24: what has been achieved?

Two years after the start of the project, FlexFunction2Sustain published an overview highlighting the achievements of the first half of its implementation. AMIRES, together with eighteen consortium members, coordinated by Fraunhofer-FEP , work to attain the ultimate goal to establish a sustainable Open Innovation Test Bed to boost innovations for sustainable plastic and paper products to reach the market faster.

The first half of the project was dedicated to set up both business model and legal structure of the ecosystem. In parallel, the technical facilities of the consortium members have been upgraded for processing of novel bio-based, bio-degradable and/or recyclable plastic and paper based materials that shall replace the state-of-the-art mineral oil based plastic products in e.g. packaging applications. All facilities and technological solutions developed within FlexFunction2Sustain are being verified in six industrial use case scenarios that cover food and non-food packaging, biodegradable security labels, switchable water filter membranes and innovative multi-functional electronic surfaces in automotive applications. At month 24 of the project, the partners successfully demonstrated roll-to-roll processing of bio-degradable micro-structured surfaces for security labels; roll-to-roll manufacturing of conductive PET based membranes for filter applications; demonstrators of fully recyclable drink pouches and operational organic solar cells that were deposited on recycled PET films. In order to accelerate the uptake of the OITB services, FlexFunction2Sustain launched an Open Call targeted to the interested external companies. Following a competitive selection process, up to 20 pre-commercial business cases (pilot cases projects) will be selected to receive discounted services from the OITB members.

Discover more about the main advancements by Month-24 by downloading the overview presentation HERE.

PROJECT FRIENDSHIP: Innovations on the ejector and absorption chillers

SINTEF and CEA are investigating different innovative solutions for absorption cooling at -20°C and -40°C from 100-250°C solar heat, in particular a GAX (Generator-Absorber heat eXchange) cycle based on commercial components, like Plate Heat Exchangers (PHE). This innovative design improves the heat and mass transfers, thus performance. In addition, manufacturing costs decrease, as the needed components are standardized and available in the market. A numerical study allows identifying the best solutions for the SHIP integration, giving an overview on the operating temperature ranges for each cycle. Thanks to these concepts, which led to the definition of technical sheets, a prototype of a GAX cycle for -20°C cooling will be realized, the choice on the final architecture will be made further on, when the market search will have provided the necessary economic data.

The work on the optimal design of the ejector chiller, targeting cold production down to 5°C (short term) and -10°C (long-term) is also being studied both on the process level and the component level. On the process level, SINTEF is working with the partners to optimize the cycle architecture and the choice of working fluid. On the component level, a detailed ejector model has been developed in a recently submitted publication. This model can for the first time can calculate the local entropy production through the ejector, which allows identifying the optimal ejector geometry as that which minimizes the entropy production.

Watch how was our MARVEL project symposium in Lugano | 13 April 2022

On 13 April 2022, we had an Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) dedicated symposium in Lugano, Switzerland with the main slogan “Extracellular Vesicles as next-generation clinical biomarkers and therapeutic agents”. It was organized by Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino – EOC Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale and AMIRES in the frame of the MARVEL EU-funded project and this event was a part of the 2nd Lugano ExoDay sponsored by Swiss National Science Foundation. You can watch a short video on how it was by clicking on the button below.  
On 13 April 2022, we had an Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) dedicated symposium in Lugano, Switzerland with the main slogan “Extracellular Vesicles as next-generation clinical biomarkers and therapeutic agents”. It was organized by Istituto Cardiocentro Ticino – EOC Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale and AMIRES in the frame of the MARVEL EU-funded project and this event was a part of the 2nd Lugano ExoDay sponsored by Swiss National Science Foundation.
The symposium was attended by more than 90 experts and young investigators working in the expansive field of Extracellular Vesicles. Structured around keynote presentations from selected speakers, flash presentations, and posters from young investigators, the symposium facilitated the exchange of views on the current and future technology solutions in the expansive field of Extracellular vesicles and their applications in the healthcare sector.
The MARVEL symposium culminated with the Award Ceremony designed to encourage excellence in research and presentation skills in young investigators. The Ceremony was sponsored by the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acid where all the selected abstracts will be published. Awardees received certificates and a cash award of 250 dollars for the best poster and oral presentations. Vera Tscherrig, from the University of Bern, was awarded for the best oral presentation entitled “MicroRNAs in small extracellular vesicles (EVs) from Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stromal cells and their potential neuro regenerative role”. The best poster presentation entitled “Development of breakthrough liquid biopsy diagnostic via novel exosomal biomarkers for patient stratification in prostate cancer” was presented by Alekhya Mazumdar from the University Hospital of Zürich.
We would like to express our cordial thanks to all who attended the symposium and helped make this event a success. We have much pleasure in thanking our keynote speakers (Edit Buzás, Benedetta Bussolati, Michele De Palma), MARVEL partners (CNR SCITEC ‘Giulio Natta’, CNR-ITM, Libera Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, HansaBioMed Life Sciences Ltd and Paperdrop Diagnostics) and several organizations, in particular: SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation, USI Università della Svizzera italiana, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC), for their support and the very efficient help during the symposium. The organizers gladly acknowledge also many other local people from USI Università della Svizzera italiana, where the event took place, who helped with the organization and ensured that in all instances the formal steps went smoothly.

Looking forward to meeting you at future events we are going to organize.

Follow us HERE. 

Tumor-LN-oC contributes to an innovative and resilient health industry in Europe

The European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) has featured Tumor-LN-oC in a special article on its website for World Health Day. World Health Day is a global health awareness day observed annually on April 7th, which marks the anniversary of the founding of World Health Organisation (WHO).  In the article, the agency underlined the project’s contribution to an innovative and resilient health industry in Europe.

The European Commission considers technical-scientific projects such as Tumor-LN-oC as key to accelerating the green and digital transition, to building a stronger European Health Union, and to strengthening the EU’s autonomy in key strategic value chains. Tumor-LN-oC was highlighted for contributing to the European efforts to an innovative and resilient health industry in Europe by using and enhancing technological developments in the fields of microfluidics, cell biology, cancer biology, physics and computer programming in order to study the metastasis through the lymphatic system and the interaction of primary tumours with LNs.

In particular, Tumor-LN-oC is finding a solution for a robust, automated tumour–lymph node-on-chip platform, which will connect, on a microfluidic chip, human tumour tissues and lymph nodes. It is known that in many cases, tumours use lymphatic vessels to spread and colonise downstream lymph nodes (LNs) – a better understanding of this process is thus key for developing effective therapies. For this reason, the project consortium is developing a microfluidic system which will connect surgically removed, human primary tumours and lymph node tissue from the same lung cancer patient, which will make it possible to offer personalised treatment to lung cancer patients based on the molecular characterisation of their own metastasising cells. Possible application areas of the developed technology include personalised medicine and metastasis diagnosis, as well as drug testing and discovery.

 

MEET OUR TEAM: Yevhen Horokhovatskyi, Ph.D.

Today we would like to introduce our team member Yevhen who started working for us in September 2020 as a Project Manager. He has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics from the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in Ukraine. At the same university he obtained his Master of Science degree with honour from Medical Biophysics in 2014. In 2018 he received his Ph.D. in Cryobiology from the University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice which was a part of the Horizon 2020 research infrastructure project.

During his studies he cooperated with leading specialists from all over the world and took part in several international research projects and development programmes as a coordinator as well as a member of a research team. Apart from that, he was also actively involved in supervising of master’s students, teaching, publication in scientific journals and presentation of research findings at international conferences. He also gained experience in implementation of new standards, legislation, quality assurance codes and audit during elaboration and production phases of medical devices.

In AMIRES, Yevhen is responsible for H2020 project MARVEL (Evolving reversible immunocapture by membrane sensing peptides: towards scalable extracellular vesicles isolation) and acts as a Dissemination Manager of ORGANTRANS project.

About his work Yevhen said: “I was looking for the way how to improve the world – with AMIRES I found it! Contributing to different projects that bring fantastic technologies into reality I feel that I contribute to improving the quality of life in our world, and this is perfectly aligned with my life philosophy”.

In his free time, he likes to invent different things or improve the existing ones. This refers to electronics, computer technologies, tuning of transport such as bikes or cars, and work with design in both virtual and material environments. Apart from this, he’s passionate about mobile photography and video making, which are also quite often applied for project dissemination. It is worth saying that the sports activities are not staying in the last place, cycling and workout are the most enjoyable for him. Traveling, seeing new cities and countries, and hiking in beautiful nature are also on his interest list. 

First results from the FlexFunction2Sustain Open Call

In September 2021, the FlexFunction2Sustain launched an Open Call for Pilot Case projects. The first round of evaluations resulted in four companies which were successfully selected. The winners will receive subsidized access to the innovation services of the FlexFunction2Sustain Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) which supports and accelerates the development of novel products and technologies for smart and sustainable plastics and paper solutions. The selected projects will tackle the plastic pollution challenges by developing sustainable and flexible packaging and plastic films for agriculture. The successful applicants are companies from different European countries – France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland.

The FlexFunction2Sustain Open Call is targeted to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) & start-ups which wants to develop and test novel nano-functionalised plastic and paper membrane and surfaces. The next cut-off dates for application are: 29th of July 2022, and 27th of January 2023. Applicants can apply anytime during this period.

In the process, AMIRES is in charge of the preparation and execution of the Open Call and the establishment of a Helpdesk to provide a contact point for the potential applicants and address their enquiries about the application preparation and submission process.

For more information about the FlexFunction2Sustain OITB and the innovation services which will be provided to the Pilot Case projects, visit the project website.

Project MARVEL: M18 review meeting and symposium

AMIRES together with the consortium of Marvel project met in Lugano, Switzerland where the review meeting took place on the 12th April. Moreover, the team was preparing for the MARVEL project symposium which took place on the 13th April. The EVengers team summed up the last 16 months of the project and it is worth saying that the achieved results are perfectly aligned with the planned objectives. Nevertheless, the project still have 12 months to polish the developments and deliver a multifaceted and versatile platform for scalable Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) isolation based on the developed peptide probes with high specificity and stability.

We are looking forward to the clinical application of Marvel platform in form of a novel kit for diagnostic of bladder cancer and integration of EVs in drug delivery for cardiac repair.

Track Marvel project progress HERE.

European Innovation Council publishes a report on realising the deep-tech entrepreneurial talent of Europe

On the 14th April the EIC published a report on realising the deep-tech entrepreneurial talent of Europe. In this report, the expert group recommends that the European Innovation Council (EIC) creates two ambitious deep-tech training programmes – the Trailblazer and the Pioneer – to foster technological solutions and realise human entrepreneurial talent.

The “raison d’être” of the EIC is to realise and accelerate breakthrough innovation for rapid market growth as well as to promote the European Union’s strategic autonomy. The European innovation ecosystem being fragmented, providers of solutions or proto-solutions are sparse and unwilling/ unable to take the necessary risk. The expert group recommends that the EIC takes the responsibility to grow the human talent, the scientific entrepreneurs who can bring the development of breakthrough technologies to the market. To attain these goals, they present how this could be done.

Read the full report HERE.

ComBioTES completed its first year

On the occasion of the first year of ComBioTES implementation, the project team met on 7th and 8th  April 2022, in Grenoble (France), hosted by CEA.

At the beginning of the meeting, the coordinator of ComBioTES presented the project’s progress and summarized the first year of work. On the agenda, an overview of the achievements during the last 12 months in the running Work Packages was presented. In addition to that, in the Second General Assembly, the consortium had also the opportunity to discuss some management activities within the project.

The second day, instead, was dedicated to technical discussions and to answer some crucial questions that were still open. One of the partners from China, IEE-CAS, had the chance to present the progress of their work on Bio PCM and ice storage. 

The meetings proved very fruitful on all fronts, and project partners reached a vision of the tasks at hand over the next months.

Visit ComBioTES website to know more about the project.

Watch the full recorded session of the VANGUARD online workshop

Thank you to all for making successful the intensive 2 hours online VANGUARD workshop, which took place on 3 February 2022. Together with speakers more than 75 people attended this event and found out about three EU-funded projects on the topic of regenerative medicine and a rtificial organs, engineered or printed tissues for transplantation in humans (BRAVE, VANGUARD, ORGANTRANS). The ORANTRANS project was present by our partner Ary Marsee from Utrecht University. In addition to this, people were able to join an intensive panel discussion on ethics issues chaired by a keynote speaker and Canadian ethicist, Jonathan Kimmelman. Our program manager and ORGANTRANS project manager, Mariana Pacheco, was one of the panellists who contributed to the discussion on the ethical questions and challenges in regenerative medicine transplantation.
If you missed the chance to join us, you can watch the full recorded session HERE.

Project FRIENDSHIP: Publication on Nanofluids

FRIENDSHIP project is pleased to announce that our newest paper about nanofluids is now published online in the journal of Applied Thermal Engineering.

The paper, written by SINTEF Energy Research and CEA, is based on the research work on the use of nanofluids as heat-transfer fluids in solar collectors.

The article, A review of the use of nanofluids as heat-transfer fluids in parabolic-trough collectors, reviews the application of nanofluids to solar collectors, and parabolic-trough collectors in particular, at temperatures between 100 °C and 300 °C. Recent advances and research on nanofluids are presented, particularly the progress in understanding stability mechanisms, characterization, and preparation methods, as well as their thermophysical properties.

Congratulations to the authors!

TAKEAWAYS: AMIRES AT LOPEC

In-person dialog and exchange are crucial and for flexible, organic and printed electronics, the LOPEC exhibition and conference is the place to be. LOPEC was able to celebrate a successful return as an on-site event after a two-year break!

A total of 156 exhibitors from 23 countries showed innovations and trends in printed electronics. The focus topics included mobility and smart living.

The Conference was also a great success with around 200 presentations. This makes LOPEC once again the world’s leading communication platform for technology, solutions, knowledge, and research in the printed electronics industry.

AMIRES was lucky to attend the whole week of events – starting by the OE-A meeting on Monday 21st March and continuing with the conference and exhibition from the 22nd till the 24th March – to meet project partners, long-term clients and to establish new connections. Several AMIRES projects were presented in booths, posters and by project partners and it was definitely a unique opportunity to strengthen our collaborations.

OE-A meeting

The OE-A, as the LOPEC organiser, initiated the week by organising a Members’ Meeting, which consisted of presentations and workshops within this year’s theme Mobility & Smart Living. Topics that were discussed were for example on marketing and recyclability of organic and printed electronics. After 3 years, new and existing members of the association could finally meet in person and benefit of this networking opportunity.

Project SmartEEs

The SmartEEs project aims to establish a sustainable EU-wide network in the field of Flexible & Wearable Electronics. The objective of SmartEEs is to help European industries accelerate their digital transition, offering them easy access to Flexible & Wearable Electronics technologies, products, and services throughout Europe.

The SmartEEs project promoted its results and demonstrated on various booths and organised a dedicated workshop focusing in detail on application experiments, training activities, and the presentation of the SmartEEs Marketplace.

LOPEC was also the perfect opportunity to introduce the European Flexible and Wearable Electronics Association (FWEA), which will serve as the continuation of the project, offering RDI & business development opportunities as well as access to finance, education & training, and guidance on electronics for a sustainable economy.

Project Smart2Go

The EU funded Smart2Go project was present at the LOPEC exhibition with the ATOMIC ski demonstrator with an integrated a piezoelectric component. The project coordinator, Matthias Fahland (Fraunhofer FEP) also participated as speaker at the LOPEC Conference, showcasing the project’s results.

Project TINKER

The TINKER project, which targets developing miniaturised RADAR and LiDAR sensors using novel manufacturing techniques, was also lucky enough to be presented to exhibitors from all over the world, research and technology organizations and everyone involved within this rapidly evolving industry. Given this year’s theme of Mobility, the focus on sensor packages for autonomous cars was particularly fitting. The project coordinator Dr. Leo Schranzhofer from PROFACTOR GmbH presented at the Technical poster session on 23rd March, while the partner Notion Systems GmbH exhibited their products and technologies, along with their work in TINKER.

Project NanoQI

NanoQI project on the other hand, focuses on characterisation technologies, and several project partners also participated in this event, ensuring that their work, technologies and innovations, as well as the project itself could be presented to leading players in the field.

Announcing the Launch of the SmartEEs Association – we are ready for business!

The SmartEEs Association officially launches, opening its doors to companies, including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and research institutions to support the production and adoption of Flexible and Wearable Electronics (FWE) technology.

For a first glance at our technology offer, please visit the SmartEEs Association website, where you can also contact our front office . You can also have a look at the extensive SmartEEs2 marketplace, which is fully integrated into the Association’s offerings. Further, to stay up-to-date on all our activities and news from the FWE ecosystem, be sure to follow the new Association on LinkedIn @smartees-fwea and Twitter @SmarteesF.

Read the Press Release HERE!

EU opens applications for the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2022

On the 8th of May, just in time for the International Women’s Day, the European Commission launched the call for application for the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2022. With this prize, the EU intends to celebrate women entrepreneurs behind game-changing innovations, raise awareness of the need for more women innovators and create role models for women and girls everywhere.

Women who are ordinary residents in an EU Member State or a country associated to Horizon Europe are eligible, if they are the founder or co-founder of an active innovative company registered at least two years ago. The Commission wishes to award women who have created the largest impact on the EU innovation ecosystem by transforming ideas into new and advanced products and services to benefit people and planet, and has therefore chosen 3 key criteria:

  • Breakthrough innovation –applicants should demonstrate what makes their product or service unique, in relation to other existing solution
  • Impact – applicants should describe how their innovation offers significant benefits for people and/or planet, and how the product or service addresses a specific societal need or challenge
  • Inspiration –applicants should explain how they personally played a pivotal role in the success of their company, and have the power to lead and inspire other women and girls

Overall, 6 prizes in 2 categories will be awarded:

  • Women Innovators: 3 prizes of 100 000€ each
  • Rising Innovators (women under 35): 3 prizes of 50 000€ each

Deadline for submission is the 18 August 2022, results will be announced in November / December. Up to 20 highest-ranked applications in each category will be invited to a hearing with the jury.

For more information on the criteria and application click HERE.

WE ARE HIRING, TWO POSITIONS OF PROJECT MANAGER OF EUROPEAN R&D&I PROJECTS ARE OPEN!

Are you passionate about Energy & Sustainability and Deep Tech topics? Is admin work not bothering you? Are you a team player? Do you wish to be part of international team? Do you want to learn and gain new experiences? If you answered YES, then we might be looking for you!

Job overview

To reinforce our team, AMIRES (Czech Republic) is opening positions for Project Managers of European R&D&I projects in Energy & Sustainability and Deep Tech domain. The chosen candidates will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of H2020 / HE projects and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals.

Main activities and responsibilities

In project administration and management:

  • overall responsibility for the complete management of the project in close cooperation with the technical project coordinator;
  • daily communication with international project partners;
  • project progress monitoring;
  • preparation and processing of technical and financial reports;
  • maintenance and update of project web page;
  • organisation of teleconferences / project meetings / workshops / conferences;
  • community management.

In project proposals preparation:

  • monitoring of suitable European R&D&I funding schemes;
  • proposals structuring, commenting;
  • collection of information from partners, processing of written inputs and background documents;
  • business analytical activities;
  • responsibility for the complete preparation and writing of respective parts of the proposals.

Experience and skills

  • Master or doctoral degree (technical field is an advantage);
  • experience with project administration, management or projects proposal writing (EU projects or H2020 projects are an advantage);
  • fluent in English (both verbally and in written), French or German is an advantage;
  • very good computer literacy and skills, professional user of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook);
  • strong communication (both oral and written in formal and informal situations), presentation and organisational skills;
  • target oriented;
  • responsibility, flexibility, ability to work both in team and independently;
  • ability to work in multinational environment;
  • willingness to travel;
  • driving licence;
  • knowledge of European R&D&I landscape is an advantage (H2020, HE, Structural Funds etc.).

We offer

  • opportunity of self-realization in a small growing company with international focus;
  • cooperation on excellent European collaborative R&D&I projects;
  • further education and professional development;
  • job location in Prague, the Czech Republic;
  • expected to start work in spring 2022.

To apply for this position, please send your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to bajarova@amires.eu till March 30th 2022. Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job competition will be contacted by March 31st 2022.

More than 5000 people attended SLAS2022!

More than 5000 technical experts, leading scientists, and industrial stakeholders attended SLAS2022 International Conference and Exhibition in Boston. There was a high interest in our partner’s REGENHU booth and their versatile bioprinting platform that combines multiple printing technologies in a single 3D bioprinting process. In addition, their CEO, Simon MacKenzie took the stage with a presentation on “Bioprinting human in vitro discovery models” mentioning the ORGANTRANS project. Many attendees expressed their interest in the ORGANTRANS novel technology that offers the creation of larger tissue-relevant models through a combination of stem cell-derived organoids and vasculature.

WE ARE HIRING, JOIN OUR TEAM:

Are you passionate about Energy & Sustainability topics? Is admin work not bothering you? Are you a team player? Do you wish to be part of international team? Do you want to learn and gain new experiences? If you answered YES, then we might be looking for you!

We are opening position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Energy & sustainability domain:

Job overview

The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of H2020 / HE projects and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals.

Main activities and responsibilities

In project administration and management:

  • overall responsibility for the complete management of the project in close cooperation with the technical project coordinator;
  • daily communication with international project partners;
  • project progress monitoring;
  • preparation and processing of technical and financial reports;
  • maintenance and update of project web page;
  • organisation of teleconferences / project meetings / workshops / conferences;
  • community management.

In project proposals preparation:

  • monitoring of suitable European R&D&I funding schemes;
  • proposals structuring, commenting;
  • collection of information from partners, processing of written inputs and background documents;
  • business analytical activities;
  • responsibility for the complete preparation and writing of respective parts of the proposals.

Experience and skills

  • Master or doctoral degree (technical field is an advantage);
  • experience with project administration, management or projects proposal writing (EU projects or H2020 projects are an advantage);
  • fluent in English (both verbally and in written), French or German is an advantage;
  • very good computer literacy and skills, professional user of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook);
  • strong communication (both oral and written in formal and informal situations), presentation and organisational skills;
  • target oriented;
  • responsibility, flexibility, ability to work both in team and independently;
  • ability to work in multinational environment;
  • willingness to travel;
  • driving licence;
  • knowledge of European R&D&I landscape is an advantage (H2020, HE, Structural Funds etc.).

We offer

  • opportunity of self-realization in a small growing company with international focus;
  • cooperation on excellent European collaborative R&D&I projects;
  • further education and professional development;
  • job location in Prague, the Czech Republic;
  • expected to start work in spring 2022.

To apply for this position, please send your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to bajarova@amires.eu till March 18th 2022. Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job competition will be contacted by March 21st 2022.

Project FRIENDSHIP: progress on the heat pump

In WP3, the initial concepts about the heat pump and its integration into SHIP200 are being investigated. Also, evaluations of different heat pump concepts, component, and system TRL level and cost have been performed.

Furthermore, Modelica was used for detailed investigation of both design and off-design operational performance and stability in order to assess operability and integrability of the heat pump.

This allowed for cost and technical estimations from rig vendors, who should modify their designs and products to adapt them for higher pressure ratings, using, among others, new sealing technologies.

An initial of test of the rig prior to modifications was conducted in early November, and the rig was connected to a steam process.

OASIS Marketplace launched

We are happy to announce that the OASIS Catalogue of Services has been turned into an online digital Marketplace using the Ecosystem Management Platform by AMIRES!

This online marketplace allows everyone to browse through the services of OASIS in an interactive manner using filters that make it easier to find the right service. The tool also allows for the customers to directly enquire about the services they are interested in. This Marketplace is a lively environment which will be kept updated with new/adapted services continuously.

This Marketplace tool is the one-stop-shop to find services related to the introduction of nanoparticles and nanointermediates in composite and aluminium materials via innovative production technologies. It also encompasses associated services like design, modelling, simulation, characterization, and also business support services to aid the market adoption of new solutions developed. The ultimate goal is introducing innovative products which are lightweight, smart and have improved mechanical, thermal or electrical properties.

The Marketplace can be found HERE.

MedPhab pilotline supports companies to develop demonstrators through the open call for demo cases program

ABIMI (AMIRES, The Business Innovation Management Institute) leads the helpdesk for companies to participate in the open calls for demo cases on MedPhab pilot line. The first round of evaluations resulted in three companies which were successfully selected. 220K Euros from EU- MedPhab budget will be allocated for these demonstrator cases. These cases require technologies on biosensors, microfluidics and microscopy and spectroscopy for drug development and diagnostics applications. These companies are located in 3 different European countries! Agreements between the companies and MedPhab partners are ongoing, and the cases are expected to start during February.

If you are interested to receive high quality services in photonics technologies from MedPhab partners for development of your photonics-based medical devices demonstrators, participate in the open calls, contact our helpdesk@medphab.eu  or visit MedPhab’s website

MEET OUR TEAM: KRISTIN SAAR

We are excited to welcome our new team member Kristin Saar who joined AMIRES as a Project Manager in February 2022.  After graduating from a bachelor’s programme in Politics and Government at University of Tartu, Kristin obtained her master’s degree in European Affairs at Sciences Po Paris where she specialised in Social Policy. She developed a thorough understanding of EU policies while working at the EU Directorate of the Government Office of Estonia, Ministry of the Interior and Permanent Representation of Estonia to the EU.

Kristin has wide-ranging experience in the field of health and pharmaceuticals. Working at the Health Division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), she co-authored a report on patient safety governance. Prior to joining AMIRES, she was advising global pharmaceutical companies in a public affairs consultancy in Brussels and a regulatory affairs consultancy in Prague.

In her free time Kristin enjoys biking, skiing, and going to the theatre.

In AMIRES, Kristin is involved in proposals and projects in Health & Biotech Programme.

European Innovation Council (EIC): the biggest annual funding opportunities for innovators to scale up and capture global markets

The European Commission adopted the 2022 work programme of the European Innovation Council. It opens funding opportunities worth over €1.7 billion in 2022 for innovators to improve and create new markets.

It will also focus on innovation in:

  • Quantum computing
  • New generation batteries
  • Gene therapy.

Launched in March 2021 as a major novelty of the Horizon Europe programme, the EIC has a total budget of over €10 billion between 2021 and 2027.

The 2022 work programme of the EIC has several new elements, simplifying the application process and contributing to EU policies such as:

  • A new EIC Scale-Up 100 initiatives (with having already supported over 2600 SMEs and start-ups in the past since 2018, the aim is to identify 100 promising deep tech EU companies that have the potential to become “unicorns”)
  • Equity investments above €15 million
  • Stronger support to women innovators

To read full article, visit European Innovation Council newsroom.

Project TINKER: Shrinking radar and lidar sensor packages

Chip Scale Review, one of the world’s leading semiconductor journals, has published our article dedicated to the progress in the TINKER project over the last eighteen months. You can find our article in the January/February issue which is available to download here:

READ CHIP SCALE REVIEW JAN/FERB 2022

The article “Shrinking RADAR and LiDAR sensor packages – an introduction to TINKER” was written in cooperation with the coordinator Dr. Leo Schranzhofer (Head of Functional Surfaces and Nanostructures, Profactor GmbH.) and consortium partners Dr. Martin Eibelhuber (Deputy Head of Business Development, EV Group, Austria) and Martina Chopart, MSc. (Project Manager, AMIRES s.r.o.). Thank you for this opportunity for collaboration.

NanoQI M24 Meeting

Even though the turbulent times didn’t allow the NanoQI project partners to meet in person in Eindhoven as originally previewed, they still had the chance to reunite after six months on an online M24 Consortium Meeting on the 8th and 9th February 2022.

The goal of the meeting was to share their latest progress, get expert feedback from our External Advisory Board members and discuss all the operational and technical decision for the final phase of the project.

As the third year of the project approaches, we are wishing the whole consortium a great deal of success.

Smart2Go Design Contest – Apply until February 21

With the launch of this Design Contest, the EU funded Project Smart2Go is supporting end-users towards the implementation of its unique flexible energy management platform. The competition is open to individuals, groups and organizations from every country in the world. Apply until February 21, 2022.

Visit https://smart2go-project.eu/smart2go-design-contest/ for more information.

 

Publication on absorber coatings

FRIENDSHIP project is glad to announce the publication of a scientific article on absorber coatings, written by our partner Kemijski inštitut – National Institute of Chemistry.

The paper is related to the research work on the development of the spectrally selective absorber coatings and refers to the challenges of selecting a low-cost and effective fabrication method, appropriate for industrial production, and of assessing the degradation rate and service life of these coatings.

The article, indeed, Review of the spectrally selective (CSP) absorber coatings, suitable for use in SHIP, reviews different types of mid- (100 < T < 400 °C) and high-temperature (>400 °C) absorber coatings and their fabrication methods, with an emphasis is on the solar absorptance, thermal emittance and the long-term (>10 years) thermal stability of the coatings.

Congratulations to the authors!

Digital Marketplace for EDIHs

AMIRES is offering a ready to use solution for the creation of digital marketplaces, which are essential for building and management of communities related to technologies, markets or regions. Customizable and user friendly tool is an ideal solution for all European Digital Innovation Hubs and similar projects. Apart from a digital marketplace, the tool allows the full ecosystem management, like sharing posts, tracking samples, simplifies CRM, analytics and more.

Take a look on already implemented marketplaces in:

Flexible and wearable electronics

Photonics-based medical devices

Free-form Microoptics

Training activities in Photonics

MEET OUR TEAM: JANA MWANGI

Our colleague Jana who joined us in December 2016 and who was on the parental leave returned to strengthen our forces.

Jana stayed work active even when she was on parental leave, in AMIRES we are proud that not only we care about Gender balance, we also support  women with families, by giving them a chance to work as their parental  responsibilities allow. We believe that it is important for women to stay active during maternity or parental leave as it is beneficial for connection with the team and work but also it helps the company to build a loyal team.

Back to Jana, she finished her International Master degree in Asia Pacific Affairs at the National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan and has gained excellent insights into the world of economics and politics, and strengthened her analytical skills. Jana has accumulated good management skills from project management in one of the biggest company’s Research, Innovation and Development centre focused on ODE, OEM of small appliances in Asia. Her core duties were based in international trade and the expansion of businesses in Eastern and Central Europe. Specifically, she had identified and analysed data to determine company trends and new opportunities capable of bringing expansion.

About her job in AMIRES Jana says: “Over the last year, I witnessed enormous transformation of AMIRES in terms of management structure, new employees and new projects. Even though many things have changed I felt involved, and it eased my return after parental leave. Company’s progression, impact that we are doing in our projects and people around have kept me going in AMIRES for 5 beautiful years. I am always happy when I feel that project team trust me and rely on me in management aspect of the project”.

Currently, Jana acts as a project manager of POSEIDON (NanoPhOtonic devices applying SElf-assembled colloIDs for novel ON-chip light sources) projects, Community Manager in SmartEEs2 project and is also contributing to INSPIRE (InP on SiN Photonic Integrated circuits REalized through wafer-scale micro-transfer Printing).

We are happy to welcome Jana back!

POSEIDON BRINGING LIGHT SOURCES ON CHIP

A revolutionary change in bringing light sources on chip in a cost-effective way. Project team in POSEIDON is developing a radically new bottom-up approach towards multi-scale, on chip self-assembly of active colloids based on low cost colloid technology and recently published scientific publication entitled “Defined core–shell particles as the key to complex interfacial self-assembly”. In this study, is reported that limitation in structural versatility can be overcome using soft core–shell particles self-assembling at a liquid interface.

To read more the publication, prepared by University of Hull, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnbergcan, can be accessed here.

Switch2Save Architectural Design Competition will be launched 28/2/2022

Are you a student or a young professional in architecture / building physics or engineering? Do not miss your opportunity and take part in Switch2Save Architectural Design Competition to explore the possibilities offered by lightweight switchable smart glass solutions for energy efficient glass facades buildings.

Switch2Save project proposes advanced, low-weight solutions suitable for direct integration to windows and glass facades for the control of radiation energy transfer, without any impact on the building structure, while enhancing occupants’ comfort.  

Switch2Save Architectural Design Competition aims to collect design concepts of non- residential buildings (new or renovation projects), featuring glass facades, roofs, or large window to wall areas, in any climatic context.

Switch2Save invites students and young professionals to present a design concept in which there is an optimum exploitation of the Switch2Save EC/TC smart functionalities, supported by a clear energy saving concept towards meeting the EU energy saving targets for buildings, while considering occupants’ comfort and wellbeing. In addition, the successful aesthetic integration of the IGUs will be evaluated, as well as the replication potential of the design approach.

Your’ll find more detailed information about the competition on Switch2Save website and in Switch2Save announcement.

Switch2Save competition will be launched 28/2/2022 during an on-line training event. To take part in the traning and competition launch, you can register here.

Calls for proposal: €60.5 million available to reform and enhance the European research and innovation system

A new call for proposals to fund projects that can reform and enhance the European research and innovation system is open until 20 April 2022. The applications will be evaluated by experts selected by the European Research Executive Agency (REA).

The call makes available €60.5 million to finance projects under 15 topics that will contribute to enhance:

  • Support to policy makers
  • Collaboration between national and R&I programmes and ecosystem actors
  • Knowledge production, circulation and uptake of R&I results
  • Responsible research and innovation
  • Open access to research results
  • Institutional transformations of higher education institutions
  • Researchers’ careers
  • Ethics and integrity in research and innovation
  • Science education
  • Science communication
  • Gender equality in research

Links to individual topics can be found HERE.

SPIE Photonics West showcased a portfolio of projects supported by AMIRES

SPIE Photonics West took place on 22-27 January 2022, bringing thousands of attendees to San Francisco to connect and share the latest research and products. Photonics West is the world´s largest annual optics and photonics conference and marketplace.

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, prepared a 3 major programme blocks:

BiOS, highlighting new research in biophotonics, biomedical optics, and applications of medical imaging; LASE, with its focus on the laser industry and applications; and OPTO, covering optoelectronics, photonic materials, and optical devices. A total of 4,000 technical presentations were included.

AMIRES has been involved in a number of leading European initiatives supporting the uptake of photonics technologies by industry. Visitors of Photonics West could learn about these projects on the dedicated booth and during Pilot Lines & Photonic Innovation Hubs Breakfast organised by European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC):

Mikko Karppinen, from VTT, presented MedPhab Pilot Line, the Europe’s First Pilot Line dedicated to Photonics-based Medical Diagnostics. MedPhab services are open to companies through their open call for demonstrator cases. Further information on MedPhab technologies and offering is available on MedPhab marketplace.
Jessica van Heck presented PHABULOuS Pilot Line, the European Pilot Line for Free-Form Micro-Optics, its one-stop shop for free-form micro-optics and the launch of the Open call for funding opportunities to implement free-form micro-optical components.
Stefano Aina spoke about JePPIX Pilot Line and how it enables fabless businesses to transition from first concept experimentation to industrial prototype and pre-production of Indium Phospide PICs with shared technology investments.  
Anke Siegmeier presented PhotonHub Europe, the European Phototonics Innovation Hub providing companies, in particular SMEs and mid-caps, with open access and guidance to a broad range of services, such as “test-before-invest”, training and upskilling, business support and networking opportunities.

Furthermore, attendees had a chance to hear about INSPIRE project within Discussion on Integrated Photonics: A Key Enabler Driving Advances in Communications, Monolithic, and Hybrid Integration Solutions: Challenges and Opportunities. Project´s coordinator, Martijn Heck, participated as a panelist in the discussion and explained the concept of INSPIRE hybrid integration approach which combines the best of InP and SiN technology through micro-transfer printing, which is a great example of integration solution.

Take a look at the pictures of the event HERE.

Online meeting for the first 18 months of FRIENDSHIP

On 13th and 14th January, FRIENDSHIP consortium met together to discuss the project advancement in the first 18 months and to have the 1st Review Meeting. The meetings occurred online due to the Covid-19 restrictions in Europe.
On the first meeting day, the M18 meeting took place and the partners concentrated on the progress of the running Work Packages, their highlights, results, and challenges. In the end, the consortium members reached a clear vision of the directions to take and on the objectives to accomplish in the next 6 months.

During the second day, the Review meeting was held, and the discussion focused on past deviations, future risk assessment and mitigation plans. The Project Officer, Charles André Lemarie, also joined the meeting and provided valuable feedback on the behalf of the The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).

FRIENDSHIP M18 and Review meetings were characterized by a collaborative and proactive behaviour of all the participants.

Exciting six months are ahead of us. Do not miss our next publications!

Artificial intelligence for pancreatic cancer: PANCAIM celebrates 1-year anniversary

Pancreatic cancer is responsible for over 95,000 EU deaths every year, and the average life expectancy at the time of diagnosis is just 4.6 months, making it one of the most deadly types of cancer.

Motivated by the idea of helping patients and improving their quality of life, as well as completing and consolidating the currently rather scattered research in the field, the PANCAIM project is centered around the consortium’s proposal to build a repository of available multi-modal patient data. Combining manual and automatic annotation and analysis of features from genomics, and medical imaging (radiology, pathology), this data will be used for machine learning and AI training. The developed algorithms will help clinicians to make a more accurate prognosis and offer better treatment recommendations and outcome predictions for patients with pancreatic cancer. This will increase thus survivability and quality of life of those affected.

At the project’s M12 meeting, which took place on Friday, 14th January 2022 online, the Consortium celebrated successfully completing the first 12 months of project implementation and reaching the 1-year milestone of PANCAIM. Partners presented their progress in their research and cooperation efforts and explained plans for the upcoming months. The project’s External Advisory Board (EAB) members shared valuable feedback and constructive feedback that will be taken into account during the remaining 3 years of the project. After a successful and insightful exchange on the sustainability of the project during the General Assembly meeting, PANCAIM partners are more inspired than ever to continue their work on the project in 2022 and reach the desired impacts. 

To learn more about the project, please visit https://pancaim.eu/.

MEET OUR TEAM: Weronika Słomińska

We are happy to share that our team is growing!

Weronika joined our team in January 2022 as a Junior social Media Specialist for Innovation Projects.
Originally from Warsaw, Weronika graduated from the International Public Management bachelor programme at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands, where she acquired knowledge on public administration, EU affairs and policymaking. Throughout her practice-oriented studies, she had a chance to gain her academic experience in the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, as well as professional experience in the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Moscow.

In the last year of her studies, she entered the world of European projects and public funding, joining European Development Agency based in Prague, where she assisted in accessing financing and managing projects under Erasmus+ and Visegrad Fund. After graduation, she worked at EIT Urban Mobility Innovation Hub East, in which she was responsible for partner search, consortia coordination and writing applications for projects such as Horizon Europe, Interreg and Erasmus+ on behalf of the company.

In AMIRES Weronika is mainly contributiong to the preparation of Industrial Technologies 2022 conference.

We are happy to welcome Weronika to our AMIfamily and we wish her all the best!

Tumor-LN-oC publishes end-user survey

The Tumor-LN-oC project (“Tumor and Lymph Node on Chip for cancer studies”) aims to offer a comprehensive solution for a robust, automated tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and LN tissue from the same cancer patient. This will allow to study the interaction of primary tumors with lymph nodes, identify their chemical signature, and offer personalized treatment relying on molecular characterization of lymph node metastasizing cells.

The Tumor-LN-oC Organ-on-Chip (OoC) platform to be developed is thus targeting the monitoring of complex processes such as tissue crosstalk and metastasis and will serve as a platform for parallel preclinical testing of drugs for individual patients aiming at Precision Medicine approaches.

In order to better understand the end-user requirements, the project team prepared a short questionnaire on end-users’ needs and requirements from an Organ-on-Chip (OoC) platform for metastasis diagnosis and drug testing. The survey includes questions related to the operation, the analysis time, the cost and other information that in the end will co-shape the platform that will be developed during the course of the project.

More information is available at https://tumor-ln-oc.eu/

If you or anyone you know would be interested in contributing, please fill out the questionnaire here and don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team. The Tumor-LN-oC consortium thanks you for your participation!

Smart2Go launches its Design Contest

Do you have an idea to implement electronics into a garment, accessories or other wearable item? You struggle with existing integration solutions? Smart2go project offers a flexible energy management platform which manages energy harvesting, energy storage as well as energy output and BLE based communication interface while allowing simple programming via the communication tools specified in the Handbook. Don’t miss this opportunity, you have time until February 21st to apply!

Design Contest
With the launch of this Design Contest, Smart2Go is supporting end-users towards the implementation of its unique flexible energy management platform. The components available in the platform are flexible batteries, super-capacitors, flexible solar cells and thermoelectric energy harvesting, piezo-electronic sensors and flexible OLED lighting. Finalists will have the opportunity to meet the experts and realize the finalist ideas together with them using cutting edge flexible technology components which only exists up to now on R&D level.

Judging criteria
The Smart2Go design competition jury will consist of technical and design professionals. The ideas will be judged by their evaluation criteria list:

  • Design uniqueness: originality of the idea
  • Market potential: design can be sold through channels familiar to the market segment
  • User experience: how the design enhances user experience
  • Feasibility estimation: technical feasibility and performance
  • Sustainability: improve a green perspective on applications using the platform

For further details and instructions please read carefully the “Rules and Instructions” and the “Handbook” available on our WEBSITE. In case of any additional doubts feel free to contact mirabito@amires.eu.

3D Bioprinting Platform to Engineer Organoid-Based Liver Constructs

A 3D bioprinting platform was developed in the ORGANTRANS project for the controlled assembly of live spheroids containing liver organoids into a bioconstruct. This instrument is one of the ORGANTRANS technology building blocks and it enables the mixing of hydrogel bioink precursors with live spheroids. The combination of biodegradable bioinks with a sacrificial biocompatible scaffold will promote medium perfusion and vascularization through the printed bioconstruct. To maintain the bioinks in a functional state the bioprinter comprises complex temperature controls together with integrated stirring that allows keeping live spheroids in suspension during printing. Functional validation of the technology with living spheroids is conducted in a cell biology laboratory to verify the viability of printed spheroids in the bioconstruct. Thanks to 3D bioprinting platform, the ORGANTRANS project aims at the creation of functional 3D liver tissues for the replacement of liver transplantation for end-stage liver failure patients.

AMIRES member of European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC)

QuIC is a not-for-profit association established by several major business actors – large enterprises, SMEs, investors, and startups – from across Europe. The mission is to boost the European quantum-technology industry’s competitiveness and economic growth, and bolster value creation across the continent.

As new members we are excited to share that we will proudly contribute to build this vibrant community.

MEET OUR TEAM: ELEONORA ALAMARO

We are happy to introduce our new colleague Eleonora who joined AMIRES as Project Manager in October 2021. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Economics at Federico II University of Naples, she joined the European Master in Business Studies, an International joint degree that is composed of 4 semesters in 4 different European countries: Italy, France, Germany, Spain.

Due to her interest in sustainability and circular economy, she took part in a one-year SVE project in a social cooperative in Belgium, where she organized debates and events on organic food consumption. Before joining AMIRES, she was Schuman Trainee at the European Parliament, Directorate for Security and Safety, where she acquired wide knowledge about EU procedures and activities.

In AMIRES, Eleonora is involved in H2020 projects ComBioTES (Compact bio-based thermal energy storage for buildings) and FRIENDSHIP (Forthcoming Research and Industry for European and National Development of SHIP).

Welcome on-board Eleonora and we wish you good luck in your new role!

ComBioTES at the Mission Innovation Workshop

ComBioTES attended the Mission Innovation Workshop in Affordable Heating & Cooling of Buildings that was held online on 30th November. The workshop was very rich and constructive and gave a very clear steer on countries and members innovation priorities on heating and cooling. The purpose of the workshop was to look back on the results of Innovation Challenge 7 (IC7, MI 1.0) and look forward to the next phase (Innovation Community, MI 2.0).

Find the recording of the workshop HERE.

WE ARE HIRING: JUNIOR MARKETING SPECIALIST FOR INNOVATION PROJECTS

Are you a creative soul who thinks out of the box? Are you not scared of a field full of innovations and technologies? If you have good communication skills as well as analytical thinking and digital design is your passion, maybe we are looking for YOU!

To our team we are happy to welcome a new member who will help us to create and run projects promotion campaigns and their content including social media and email marketing.

If you feel that this position might be a fit for you, please see the full advert and let us know by 17/12/2021.

We are looking forward to meeting you!

European Innovation Council impact report 2021: key numbers from the EIC performance

During November the European Innovation council (EIC) published the EIC Impact Report 2021.

This report contains the results and impact of the EIC pilot phase up to year 2020. During that period, the EIC supported 5500 start-ups and SMEs.

Moreover, in the document you will find information and data from EIC Fund, their investments which were entered in the first six month of 2021, as well as information which scientific breakthroughs as a basis for future innovations is the EIC generating.

Last but not least, the documents include new solutions for healthcare and the Green and Digital transitions.

To learn more, visit the European Innovation Council website.

The European Commission has adopted three work programmes for the Digital Europe Programme

The programmes are:

  • Main work programme: with a budget of €1.38 billion, it will focus on the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and data spaces, quantum communication infrastructure, advanced digital skills, and the wide use of digital technologies across the economy and society until the end of 2022
  • First specific work programme: with a budget of €269 million until the end of 2022, focuses on funding in the area of cybersecurity
  • Second specific work programme: with a budget of €329 million until the end of 2023, focuses on the set-up and operation of the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs.

The work programmes will be implemented mainly through grants and procurement procedures.

The first calls for the Digital Europe Programme were published in November, and more calls will be published in 2022.

For original article visit the News site of the EC.

Project FRIENDSHIP: News from the solar fields

The integration of the PTC and Fresnel solar fields into the whole FRIENDSHIP solution is progressing at a good pace! The BoP (Balance of Plant), P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram), and BOM (Bill of Materials) for the different types of collectors, as well as the first concepts for their sizing and energy simulations have all been precisely defined. Discussions between partners are ongoing, to adapt these elements to different user cases and select the best HTF (Heat Transfer fluid) – for nanoparticles based HTFs, please refer to this article.

One of the key aspects to enhance the output of the solar fields is to produce better coatings: a kind of material able to absorb the solar rays and transfer the heat to the HTF. Several types of absorber coatings are studied, as you can see in the picture below: ageing studies, as well as absorptivity measurements, are being made by Absolicon, CEA and NIC.

Photonics-based medical devices ecosystem open for registration of key stakeholders

Do you belong to the ecosystem of photonics-based medical devices but you are not part of MedPhab consortium? Do your capabilities complement those from MedPhab partners? Do you have prototypes, products or services that contribute to the ecosystem and would like to share that information with the ecosystem? Register your organisation and your items here on MedPhab marketplace, part of the Community Management Platform (CMP), check the guidelines for publications HERE.

Time to wrap-up the MOSAIC project

The consortium held its final event on the 25th November, welcoming a broad public from all over Europe and further, both online and in the premises of CENER in Sangüesa (Spain). Although the day was cloudy, the participants who travelled there had a chance to behold the prototype with their own eyes and follow the operations with the receiver and the tracking system. The online participants could get an impression of what the prototype looks like through a virtual visit, available here.

The event also featured several speakers from the consortium and one guest, who all gave technical details about the different parts of the prototype and the implementation of this innovative technology in the future.

The audience, in particular the members of the External Advisory Board, thanked the whole consortium for their hard work during these past five years and expressed their interest in seeing the further developments of the concepts studied in Sangüesa. It is now time to enhance the MOSAIC technology and pave the way for its commercialization!

Soon a short, final video will be shared, that describes the project as a whole and shows how it can be essential in the energetic transition. Stay tuned for this last piece of the mosaic!

Tumor-LN-oC reaches Month 6 of the project

On the 18th and 19th of November, the Tumor-LN-oC consortium met for the M6 meeting in Athens. The meeting closed the first half year of project implementation and served to plan for the months ahead.

Within Tumor-LN-oC (Tumor and Lymph Node on Chip for cancer studies), the consortium is developing a tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform which will connect primary surgically removed tumor and lymph node tissues from the same lung cancer patient. The platform will thus serve as a “biological twin” of the patient, making it possible to study the interaction of primary tumors with LNs for individual patients and thereby monitor the LN metastasis process. This information could lead to novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic approaches for lung cancer. More information is available HERE.

We´re looking forward to the next 6 months of the project realization and future achievements!

MARVEL Project – 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

One year after the start of the project finally had first in-person meeting. On 15th and 16th November 2021, the EU-funded MARVEL project team has met at the MARVEL M12 meeting organized by the CNR SCITEC ‘Giulio Natta‘ partner in Milan, Italy. During the meeting, the achievements of the first 12 months of the project were highlighted and it was discussed the next steps and upcoming activities.

On the one hand, the first year was dedicated to the analysis of technical requirements and specifications as well as the selection of the criteria for the system demonstration. In addition to this, specific attention was given to the biological sample’s parameters, their selection, and processing. On the other hand, a strong focus was on the development of new affinity peptide ligands that outclass antibody-based isolation methods in terms of capturing efficiency, versatility, and cost-effectiveness. These achieved targets will introduce a breakthrough in current Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) isolation standards.
The next year will be mostly focused on the integration and optimization of the developed technology into several systems, leading to ground-breaking innovations for EVs deployment in cardiac repair and the non-invasive diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Follow our progress on Marvel Official Webpage.

Discover project TINKER in a new video

Watch the new video about the TINKER project to learn more about the use of microelectronics and RADAR and LiDAR sensors for autonomous or self-driving cars and to discover a novel fabrication pathway that will allow further miniaturization, without compromising on accuracy, functionality or efficiency.

PHABULOuS launches its Technical Marketplace

Are you a potential user of free-form micro-optics or you are a technology provider offering such services? Then take a look at our newly launched Technical Marketplace. You will find here various offerings from design and origination services to tooling and metrology services. Plus of course the offerings for prototyping and volume production. For suppliers that are not listed yet, we offer the opportunity to list your products in this marketplace.

One-stop-shop for free-form micro-optics

With the launch of this Technical Marketplace, PHABULOuS is connecting the value chain and supporting end-users towards the implementation of free-form micro-optics. The marketplace consists of easy to use filters to drill down to the specific offerings. Once the matching offering has been found, end-users can contact any supplier directly with their enquiry.

Main source of orientation

The aim of this marketplace is to be the main source of information towards the implementation of free-form micro-optics. For this, we encourage all suppliers and other relevant stakeholders within the micro-optics community to contact the Pilot Line Front Office about the possibilities for a listing. Listings will be free of charge for all European companies for the entire duration of the project (till 2024). So, act fast and benefit from this great opportunity. Contact the PHABULOuS Pilot Line Front Office at info@phabulous.eu .

Visit the PHABULOuS Marketplace.

 

Last chance to register for the MOSAIC final event

The consortium is delighted to invite you to the final event of MOSAIC, in the form of a visit of the prototype and a series of conferences relative to innovative CSP technologies. Given the particular sanitary conditions affecting the whole Europe, the event will be both physical, in the form of conferences and a visit of the prototype in Sangüesa, Spain, and re-transmitted online; but we can only recommend you the physical visit of the prototype, as you will have a unique chance to see it with your own eyes !

Only a few places remain for the physical version ! You can still register for the online version until the day of the event.

Registration takes place HERE.

PROJECT MOSAIC: Final tracking system tests are ongoing

The final stage of the MOSAIC project has started. With the construction of the solar field completed, the final tests and tune-ups on the prototype are being carried out. The receiver, controlled by a tracking system made of actuated cables and a control loop, moves over the solar field, following during the whole day the path of the sun and collecting the maximum amount of energy.

As you can see in the video below, the receiver shines brightly when in the tracking position. The HTF is circulated through the receiver by the means of two special hoses, which connect the receiver to the skid tower. Temperature probes at the entry and exit points measure the thermal gap achieved by the effect of the solar heating.

Different tests are being carried out to check and improve the accuracy of the tracking system and the global performance of this innovative thermo-solar plant system. If you wish to have more detailed explanations and a closer look on the prototype, don’t forget to REGISTER to the final event.

ComBioTES: half year of common work

On 20th and 21st October 2021, the EU-funded ComBioTES team has met up online to sum up and discuss the achievements of the first 6 months of work. In fact, the project ComBioTES was started in November 2019, but due to internal problems of one of the partners, it was immediately suspended for 18 months. Now everything is back on track, first prototypes have been developed and are soon to be tested. The project’s objective is to develop a modular compact thermal energy storage (TES) solution for heating, hot tap water and cooling, fully adapted for electricity load shifting.

One Year Anniversary of project TINKER – 2nd Press Release

One year after the start of the project, the second press release is published to highlight the achievements of the first 12 months of the TINKER project. The partners have been working on developing and perfecting designs, processes and materials required for the two selected use cases.

They have been able to overcome the obstacles that the Covid-19 pandemic posed and collaborated successfully on developing equipment and tools and shared samples, technologies, and processes.

We are already anticipating the results of the upcoming years and we look forward to continuing our participation.

Read the press release HERE.

TEAMBUILDING IN AMIRES

The teambuilding is an important part of every company culture. In non-professional environment people are more relaxed and opened. This time was well deserved and very much needed. And frankly speaking, we did enjoy to the fullest.

First day starting with breakfast, continuing by a hike to the brewery in Unětice where we find out how to make beer and had a chance to taste it directly from the tank.

Second day we “sweat” our ideas and brainstormed about future.

Well, no more words needed, see for yourself:

Ejector, nanofluids and heat pump: read FRIENDSHIP’s latest publications

This month, project FRIENDSHIP has released three scientific works available in open-access: one article in a specialized journal and two public deliverables. The links can be found here.

The article, Choked liquid flow in nozzles: Crossover from heterogeneous to homogeneous cavitation and insensitivity to depressurization rate, compares two theoretical methodologies, based on delayed equilibrium models, to available experimental data on the critical mass flow rates of CO2 and H2O through nozzles, and achieves a very good predictability. This work is particularly useful for the development of the ejector chillers in WP4.

Percentage deviations of HEM and the metastable isentrope model (MIM) for the water measurements by Xu et al., 1997, Burnell, 1947, Friedrich and Vetter, 1962, plotted against the stagnation temperature.

The two deliverables focus on a literature review of nanofluid based HTF and the integration of the heat pump to the whole SHIP200 system, respectively.

The literature review, D2.4, presents recent advances and research on nanofluids at high temperatures and the application of nanofluids to solar collectors, focusing on their enhanced thermophysical properties, but also the important challenges with the use of nanofluids, especially their stability at temperatures above 100 °C.

Relative concentration over time of the aqueous suspension with MWCNT heated to 200 °C, 300 °C, 400 °C and 600 °C, with a picture taken after four weeks (found in literature)

The D3.1 presents an evaluation of two initial heat pump concepts and integration principles for SHIP200: a high-temperature concept based on water/steam (R718) for short term heat delivery up to 200°C and a reversed Brayton heat pump concept based on CO2 (R-744) for long-term heat delivery up to 250°C. Model improvements to both concepts will be made to improve simulation accuracy and performance in the next months.

Modelica model of the steam heat pump, including main component names.

News from project Mosaic: The solar field is complete

After several months of installation of the electrical and mechanical parts of the prototype, the solar field was the last major element to be assembled on the field. This phase of the works, started in September, was completed and canted by 28th October, and the prototype has finally achieved its final, impressive look:

On the following video, you can observe how some of the latest mirrors were assembled in the outer rings of the solar field.

Additional installations (grounding and sprinklers system) should be executed during the coming days, as well as the final tests of the project, concerning the tracking system and the receiver heating. If you wish to have more detailed explanations and a closer look on the prototype, don’t forget to register to the FINAL EVENT.

Elaboration of modified membranes for extracellular vesicles isolation and purification by the tangential flow filtration

MARVEL project partner, CNR-ITM, is currently working on the elaboration of a highly selective membrane that will be integrated into the Tangential Flow Filtration system in order to isolate and purify the specific EVs subpopulations.

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are cell-derived membranous structures ubiquitously found in all biological fluids that act as signaling vehicles in both physiological or pathological mechanisms. Nowadays, the potential applications of these nanoparticles are attracting increasing interest in the fields of medicine, cosmetics, and nutrition. However, the manufacturing of EVs is currently challenging and is characterized by low yields. In addition to this, the main drawback of the existed size-based EV isolation methods is the presence of a large number of nanoparticles with the same size as small EVs (<200 nm) and of other contaminant molecules after the isolation process.

In the MARVEL project, one of the planned goals is to overcome these challenges through the integration of the modified with the hybrid probes membrane unit into the current Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF) system. The membrane will be modified with the specific peptide probes which are characterized by a high affinity for clinically relevant EV protein markers.  In particular, the surface of the membrane is functionalized with the highly selective hybrid probes for specific EVs subpopulations isolation. The planned further optimization of the functionalization process will lead to the development of a highly selective membrane without altering the structural properties, which are responsible for the separation process. This system will offer new opportunities in the design, rationalization, and optimization of EVs isolation and purification processes with significant reduction of contaminants.

More information about the project is available HERE.

AMIRES S.R.O is celebrating an important anniversary

It’s been 10 years since we entered the business of supporting inventions and innovations to make better future for all of us. During this time, we enabled many new partnerships and collaborations and had clients from across Europe, from Oulu to Catania and from Dublin to Tel Aviv. We helped fundraise several hundreds of millions € via dozens of collaborative projects.

The real success is, however, when the funded projects bring a strong advantage to European companies and organizations in the form of new products, processes, or services. This is the part when our mission usually ends, but it is profoundly engraved in our early client discussions and approaches. Our continuous aim is to keep repeating this whole process again and again for bringing the best results to Europeans, in the form of digitization and manufacturing, but going to more fundamental needs like clean air, soil and water, access to green energy or having the best possible disease detection or treatment in place for us, our families, our children.

For this mission, we are honoured to work with the most innovative organizations and companies which select us as a partner. This ecosystem brings a rich and productive environment for new concepts and project planning. The world struck by Covid-19 pandemic is showing us the fragility of the system as we know it and allows reflections about many aspects of business. We are available to assist in all forms of innovations towards economical and societal sustainability.

The most important ingredients for the success are our AMIRES colleagues. I can’t thank enough to all of them (including the past colleagues) for sharing the same passion for innovation and for better future at one side and for the support of excellent coordinators and consortia on the other.  Personally, my biggest satisfaction is brought by the AMIRES team full of curious professionals, continuously developing their leadership and empathy skills. The individuals operating in a multinational environment, supporting cutting edge technologies and European companies (irrespective of the size), will be ready to respond to challenges, which we will face in the future. Only with such a team we are now ready to take part in new actions, initiatives, events and ventures.

Congratulations AMIRES!

Rudolf

Map from Horizon visualization tool AMIPLEXUS showing AMIRES partners in all Horizon 2020 projects

Webinar Recording: How to apply for FlexFunction2Sustain Open Call

On 5th October 2021, FlexFunction2Sustain organized a webinar to introduce the Open Call for Pilot Cases. The event was specifically aimed at informing companies about the possibilities to apply to develop and test novel nano-functionalised plastic and paper surfaces and membrane.

Prior to that there was a session with information about the FlexFunction2Sustain project and details on the Open Innovation Ecosystem – core competencies, service portfolio and application examples.

The video recording that was taken during the webinar is available here:

More information about the conditions of the Call can be found here. Further assistance is available through the Helpdesk by phone to +420 226 217 422 or by email to helpdesk@flexfunction2sustain.eu  (Monday – Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM CEST).

Registration for EIC summit is open

On the 18th October the European Innovation council announced that the European Innovation Council Summit 21 is open for registration. Due to the Covid restriction there are only limited spots available for attending on-site in Brussels. The summit will be also available online. For registering, click here.

The event will offer an opportunity for European start-ups, innovators in SMEs, researchers, corporates as well as potential investors and venture capitalists to connect and network.

You will have the opportunity to join interactive pitching sessions and participatory workshops where you can find out more about early stage and impact investments, innovation procurement, swarm robotics and space technology.

Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth will officially launch the EIC Forum and announce the winners of the EIC Women Innovators Prize and the iCapital Award. Moreover, there is the opportunity to meet the winners of the European Innovation Procurement Awards.

MedPhab review meeting

On September 22, MedPhab completed the first EC review meeting after 18 months since the start of the project in January 2020. During this meeting, achievements and highlights of the pilot line were presented to the EC Project Officer (PO) and three external reviewers. The main topics included: the progress of the pilot line operational processes through the establishment of the Front Office, the technology maturation through the model and use cases, the technology modular mapping, launch of the open calls, dissemination to stakeholder groups, and business planning.

The pilot line has encountered some challenges mostly due to the universal obstacle of the pandemic which has delayed the on-site progress.  However, mitigation strategies have been implemented succesfully. During an open discussion, the reviewers and PO have acknowledged the efforts of the consortium and provided valuable feedback to further strengthen the establishment of MedPhab photonics pilot line dedicated for medical diagnostics.

Ukraine joins Horizon Europe and Euratom Research and Training Programme

On the 12th October 2021 after the Summit of European Union and Ukraine, the leaders of the European Union and its Member States finalized the association of Ukraine to Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme (2021-2027) and the Euratom Research and Training Programme (2021-2025). Ukrainian researchers and innovators can now participate under the same conditions as entities from EU Member States.

This alliance between the EU and Ukraine will be strengthen by the cooperation in science, research and innovation. Moreover, it will help to deliver on common priorities, such as the twin green and digital transition.

The full news is available on the European Commission NEWS site.

FRIENDSHIP at Sustainable places and SolarPaces 2021!

In September/October, FRIENDSHIP was represented by our partner CEA at two major European events: at Sustainable Places 2021, held both online and in Rome (Italy), on 30th September; and at SolarPaces 2021, held online from 27th September to 1st October. The Project Coordinator, Valéry Vuillerme, highlighted the progress and results achieved during the first year of the project, while Fabio Aste and Pierre Garcia presented the latest achievements in the work packages dedicated to the absorption chillers and the heat storage respectively. Two papers, as well as a presentation, were submitted in the process. You can find more information here and here.

Horizon Europe guidance on gender equality plans (GEPs)

The European Commission has published a guidance on gender equality plan (GEP) which is a new eligibility criterion of the Horizon Europe calls for proposals with deadline of 2022 and beyond. This obligation applies to all public authorities, research organizations and higher education institutions from the Member States and the countries associated to the Framework Program. The equivalent strategy of GEP will also be accepted.

The 54-page handbook was published by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) on 27 September 2021 and is available HERE.

Commission launches EU missions to tackle major challenges

On the 29th of September The European Commission launched five new EU missions.

EU missions aim to tackle big challenges in health, climate and the environment, and to achieve ambitious and inspiring goals in these areas.

Five missions will aim to deliver solutions to key global challenges by 2030:

  1. Adaptation to Climate Change: support at least 150 European regions and communities to become climate resilient by 2030;
  2. Cancer: working with Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan to improve the lives of more than 3 million people by 2030 through prevention, cure and solutions to live longer and better;
  3. Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030;
  4. 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030;
  5. A Soil Deal for Europe: 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030.

With its Communication on EU missions adopted on the end of September, the Commission is giving them the go-ahead, after the approval of the missions’ individual plans this summer.

Full article is available here.

MANUELA – Design for metal AM WORKSHOP – 21ST OCTOBER | 10:00-11:30

Within the Horizon2020-funded project “MANUELA – Additive Manufacturing using Metal Pilot Line“,  CSEM is organizing a workshop with the support of AMIRES focusing on the design aspects of metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) which will take place on 21st October from 10:00 to 11:30.

Renown experts from CSEM will present the general workflow of metal AM, details of the process focusing on re-design for AM, and finally 6 use cases from different industrial sectors acting as examples.

You can REGISTER HERE – or directly JOIN MEETING HERE.

You can find more information about the project on the MANUELA website.

Slide1.JPG
Slide2.JPG

 

PANCAIM Open Webinar: AI in Genomics and multi-omic data integration for pancreatic cancer

The Horizon2020-funded project “PANCAIM – Pancreatic cancer AI for genomics and personalized Medicine” will combine genomics and imaging phenomics using AI to generate breakthrough knowledge to increase understanding of PDAC biology and patient stratification.

In the context of WP3, the consortium is organising an open webinar with the topic of “AI in Genomics and multi-omic data integration for pancreatic cancer”.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, 10. November 2021, 9-10 AM via Microsoft Teams.

Following thematic areas will be covered:

  • Welcome and brief introduction to the core idea of PANCAIM (Henkjan Huisman, Radboud University Medical Center)
  • Molecular Taxonomy and Precision Medicine in Pancreatic Cancer (David Chang, University of Gloasgow)
  • AI models for prognosis and treatment predictions (Tero Antero Aittokallio, Oslo University Hospital)
  • Multi-omic approaches and data integration in pancreatic cancer (Núria Malats, Spanish National Cancer Research Institute)
  • Questions and Answers

In addition to the PANCAIM consortium members, interested guests are welcome to participate in the webinar. If you would be interested to attend, please register your participation until Sunday, 07.11.2021 by email to the PANCAIM project manager, Kristin Aldag (aldag@amires.eu), in order to to receive the link to join. Any specific questions to the presenters are welcome in advance to the same email.

For more info, please visit the Pancaim website.

Post_v5.jpg

Workshop on JePPIX Demonstrator Open Call: Pilot Line for InP Photonic Integrated Circuits

JePPIX Open Call workshop will take place via Zoom, on 13 October 2021, 16:00 – 18:00 (CET).  The aim of the workshop is to introduce the JePPIX InP pilot line for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) to innovative businesses. The Pilot Line aims to bring the PIC-based products to a pre-production level up to TRL7. Moreover, co-financing mechanisms such as the JePPIX Open Call and partner Investors from EPIC will be introduced.

Agenda:
“Pilot Production for InP PICs” Kevin Williams, Professor and Chair of the Photonic Integration group at TU Eindhoven
“Maturity of the design flow and PDK” Katarzyna Lawniczuk, Senior Photonics Engineer at Bright Photonics
“Fabs and their offer” Nazanin Shafiee, Business Development Manager at SMART Photonics
“Automated testing” Axel Schönau, Research Associate at Fraunhofer HHI
“Open Call” Marika Kurova, Project Manager at AMIRES
“Investment opportunities” Antonio Raspa, Innovation Manager at EPIC
After the presentations, there will be a networking session at wonder.me.

Please, register via this link.
 

JePPIX_workshop.jpg

MARVEL poster won the first prize among 76 competitors at the 2nd EVITA symposium

We were happy to contribute to the preparation of the MARVEL project poster which won the first prize among 76 competitors at the 2nd EVITA symposium organised by the Italian Society for Extracellular Vesicles and held on 20-22 September 2021 in Italy. It is the first in-person meeting that we attended to share our first results since the COVID19 outbreak. The event was attended by more than 150 researchers and scientists presenting their work on Extracellular Vesicles. Our poster titled “Hydrophobic effects in membrane sensing peptides for small Extracellular Vesicle isolation and analysis” showed the important results on the development of a new generation of membrane-sensing peptides for EV isolation and further their analysis. Apart from participating in the poster session, MARVEL project was showcased during the pre-meeting session. You can find more information about the presented result and MARVEL project here.

More information about the event is available here.

Webinar: MedPhab – Photonics pilot line for medical diagnostics

This webinar introduces MedPhab, presenting MedPhab technology capabilities and how to work with the pilot line. By registering here for the event, participants may find a solution to a product development problem.  The Webinar will take place on October 28, 2021 and five MedPhab partners will speak about MedPhab, including Mariana Pacheco Blanco, MedPhab project manager and Programme manager at AMIRES who will present MedPhab Community management platform (CMP).

MedPhab pilot-line CMP includes a technical marketplace, the virtual catalogue of capabilities of the whole Photonics-based medical devices ecosystem. Although at this moment MedPhab partners technical services are visible, during October 2021, non-MedPhab partners will be able to register their organisation and offering (prototypes, products and services). This platform is a community building tool that allows lowering the barrier for photonics technologies adoption by companies interested in medical applications. Therefore, through CMP third parties interested in MedPhab services can submit their enquiries via the in-take form.

3D-bioprinted synthetic hydrogel for liver transplantation

A fully synthetic PEG-based hydrogel is 3D-bioprinted along with a biocompatible sacrificial material that is used to create channels in the printed construct. The channels will then allow for the formation of a vascular network inside the hydrogel. This construct is an essential block in the ORGANTRANS project in the creation of a liver tissue 3D printing platform which aims to replace liver transplantation for end-stage liver failure patients. Additionally, this platform can be scaled to other organ systems, as organoid technology is one of the largest parts of regenerative medicine.

More information is available on OrganTrans website.

Save the Date: Info-Days for Horizon Europe Cluster 1 and Cluster 6

On the 4th October the European Commission announced a new series of info-day for Horizon Europe Cluster 1 and Cluster 6 will be held virtually between 25th and 29th October 2021.

The info-days will present the topics of the Horizon Europe Cluster 1 (Health) and Cluster 6 (Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment) work programme 2022 and will give the opportunity to prospective applicants to learn more about funding under the two clusters of the new programme.

Info-days calendar:

25-26 October 2021: Cluster 6 info-days,

27 October 2021: Cluster 6 brokerage event,

28 October 2021: Cluster 1 info-days,

29 October 2021: Cluster 1 brokerage event.

For a detailed agenda and more information, visit the event website.

Iceland and Norway are the first countries associated to Horizon Europe

On the 24th of September 2021 the Joint Committee of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and the EU) adopted the relevant decision for Iceland and Norway, which makes them the first to be associated to Horizon Europe, which allows the entities in those two countries to participate in Europe’s €95.5 billion research and innovation programme, under the same conditions as entities from the EU Member States.

This is an opportunity to continue and deepen cooperation in science, research and innovation, focusing on common priorities: the twin green and digital transition, public health and Europe’s competitiveness in the global landscape.

Joint efforts will aim to address environmental problems in the Arctic, develop hydrogen and carbon capture technologies, boost data-driven innovation, and more. This early association also enables these partners to get involved from the outset in the European Partnerships.

Iceland and Norway have a long history of association to the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation, starting in 1987 for Norway and 1994 for Iceland, with a win-win cooperation throughout the years.

For the full article click HERE.

Horizon Europe: Federal Council submits transitional measures to Parliament for non-accessible programme components

In July 2021 it was announced that Switzerland will be treated as non-associated third country in Horizon Europe.

On 17 September 2021, the Federal Council therefore decided to initiate transitional measures until Switzerland achieves its stated aim of full association.

Under non-associated third country status, researchers and innovators in Switzerland are able to participate in most Horizon Europe collaboration projects. The accessible programmes will not be funded by European Commission but will be funded by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). However, the participation in individual projects will not be possible – including grants from the European Research Council (ERC), the European Innovation council (EIC) and certain Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). Submissions from Switzerland under the first calls of 2021 for ERC (Starting Grants and Consolidator Grants) and EIC (Accelerator) projects are still being evaluated by the European Commission. If the evaluations are favourable, SERI can fund these researchers and businesses directly.

The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) is charging the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) with the task of implementing transitional solutions. The transitional solutions will be based as far as possible on the European calls but will have their own deadlines for project submissions.

The transitional solutions should compensate the lack of participation in ERC Advanced Grant and MSCA 2021 Postdoctoral Fellowship calls as well as for ERC Starting Grants and Consolidator Grants for 2022 in the event that Swiss researchers are not entitled to submit project proposals for these calls.

The EAER will launch further transitional measures through Innosuisse, the European Space Agency ESA and other actors.

The planned transitional measures will be submitted to Parliament in the winter session in the form of an addendum to the 2022 budget.

Latest news and developments from Horizon Result Platform

After the summer break The Horizon results Platform team shared excited news which will lead to strengthen the visibility of projects results.

The first is the new forged partnership with Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) – EEN can offer a services tailored to projects results needs expressed on the Horizon Results Platform

Euronews Business Planet featured Horizon Results Platform solutions in a story on EU R&I results valorisation, focusing on the award-winning MedTech company, RedZinc and their innovative video telemedicine solution. Full article is available here

HRP Quality Assurance campaign was launched to address existing project results on the Horizon Result Platform.

If you would like to learn more about D&E ongoing activities and future opportunities check European IP Helpdesk Bulletin No. 4/ September 2021

On HRP TV soon you will be able to see the interview with Prof. Dr. Davede Iannuzzi, European Research Council grantee sharing essential elements to successfully take your invention from university to market or you can listen to Cyril Demaria, enture capital fund manager, as he targets key benefits in using the Horizon Results Platform. 
 

news.jpg

PHABULOuS Pilot Line Association announces its new Head of Business and Sales

We are proud to announce that the PHABULOuS Pilot Line Association has hired its first official employee and is now fully operational! With the help of Jessica van Heck as Head of Business & Sales, the pilot line front office is ready to offer accelerated innovation and production cycles from prototyping to piloting up to large volume production. Curious to see what free-form micro-optics can do for you? Take a look at www.phabulous.eu or read the full press release at https://lnkd.in/ehBXN.

News from the MOSAIC construction site: the solar field is being installed

A major phase of works has started in the MOSAIC project: the solar field assembly. This highly essential element, acting as the concentrator of the solar rays, is composed of 43 modules of mirrors divided in 3 zones: a central skull-cap, and 2 concentrical rings of modules.

Each module is composed by a group of mirrors placed on a metallic frame at a very accurate position. The frame with the mirrors is placed on the correspondent support. Once the module is completed, it is necessary to check and adjust the orientation of the frame, so that it is precisely oriented towards the receiver and provides the maximum heat concentration, allowing for higher temperatures in the heat transfer fluid.

Supports in the central skull-cap are already placed and the first frames with mirrors have also been installed on them. The works are on course and will continue during the following weeks until the entire solar field is completed.

Join the FlexFunction2Sustain Open Call Webinar on 5th October

The FlexFunction2Sustain Open Innovation Test Bed launches an Open Call for Pilot Case projects. The Call offers a unique opportunity for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) & start-ups to receive subsidised access to top-notch equipment and services of this ecosystem in order to develop and test novel nano-functionalised plastic and paper membrane and surfaces. Up to 20 selected applicants will be provided with customized support through a unique and complete set of services integrating technical, business, ecosystem expertise which will enable them to build up sustainable business cases. The Open Call will have three cut-off dates on 28 January 2022, 29 July 2022 and 27 January 2023 .

For the opening of the application process, FlexFunction2Sustain is organising a webinar on 05th October 2021 at 10:00-11:00 CET/CEST. During the online seminar, information will be provided about:

  • What services do we provide for the winners?
  • Purpose and background of the Open Call;
  • Selection and execution processes;
  • Eligibility criteria and conditions;

Subscribe to the webinar by completing the registration form under the following link.

More information about the conditions of the Call can be found here. In case of questions, you can contact the helpdesk at helpdesk@flexfunction2sustain.eu.

We’ll be looking forward to supporting your innovative ideas!

FF2S_Open Call_Webinar F.jpg

WE ARE HIRING!

Are you passionate about Energy & Sustainability topics? Is admin work not bothering you? Are you a team player? Do you wish to be part of international team? Do you want to learn and gain new experiences? If you answered YES, then we might be looking for you!

We are opening position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Energy & sustainability domain.

For more information click HERE.

We are already looking forward to welcome you in our team!

PhotonHub Press Release on demo and experience centers

AMIRES is proud to have co-designed the website and developed the Training Catalogue of PhotonHub Europe which has now officially been launched. The project will establish a one-stop-shop Photonics Innovation Hub funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 with the aim of assisting SMEs in fully utilizing the technology of photonics in their innovation activities. For more information on this exciting project please take a look at the official press release HERE.

PhotonHub hands-on (4) (Large)[1]-720x403.JPG
training picture 3[1]-720x405.jpg

Boosting organ-on-chip technologies for lung cancer research: Tumor-LN-oC issues first press release

Lung cancer is a leading cause of death accounts for 1/5 of total cancer deaths. It is believed that up to 70% of metastases occurs through the lymphatic system with lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes (LN) mediating the process. This is the starting point of the Horizon2020-funded Tumor-LN-oC project, which unites 11 universities, institutions and SMEs from 9 European countries.

The project kicked off in May 2021 and is progressing steadily. In this context, it is our pleasure to share that the consortium just published its first press release. It contains more information on the launch of the project, as well as its objectives and expected impact, and is publicly available here: https://tumor-ln-oc.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Tumor-LN-oC-press-release.pdf

Tumor-LN-oC aims to offer a comprehensive solution for a robust, automated tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and LN tissue from the same cancer patient. This will allow to study the interaction of primary tumors with lymph nodes, identify their chemical signature, and offer personalized treatment relying on molecular characterization of lymph node metastasizing cells. Thereby, the project will significantly advance the fields of microfluidics, cell biology, cancer biology, physics, and computer programming and software development.

For more information, we invite you to visit the project website and encourage to use the contact form to get in touch with us – we’re looking forward to seeing you over at https://tumor-ln-oc.eu/ !

Capture.PNG

Tumor-LN-oC website has been launched!

After the project officially kicked off in May, we are happy to announce that the website for the Tumor-LN-oC project is now live!

Tumor-LN-oC proposes the development and validation of a tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and lymph node tissue from the same lung cancer patient. The research and proposed technologies will provide added value to the EU cancer diagnostics and pharmaceutical industries. and lower the barriers associated with the application of OoC technology in disease diagnosis and therapy.

To learn more about the project team as well as the objectives and envisioned impact of Tumor-LN-oCs, you are welcome visit the project website which is now available here: https://tumor-ln-oc.eu/ There, you will also find the contact form to get in touch with the partners for additional information. The news section will be regularly updated with the latest news about the project´s progress.

We are looking forward to your visit!
 

Tumor-LN-oC_logo - Copy-1440x447.jpg

Discover the FlexFunction2Sustain Project Handbook!

We are pleased to announce officially the release of the FlexFunction2Sustain Project Handbook. It is an advertising material presenting the Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) for nano-functionalisation technologies that enable sustainable and smart plastics and paper-based products.

The Handbook aims at highlighting the core competencies and unique products and services of the ecosystem and what benefits it brings to their customers. In order to present the capabilities of the OITB, the Handbook provides a quick overview on the facilities covering all major nano-surface processing techniques for flexible plastic and paper surfaces and membranes. In addition to that, six application examples are presented to demonstrate how technical services of the OITB can be combined to solve complex industrial problems involving smart nanotechnologies and materials.

Click HERE to download the Handbook and follow the project website to not miss any project progress!

Meet our team: Lenka Bajarová

Lenka is Managing Director of AMIRES in the Czech Republic and in September 2021 she will be celebrating an important milestone, 10 years in the company. Lenka started to work for AMIRES in 2011 shortly before the Czech branch of the company was founded and since then, she has been responsible for overseeing and managing its operations.

Before joining AMIRES Lenka gained her experience in European Union’s Framework Programme for R&D as a National Contact Point for several FP7 priorities. She was working in this position for 5 years and was also a Deputy Head of the Department National Information Centre for European Research, co-leading team of Czech FP7 NCPs. During the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2009 she was actively involved in the preparation of two conferences – EUFORDIA 2009 (impact assessment of research and development) and EuroNanoForum 2009.

In AMIRES, during the last 10 years, Lenka was personally involved as Project and Dissemination Manager in many FP7 and H2020 projects such as AMBASSADOR (Autonomous Management System Developed for Building and District Levels), PI-SCALE (Bringing flexible organic electronics to pilot innovation scale), SABINA (Smart bi-directional multi energy gateway) or currently Switch2Save (Lightweight switchable smart solutions for energy saving large windows and glass facades). At the same time, she has been overseeing management activities in other projects with AMIRES involvement. Building on this broad experience, she has contributed to the set-up of internal management procedures for EU projects supported by the company and to the transfer of this knowledge and internal standards to new colleagues. Lenka has been also involved in proposal preparation at this moment especially in the Horizon Europe Widening topics.

About 10 years in AMIRES Lenka says: “It is amazing to see, how the company has grown during the last 10 years, both in scope of the AMIRES team itself (raising from 2 team members at the beginning to 18 employees currently) as well as with the portfolio of the services we are ready to provide to our clients. I am very happy I accepted the challenge Rudolf (our CEO) gave me at the beginning and that I has been able to contribute to this amazing adventure. I had the opportunity to work in different research and innovation topics with people with different background (scientific, industrial, business) and I learned a lot (both professionally and personally) thanks to that. It is great to be part of the AMIRES family that I hope will continue to grow in the 10 years ahead of us.”

Apart from the AMIRES family, Lenka is dedicated also to her own family, to which she currently dedicates all her free time.

Internship at AMIRES

Thanks to cooperation with IAESTE that is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization that brings together students and academics around the world and strives for the professional and personal development of students and young graduates we were happy to welcome during this summer our intern Erik who arrived from Norway. Within six weeks Erik was a great help while working on different tasks related to our projects. Erik is young talented focus-oriented person which we believe will be a great colleague and great employee for any company in a future.

Here is what he says about his internship:

“I am Erik Møller Steen, this year’s summer intern at AMIRES, and I study for a Master of Science in nanotechnology with a specialization in bionanotechnology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The background for my choice of studies is an interest in science and technology, and a wish to study a field at the scientific forefront with great potential. This has given me a broad scientific background, but through my studies I have also had courses in project management and finance that made me realize their importance in several aspects of getting research out of the laboratories and to the market and real-world applications. I wanted to explore this further and how it is done in practice. AMIRES is involved in several aspects of research projects and innovation they are highly relevant in that regard, which is why I applied for an internship at AMIRES through IAESTE, an organization that coordinates internships for students throughout the world.

That is a choice I don’t regret! Here I got the possibility and trust to contribute to several aspects of project management previously unknown to me, giving me the opportunity to learn and gain new experiences. Through my various tasks I have worked with projects highly relevant to my field of study and gotten insight into how research is developed into innovative products through cooperation between universities, research institutes and SMEs. By help and guidance from great colleagues I have contributed to the day-to-day organization of projects, market research and reporting, and thus feel that my work is useful and valued.

The diversity of tasks has given me a range of experiences that are truly valuable, and I am certain they will be useful in my future career. My colleagues at AMIRES have done a great job welcoming me, and the international and open environment gave me a wonderful summer in Prague. Thank you, I hope we´ll meet again!”

We would like to thank Erik once again and we hope to meet him in the future. Good luck Erik!

Open call: Equality platform for the energy sector

On the 17th August the European Commission (EC) launched a call for action to stakeholders in the energy sector who would be interested to become members of a new platform on equality in the energy sector. The “Equality platform for the energy sector” will be established in October, therefore the European Commission calls on organizations, governments, private sector, universities and civil society to join. With this platform, the Commission aims to bring together energy stakeholders in their commitment towards equality and offer a forum to discuss and exchange good practices for diverse and inclusive workplaces.

The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson will officially launch the platform at the European Union Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) on 25th October 2021.

Registration to the EUSEW will open on 7th September 2021.

The Commission is asking for applications for membership from any stakeholder in the EU energy sector that:

  • has taken action to improve equality in their area of activity or business
  • wishes to share experiences and be at the forefront of change in the energy sector
  • wants to create innovative approaches and develop inclusive and diverse environments that support progress

To join, applicants should send an e-mail to ENER-EQUALITY@ec.europa.eu which contain:

  • the e-mail subject should be “Equality platform – reply to the call to action”
  • the body of the email should include a description of the actions implemented to promote equality in the organisation’s activities
  • the applicant should include information showing that those actions are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Save the date for European Innovation Council Summit

On the 24 and 25th September 2021 in Brussels and online the first Summit of the new European Innovation council will be celebrated. 

The event will be opened by European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, the event will be filled with inspiring keynotes, workshops, pitching sessions, prestigious the European Innovation Council (EIC) prizes including the Women Innovators Prize. Moreover, the EIC Forum will be officially launched. 

The Summit will attract high-growth European start-ups and innovators, in particular SMEs, researchers, corporates as well as potential investors and venture capitalists. It will provide a unique platform for all the participants to network and make business contacts.  

The core programme of the event will focus on the EIC (Startup to Scaleup), ecosystem policy and emerging technologies. Startups, innovative researchers and others can find out about future funding opportunities from the EIC.

More information will follow.

 

EICsummit21-1440x810.jpg

The European Commission launched call for expression of interest for working group on offshore renewable energies

On the 23rd of July 2021 the European Commission launched a call for expression of interest. The call is open to all relevant stakeholders’ organisations to become a member of a new working group on offshore renewable energy under the framework of the clean energy industrial forum.

Following on from last year’s Commission Strategy for Offshore Renewable Energy, the aim of the working group will be to help contribute to reaching the EU’s offshore renewable energy ambitions and to define the challenges which the sector faces together with implementation bottlenecks for reaching the 2030 and 2050 goals.

Application form is available HERE

eu commission.jpg

FlexFunction2Sustain releases its Catalogue of Physicochemical and Functional Characterisation Services

The Catalogue of Physicochemical and Functional Characterisation Services for the FlexFunction2Sustain Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) has been prepared and aims to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the characterisation services available within the Ecosystem. The catalogue describes technological support services provided by the FlexFunction2Sustain project partners for the development of nano-functionalised plastic and paper-based flexible materials and membranes. The methodology for the selection of services is based on the analysis of market needs, the available technical offer and the experience gained from the analysis and implementation of the different Use Cases of the project. The catalogue of characterisation services will be continuously updated to reflect the developments within the project.

Find out the Catalogue of Physicochemical and Functional Characterisation Services HERE.

FF2S_catalogue_characterisation services.png

The European Commission published first Annotations for the Horizon Europe model grant agreement

At this moment it is a pre-draft version, later the full version of corporate annotated model grant agreement will follow. Currently, the annotations focus mainly on articles about individual cost categories, including personnel costs, as well as on third parties.

The document is available HERE

Flag_of_Europe.svg-1440x960.png

ComBioTES: back on track!

The project ComBioTES was started in November 2019, but due to internal problems of one of the partners, it was immediately suspended during 18 months. Thanks to the hard work of the whole consortium, activities could be resumed from 1st June 2021, and the project’s official Kick-off meeting took place on 9th July. 

CombioTes.png
The project’s objective is to develop a modular compact thermal energy storage (TES) solution for heating, hot tap water and cooling, fully adapted for electricity load shifting. The proposed solution will be made up of two different storages: one modular and switchable TES able to store hot tap water to be converted into ice storage during summer, and one compact TES using bio-based phase changing material (PCM), for space heating or hot tap water demands. 

Combio Picture.png
The ComBioTES consortium involves all relevant key players in energy storage and management: RTOs for development and testing infrastructure and SMEs for manufacturing & commercialization of the technology, as well as representatives of potential customers and end users (building owners & operators). The TES devices will be tested by partners in Poland, France, Denmark, and one of the original aspects of the project is that it includes two partners from outside the EU: China. 

The project’s website is still in construction, but you can already find more information on the preliminary website. In the coming months, the first progress and results will be shared on the newly created website and on social media: see you there! 

Switzerland will be treated as a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe

The European Commission informed the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI on 12 July 2021 that Switzerland is to have the status of a non-associated third country for all calls for proposals in 2021. Researchers in Switzerland can still participate in calls for proposals under the status, albeit to limited extent, and receive funding from the Confederation, however participation in individual projects (in future calls for proposals from the European research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the European Innovation Council) is no longer possible. Even that the Federal Council’s stated aim remains Switzerland’s full association to Horizon Europe. The funding for projects cost will not be received from the European Commission, the funding will be provided by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI. 

The Parliament has already approved CHF 6.15 billion in funding for Swiss participation in the Horizon package, as well as the possibility of direct funding for researchers in Switzerland.

For all calls in 2021 for which researchers and innovators from Switzerland have no possibilities to make submissions or evaluations, SERI is preparing proposals for suitable transitional measures as part of the federal credit and budget process. 

For more information, click HERE.

European_Union_Flags_2a-1440x810.jpg

The European Research Council’s plans for 2022

The European Research Council (ERC) announced work programme for 2022 which includes €2.4 billion for 1,100 scientists and scholars in European Union and associated countries. It is ERC’s second work programme under Horizon Europe. The funding will be awarded in a series of grant competitions refereed by panels of internationally renowned researchers. It is intended to support projects that push the frontiers of human knowledge.

On the 14th of July, 2021 the work programme established by ERC Scientific Council for the coming year was adopted by the European Commission, therefore, thanks to this funding 8,000 jobs for post-doctoral fellow, PhD students and other research staff will be created in ERC grantees’ teams. 

Here are few highlights from the plan: 

  • Synergy Grants – support a small group of two to four principal investigators to jointly address ambitious research problems that could not be addressed by the individual researchers and their teams working alone.
  • Four Proof of Concept funding rounds will take place under this work programme
  • Public engagement with Research Award. The awards will recognize three ERC grantees, with a prize of €10,000 each, in the three categories: “Involve” for citizen science, “Inspire” for public outreach, and “Influence” for media and policy. The competition is expected to open on 5 October 2021.
  • Gender equality plans at host institutions. he institutions to host ERC grantees must have a gender equality plan or an equivalent strategic document in place at the time of the signing of the grant and for the duration of the project.

For the whole article, visit The European Research Council and to read the plan click HERE
 

2021_2022.png

AMIRES publishes GENDER Equality manifesto

European Commission, UN, scientists and stakeholders around the world have one same goal: reach gender equality. AMIRES shares the same vision and interest to reach gender equality, within the company and through the organisations with which collaborates.

AMIRES believes that a successful team is based on diversity and acknowledging the importance of a multidisciplinary approach. AMIRES is as well an example of social and cultural diversity. Therefore, we have learned that tackling situations from different angles provides more efficient and effective solutions thanks to a multidisciplinary and enriched vision. Read our Gender manifesto, which is signed by not only our directors, but also by our employees, showing their commitment. Gender equality is possible to be reached together; because we are in this together.

The Manifesto is available HERE.

Discover the steps of the construction of the MOSAIC prototype!

Our consortium, made of European partners from 6 countries, has regularly published news about the construction site in Spain. To make the process clearer, we have created this explanatory video that sums up the important milestones along the progress of the construction, as well as the roles of each partner and the steps ahead. It will be updated with the remaining steps, once the project is completed in November.

Enjoy watching !

More on https://mosaic-h2020.eu/

Meet our team: Michael ten Donkelaar

Michael joined AMIRES in July 2020 as Programme Manager in the domain of Energy and Flexible Electronics.

He has a degree in Environmental Science from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and has 20 years of consulting and research experience in different positions in the Czech Republic and in the Netherlands. He is an experienced project manager of EU funded R&D projects in the field of energy conservation, renewable energy and sustainable transport. 

In AMIRES, Michael is managing the RoLA-FLEX project (addressing Innovative manufacturing processes for flexible photovoltaics and wearable displays), the BOOSTER project (Boost Of Organic Solar Technology for European Radiance) and is responsible for project proposal preparation.

About his work he said:

“The scope of work is really broad, and you get involved in many innovative R&D projects focusing on cutting-edge technologies. The team spirit at AMIRES is excellent, focused on getting work done but always with time for informal gatherings “ 

After work Michael likes to spend time with his family, go for a cycling tour or read a good book. 

 

MTD2.jpg

PANCAIM: Six months completed!

On June 23rd 2021, the PANCAIM project team (Pancreatic cancer AI for genomics and personalized Medicine) had its M6 meeting, an online event that closed the half of the year of activities and served to plan for the months ahead.  The PANCAIM aims at developing trusted impactful AI applications for regular clinical use to help clinical decision-makers to give the right treatment to the right patients at the right time, and at the right cost and improve treatment outcomes of PDAC patients.

More information are available at www.pancaim.eu.

Capture-1440x809.PNG

News from MOSAIC: receiver placed in the oven!

The MOSAIC project has reached a new important milestone: the first access of the receiver to the oven for heating-up procedure testing. On 15th June, the prototype site was ready for this manoeuvre, which allows the receiver to be placed inside the oven for heating process or to prevent high temperature losses from the receiver (during night, for example).

The complete manoeuvre in this specific installation consists of the following steps:

  1. The receiver is placed by means of the tracking system control in a vertical position, just in front of the oven. The upper crossbars of the receiver are laid on a specific retractable support.
  2. This support moves to the oven, placing the receiver in its right position.
  3. The doors of the oven close. The isolation parts of the receiver at its ends fit with the oven doors, so the receiver is kept in an isolated space, where the heating-up process can take place.
Picture1.jpg

When the receiver is needed to move from the oven to the workspace, the inverse manoeuvre is carried out.

See the whole process in this video (accelerated 20 times):

From now onwards, the prototype can be tested with HTF preheating at intermediate temperatures, a previous step before the solar field is built and the higher temperatures are reached.

For more information visit MOSAIC website.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator: Over 2000 start-ups and SMEs submissions, Al platform with new functionalities

Since the opening of the EIC Accelerator funding on 9 April, over 2000 start-ups and SMEs submitted short applications on a continuous basis, and 801 of these progressed to submit a full application for funding for the 16 June cut-off of the EIC Accelerator scheme.

The very large majority of the applicants (663) requested blended finance (grant combined with equity investment), while 138 asked for grants without equity. 375 companies applied for the Open call to fund breakthrough innovations in any field of technology and application, while the majority (426) applied for support to develop breakthrough innovations in Strategic Digital and Health technologies (223) or to address the Green Deal challenge (203).

Proposals are now being evaluated by independent experts and the successful companies will be invited to pitch in front of a Jury of investors and business experts during September with results expected in October.

New applicants can submit their application at any time, with no cut-offs, using the EIC Al platform. As per the previous official statement, the Al-based platform needed several improvements which are now done and the platform has new functionalities to help with preparing the application. 

For the whole statement, visit the EIC news

E0t7n7XX0AMwTsf-1440x810.jpg

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology launches its Strategic Innovation Agenda for 2021-2027

On 14th June 2021, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) launched its Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) for 2021 – 2027. With an extended mandate for the coming years and a budget of almost € 3 billion under Horizon Europe, the EIT will help revitalize Europe and transform green and digital.

The EIT’s new strategy was kicked off with a hybrid launch event online and live from the International Iberian Institute of Nanotechnology in Braga, Portugal and organised under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council.

Following the introductory policy session, four thematic sessions were held each focusing on the key areas of the EIT’s new strategy: strengthening the EIT Community’s impact, increasing the entrepreneurial and innovation capacity of higher education institutions, strengthening the EIT’s regional development efforts, through the Regional Innovation Scheme, and setting up two innovation communities dedicated to the cultural and creative sectors and industries (2022) and to water, marine and maritime sectors and ecosystems (2026).  

For the full press release click here

EIT_picture.jpg

The Pathfinder Challenge calls worth €132 million are open

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder Challenges built on cutting-edge directions in science and technology to create new market opportunities. For each Challenge, the EIC will support a carefully crafted portfolio of projects that jointly explore different perspectives, competing approaches or complementary aspects of the Challenge. With its five Pathfinder Challenges for the 2021 call, it calls for high-risk/high-gain research and development, venturing into new interdisciplinary areas.

List of 5 Challenges:

The deadline for submission of proposals is on 27 October 2021

For more information visit the EIC News

EIC.jpg

PHABULOus: Takeaways from Workshop on Advances in design, fabrication and applications of free-form micro-optics and new membership in Swissphotonics

PHABULOuS and PHENOmenon came together to organize a joint workshop on advances in design, fabrication and applications of free-form micro-optics. The two day event gathered 100 registered participants and focused on available technologies for production of polymer and hybrid micro-optics, and the advances of direct laser writing, two-photon polymerization and microreplication technologies for industrial production of custom and freeform optical surfaces. If you missed the workshop and you would like to learn more, the video recordings can be accesses on the PHABULOuS YouTube channel.

PHABULOuS membership in Swissphotonics
In addition to becoming a part of EPIC-European Photonics Industry Consortium, the PHABULOuS Pilot Line Association has recently extended its membership to include Swissphotonics. As collaborations grow we see great potential and interest in the services the PHABULOuS project can offer in the field of free-form micro-optics!

fddsfds.JPG
hghg-720x405.jpg

The halfway is behind, but the next halfway is still ahead, wish us luck!

On 8 July, the ORGANTRANS team has met to sum up the achievements for the last 18 months and to plan future actions in the ORGANTRANS project. The main building blocks of this ambitious project have already been completed, such as spheroids production, hydrogel stabilization, bioprinting, and construct formation. Currently, partners work on optimizing and combining together these building blocks into one standardized process. Altogether, they will allow assembling a novel 3D bioengineered liver construct towards transplantation for regenerative medicine. 

More information about the ORGANTRANS project.

M18 V3.jpg

Horizon Europe Work Programmes are published!

The European Commission has adopted the main Work Programmes of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022 which will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding. 
Around €5.8 billion in total – will be invested in research and innovation to support the European Green Deal and the Union’s commitment to make the EU the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Europe’s Digital Decade  – the development of core digital technologies will be supported with around €4 billion over 2021-2022.

Around €1.9 billion in total will go towards helping repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. In line with NextGenerationEU the funding will contribute to building a post-coronavirus Europe that is not only greener and more digital but also more resilient for the current and forthcoming challenges.

The Horizon Europe 2021-2022 work programmes:

All Work Programmes are available on the Funding & Tenders Portal

gfgfgfdgfgfd.jpg

Commission and industry invest €22 billion in new European Partnerships to deliver solutions to tackle major societal challenges

The European Commission launched 11 new European Partnerships together with industry, to boost investments in research and innovation and to overcome major climate and sustainability challenges, towards making Europe the first climate neutral economy and delivering on the European Green Deal. The Partnership will also deliver on the EU’s digital ambitions for the next decade, Europe’s Digital Decade. They will receive over €8 billion from Horizon Europe. The total commitments, including those from private partners and from Member States, amount to around €22 billion.

The eleven European Partnerships are:

  1. European Partnership for the European Open Science Cloud.
  2. European Partnership for Artificial Intelligence, Data and Robotics.
  3. European Partnership for Photonics (light-based technologies).
  4. European Partnership for Clean Steel – Low Carbon Steelmaking.
  5. European Partnership Made in Europe.
  6. European Partnership Processes4Planet.
  7. European Partnership for People-centric Sustainable Built Environment (Built4People).
  8. European Partnership towards Zero-emission Road Transport (2Zero).
  9. European Partnership for Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility.
  10. European Partnership for Batteries: Towards a competitive European industrial battery value chain.
  11. European Partnership for Zero Emission Waterborne Transport.

The Commission adopted on the 14 June 2021 Memoranda of Understanding to launch the Partnerships, which will start their operations immediately. A signature ceremony for the Memoranda of Understanding will take place at the European Research and Innovation Days on the 23 June.

For more information visit The European Commission Press corner.

P041598-578930.jpg

European Research and Innovation Days

European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event which brings together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond.

The event will take place online on the 23 and 24 June 2021.

This year marks the start of Horizon Europe, the most ambitious EU research and innovation programme ever and will be a decisive moment to strengthen the European Research Area. 

The event is all about collaboration: bringing together individuals and experts from all areas to build connections and ignite a brighter future.

For more information and the programme click here

ridays-banner-2021_0.png

MedTech industry investments analysis report

Innovation success and product placement into the market of any industry requires not only technical excellence but also access to capital. The capital sources usually start with own resources, family and friends. However, this may not be enough and start-ups or spin-offs usually search for external capital, which is crucial to bring the ideas and technologies further. Who are the main organisations investing in Medical Devices, Health Care, Health Diagnostics, Nanotechnology, Medical or Life Sciences in Europe?

At AMIRES, we mapped the investors in those fields and we share the summary on this analysis here. Furthermore, if you are interested in obtaining more detailed information on this analysis or to request similar analysis for a different domain / area or further segmentation, contact us.

The analysis prepared by us is available here.

MedTech1.png

Save the dates for Horizon Europe Info Days 2021

The European Commission announced on the 1st June that the first edition of the Horizon Europe Info Days will take place from 28th June to 9th July 2021. 

The event will give the opportunity to prospective applicants and other stakeholders of EU research and innovation to get information and ask questions about news, main funding instruments and processes of Horizon Europe (HEU). 

The Horizon Europe Info Days will address 9 themes, each featuring a programme of exclusive discussions and hands-on sessions, dedicated to a different cluster or part of the new programme.

Online events:
28.6.2021 – Infrastructures
29 -30.6. 2021 – Cluster 4 – Digital, industry & space 
30.6.2021 – Cluster 3 – Civil security for society 
1.7.2021 – Cluster 2 – Culture, creativity & inclusive society 
1.7.2021 – The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: What is new under Horizon Europe
2.7.2021 – Cluster 1 – Health
5 – 6.7.2021 – Cluster 5 – Climate, energy & mobility
7 – 8.7.2021 – Cluster 6 – Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture & environment
9.7.2021 – European Research Area (ERA) & Widening

The Horizon Europe info-days will be open for participation without prior registration.

For more information and practical details, visit the event website.
 

Horizon Europe info-days_2021-06-02_8826.png

News from the European Innovation Council (EIC): Women Leadership Programme for innovative entrepreneurs and researchers & Statement on Gender & Diversity in EIC

The European Commission has launched the Women Leadership Programme to provide a dedicated programme of mentoring, skills enhancement and networking for women entrepreneurs and researchers in EIC supported projects. 

Furthermore the EIC has launched mentoring and coaching programme for aspiring women researchers and innovators: the EIC Women Leadership Programme (WLP) where women can apply as of 3 June, 2021. 50 of them will get the training and get a chance to work with personal mentors to define and follow their business strategies. This programme will be extended to projects selected under the new WomenTechEU scheme

In addition to that, on the 3 June, 2021 the European Innovation Pilot Advisory Board has published a Statement on Gender and Diversity which is urging the EIC and other innovation actors to take actions and achieve balanced representation of women and men along the entire innovation chain. It was pointed out that the EIC already made progress by increasing the number of women-led companies awarded with EIC Accelerator funding from 8% to 29%. Moreover, the women represent 50% of the jury members that recommend EIC funding and 42% of the business coaches that advise and mentor EIC supported start-ups.

To learn more visit European innovation Council / News

epws-eic-banner.jpg

Open call for proposals for Enterprise Europe Network for 2021 and beyond

The European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA) opened the call for proposals to setup Enterprise Europe Network after 2022. The call is following the adoption of the Single Marker Programme (SMP). 

The Network was launched in 2008 and since then played an important role in facilitating the access of European SMEs to the Single Market and third country markets. It is also providing growth-oriented, integrated business and innovation support services to help them compete.

The European Commission is looking for proposals for the next Network, as the current one is due to expire at the end of 2021, at first for the period from 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2025. The Network will be funded under the new Single Market Programme (SMP) which succeeds the COSME Programme.  

The available budget of the call amounts to EUR 164,5 million and it is expected to contribute to the SMP objectives, improving the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs in Europe and promoting entrepreneurship. 

The deadline for submission of proposals is 11 August 2021 17:00 (Brussels time).

For more information visit EISMEA News, information how to apply, go to the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Enterprise euroipe Network.jpg

Promoting the huge potential of OITBs for EU competitiveness

On May 4th, the FlexFunction2Sustain, supported by the Safe-N-Medtech Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB), organised a public workshop with the core aim of promoting the OITB ecosystem to relevant stakeholders and Industry. The event gathered over 100 representatives of the most relevant participants in this ecosystem: industry, academia, research and technology organisations and business support actors. The workshop took place as a satellite event of the EuroNanoForum 2021, organised under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In the opening session, Peter Dröll, Head of Prosperity Directorate at the European Commission DG RTD, highlighted the importance of the OITB as a key element in the EU ecosystem for research and innovation by providing integrated support to innovators at different stages of technological development. Dr. Rudolf Fryček, CEO of AMIRES, introduced the idea behind the EU Open Innovation Ecosystem, and how it can help industry to get their ideas realized to products.

The workshop helped creating a common understanding on how OITBs can make industries’ life easier. End-users’ talks where industrial stakeholders provided feedback on how the OITB are delivering their services and boosting innovation revealed the expectations of users towards an OITB. First and second generation OITBs presented their portfolio of services and added value to customers.
Find out the summary of the workshop here, watch the full recorded session here, and download the presentations here

FF2S Collage 02 06 2021.jpg

PANCAIM project has organised the story mapping workshop

On May 20-21st, the WP2, led by Collective Minds Radiology and the Hyve, hosted a story mapping workshop in Barcelona. Organizing this workshop was an important step in the process towards a successful PANCAIM project whose aim is to develop AI-assisted clinical applications that efficiently merge genomics and imaging phenomics to assist clinicians in each of the personalized medicine diagnostics areas (Prognostication, Prediction, Monitoring). To understand priorities and deployable releases of the final platform and also to achieve the user friendliness of the platform, the workshop gathered representatives from the PANCAIM consortium in each of the following groups: Data providers (data owner/uploader), Clinical expertise (data annotators), Repository users (researchers), AI developers and AI validators.

Picture1.jpg

Join us at the workshop on “Advances in design, fabrication and applications of free-form micro-optics”

Two EU funded projects PHABULOuS and PHENOmenon have come together to organise a workshop to present the available technologies for production of polymer and hybrid micro-optics, and the advances of direct laser writing, two-photon polymerization and microreplication technologies for industrial production of custom and freeform optical surfaces. This two day event held on 8-9 June 2021, will present additional information on the progress and status of both projects, as well as provide an opportunity for further discussion and exchange between worldwide researchers. 

For more information on the workshop or to register please click here
 

Event-image.jpg

Open call for applications for the selection of members of the EIC board

On 27 May, 2021, the European Innovation Council (EIC) launched a call for expression of interest for new EIC board members. The EIC funding worth over €1 billion aims to help scale up start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses that have the potential to achieve high impact. While over half of the funding is open to breakthrough innovations in any field, €495 million are earmarked for innovations that support the European Green Deal as well as digital and health technologies.

The EIC Board acts as the “voice of the innovator”, to ensure all EIC activities are innovator-centric and to promote the EIC as the investor of choice for researchers and innovators with visionary ideas.

The Board advises directly the European Commission, the EIC and European Innovation and SME Executive Agency (EISMEA, henceforth referred as ‘the Agency’) as the dedicated implementation structure, and interacts with a number of full time EIC Programme Managers with leading expertise in their fields. It also liaises with the EIC Fund, as the investment arm of the EIC, as well as with the European Research Council (ERC), the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and other innovation programmes and initiatives.

EIC is looking for innovators – entrepreneurs, investors and venture capitalists, corporate leaders, researchers and academics with leading expertise in fields relating to future and emerging technologies, breakthrough and disruptive innovation, starting and scaling businesses, innovation ecosystem builders, and innovation experts. The Commission will select between 15 and 20 members with estimated start in September 2021.

The application deadline is 30 June, 2021.

More information available: EC News and European Innovation Council.

MedPhab launches platform for photonics-based medical devices ecosystem

MedPhab pilot-line launches its Community management platform (CMP) which includes a technical marketplace, the virtual catalogue of capabilities of the whole Photonics-based medical devices ecosystem. Although at this moment MedPhab partners technical services are visible, in the second half of 2021, non-MedPhab partners will be able to register their organisation and offering (prototypes, products and services).

This platform is a community building tool that allows lowering the barrier for photonics technologies adoption by companies interested in medical applications. Therefore, through CMP third parties interested in MedPhab services can submit their enquiries via the in-take form.
To learn more, register here for the Webinar on June  3, 2021, in which five MedPhab partners will speak about MedPhab, including Mariana Pacheco Blanco, MedPhab project manager and Programme manager at AMIRES who will present CMP.

MedPhab Banner.png

Join OASIS’ interactive workshop June 10th, 2021

On June 10th project OASIS will host an interactive online workshop for companies and institutions looking to innovate their products/services with nanotechnology and advanced materials.

Participants will get to hear about what services OASIS can offer them, what are the conditions for applying a project in its opencall and what projects have already been successfully supported by OASIS.

The other half of the workshop will be dedicated to direct networking with providers of specific services and diving deeper into the technologies on offer.

You can register for the event HERE

A new strategy for the European Commission’s international cooperation in research and innovation

On the 18th of May 2021 the European Commission adopted a Communication on its Global Approach to Research and Innovation. The aim is to take a leading role in supporting international research and innovation partnership, and to deliver innovative solutions to make our societies green, digital and healthy.

The strategic priority for the European Union (EU) is to bring together the best minds from around the world. However, the EU as well pointed out that there are still geopolitical tensions rising as well as the human rights and fundamental values are questioned. The response to all mentioned is to lead by example, promoting multilateralism, openness and reciprocity together by cooperation with the rest of the world. The new Horizon Europe framework program remains open to cooperation with third countries, now offering the opportunity to join for non-European countries that share European values and have a strong scientific profile.

Two main aims of the strategy are:

  1. it aims for a research and innovation environment that is based on rules and values, and it is also open by default, to help researchers and innovators around the world work together in multilateral partnerships and find solutions to global challenges
  2. It aims to ensure reciprocity and a level-playing field in international cooperation in research and innovation.

To achieve its goals, the EU will support researchers and their organizations to help accelerate sustainable development in low and middle-income countries as well with a “African initiative” under Horizon Europe. The European Commission highlight that Horizon Europe, the next EU research and innovation framework programme 2021-2027 will be the main key for implementation of this strategy.

To read an original article click HERE.

Global approach-1440x720.jpg

FRIENDSHIP: one year completed!

The project FRIENDSHIP, started in May 2020, aims at promoting the use of solar heat in industrial sectors through the prototype of a complex and fully integrated heating and cooling system. The consortium had its M12 meeting on May 7th, an event that closed the first year of activities and served to plan the three years ahead. The meeting was held online due to current regulations linked to the Covid-19 crisis.

friendship1.png
During these first twelve months, the consortium has defined all the requirements and parameters that such a prototype should fulfil and has been in contact with several important industrial actors, who helped achieving realistic studies. The different components of the prototype (solar collectors, heat pump, thermal storage, chillers) have all been successfully conceptualized. They are all at a fundamental stage now: the shift from theory to practice, through testing, numerical analysis, selection of manufacturers and production of materials.

Friendship2.png

Several articles have been written and some are currently in the process of publication. The following months should see a substantial increase in the number of physical results, so keep a close eye to the project to witness its cutting-edge progress!

European Innovation Council postponed the proposals from 16th June until 6th October

In April the European Innovation Council (EIC) announced the first funding opportunities and opened the first EIC Accelerator calls

Last week the EIC published on its twitter that they stopped new submissions from start-ups which were due on the 16th of June.

The official statement stated that they need to make several improvements to the Al-based platform which are expected to be introduced on 22nd June.

Before 16th June, the EIC has over 1,000 submissions to review. That is why it decided to stop new submissions for the first round of funding. Entrepreneurs who did not submit their pitches yet are left stranded as submissions closed without warning. Companies will now have to wait for reopening of the submission platform, with full proposal deadline on 6th October, to secure funding.

Based on the comments on official EIC twitter account, many people disagree with this decision and complain, because of the effort/budget investments done so far. One of the reasons is that start-up need a clear visibility of rules and timeline for funding.

 

Source: Official Twitter account of European Innovation Countil

Tumor and Lymph Node on Chip breakthrough: Tumor-LN-oC

On May 7th, 2021 Tumor-LN-oC project (Tumor and Lymph Node on Chip for cancer studies) was officially kicked-off via online conferencing service where all partners from 11 organizations participated. The project is coordinated by Institute of Communication and Computer Systems from Greece, with the participation of Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), Biomedical Research Foundation Academy Of Athens (Greece), Åbo Akademi (Finland), Alpes Lasers (Switzerland)), Rayfos Ltd (UK), Vienna University of Technology (Austria), Elvesys (France), PhosPrint P.C. (Greece), Asphalion SL (Spain) and Amires (Czech Republic).

Tumor-LN-oC aims to offer a comprehensive solution for a robust, automated tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and LN tissue from the same cancer patient. This will allow to study the interaction of primary tumors with lymph nodes, identify their chemical signature, and offer personalized treatment relying on molecular characterization of lymph node metastasizing cells.

More information will be shortly available at https://tumor-ln-oc.eu/.

Tumor-LN-oC-KOM_photo-1440x819.png

AMIRES is HIRING!

To support our growth, we are looking for highly motivated person to join our team in Prague for position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in innovative technologies.

Are you passionate about research and technology innovation? Are you target oriented, responsible and flexible? If time management and team spirit are no strangers to you then we are looking for you!

Apply for our newly opened position by sending your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to Bajarova(at)amires.eu till May 19th, 2021.
Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job will be contacted by May 21st, 2021. For more information click HERE.

AMIRES_hiring.png

Thank you for making successful the intensive Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop “FROM LAB TO CLINIC”

Thank you for making successful the intensive Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop “FROM LAB TO CLINIC”, which took place on 28 April 2021. Together with speakers, more than 80 people attended this event. The workshop was organized in the frame of the OrganTrans EU funded project and was a part of the webinar series “NEXT GEN ORGAN-ON-CHIP & ORGANOIDS”. If you missed the chance to join us, you can watch the full recorded session on YouTube.
Don’t miss the next Webinar on “NEXT GEN ORGAN-ON-CHIP & ORGANOIDS! More information is available HERE.

OT.png

A significant milestone reached in MOSAIC project: real receiver installed!

During the last months, different systems had been tested by means of a dummy receiver connected to dummy hoses, simulating work conditions. Once the tests were completed, both the receiver and the hoses were replaced by the real ones. The operation was carried out from 20th to 22nd April and needed the participation and the cooperation of different partners and their subcontractors. The thermal installation is now complete with its real components.

The elevation of the ensemble was performed by means of a crane which lifted the real hoses, already connected to the receiver, while the receiver itself was lifted by the tracking system cables, in a coordinated operation. The hoses’ end, opposite to the receiver, was connected to the skid installation, on top of the main metallic tower.

In the following days, the system will be filled with HTF, and then the thermal loop system will be ready for the different tests that will assess its fine working. In a few weeks the solar field will be installed, before the final period of set-up tests starts.

New Service Offer: 3D design, modelling and rendering

AMIRES is excited to offer an additional support for innovation projects! Do you need to show your product or prototype visualization to investors, to funding agency or to test how it will be looking or interacting in modelled environment?

Now we offer to our clients to design and visualize a concept and create attractive images and animations using 3D models. Our consultants will guide you by using the tools (Blender, SketchUp, Solidworks, Dialux) to your needs and propose realistically looking models.

Examples of applications of this service:

  • Design and create engineered components and innovative concepts to analyse their structure and interactions
  • Visualize the installation of a product or production line in a building or a natural environment, foresee the obstacles and the space available
  • Render realistic images of products, infrastructure, interiors, buildings, landscapes
  • Plan the illumination of an internal or external space
  • Create short animations (under 30 seconds) which are ideal for dissemination purposes
  • Test some physical properties in simulations

The service includes the whole process of 3D modelling: design, conversion of 2D plans or images to a 3D geometry, texturing, physics, environment. The fields of applications is very broad, including health and biotech, material sciences, photonics, smart systems, energy generation and energy efficiency.

For more information contact Dr. Rudolf Fryček.

Coronavirus: HERA Incubator & new calls with support of €123 million for urgent research into coronavirus variants

European bio-defense preparedness plan – “Hera Incubator“ – The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority started in February 2021 to prepare Europe for an increased thread of coronavirus variants. For Europe to react properly HERA Incubator will bring together science, public authorities and industry. HERA Incubator will focus on detecting new variants of the virus to accelerate the development of new vaccines and its production. More information is available here.

As one of the actions under the HERA Incubator the European Commission introduced a measure to speed up the authorization of adapted COVID-19 vaccines. It will allow companies to act faster when it comes to the gathering evidence, moreover it will authorize adapted vaccines with a smaller set of data submitted to the European Medicines Agency. The measure will now go to the European Parliament and Council before entering into force. For original article, click here.

This April, the European Commission announced the mobilization of €123 million to support research of coronavirus variants. It is a first emergency funding under Horizon Europe. The aim is to fight the coronavirus, act to prevent, alleviate and respond top the impact of coronavirus variants in line with the mission of HERA Incubator.

On 13th April new calls were launched, future funded projects are expected to rapidly advance the knowledge of Coronavirus, develop vaccine candidates, support research and data sharing. The deadline for submission is 6th May 2021.

Horizon Europe calls:

  1. FAIR and open data sharing in support to European preparedness for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases 
  2. Research infrastructure services for rapid research responses to COVID-19 and other infectious disease epidemics
  3. Vaccines & therapeutic clinical trials to boost COVID-19 prevention and treatment
  4. Cohorts united against COVID-19 variants of concern

P049389-716667.jpg

Source: EC – Audiovisual Service, European Union, 2021, ID: P-049389/00-05, 3/2/2021, Brussels, available: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/photo/P-049389~2F00-05

European Innovation Council opened EIC Accelerator calls worth €1B to help start-ups and SMEs

EIC – European Innovation Council with a budget over €10 billion for 2021-2027 is following up on a pilot programme under Horizon 2020. The aim is to expand innovative start-ups and SMEs.

Ensuing step after announcement of funding opportunities the European Commission has opened the first EIC Accelerator calls with funding worth over €1 billion. Half of the funding are earmarked for European Green Deal and to the digital and health technologies.

Usually, projects which are under the bigger risk and need more time to fulfill the results are struggling to receive the financial support. Therefore, EIC Accelerator focuses on technological and scientific breakthroughs which need longer time frame before returns are generated as well as bigger funding. This together will help innovators to attract the full investment amounts.

Last but not least, the European Commission also opened the EIC Pathfinder programme, which is supporting daring ideas for new technologies. High risk, high gain, cutting-edge science – these concepts are more than welcome in EIC Pathfinder programme. For the full article click here.

Calls opened at this moment are:

  • EIC Pathfinder (deadline 19.5)
  • EIC Accelerator Open Call Challenge (deadline 9.6)
  • The European Capital of Innovation Awards (deadline 15.7.)
  • EU Prize for Women Innovators (deadline 30.6.)
  • Facing Societal Challenges Award (deadline 29.7.)
  • Innovation Procurement Strategy Award (deadline 29.7.)
  • Procurement Leadership Award (deadline 29.7.)

More information about calls are available HERE. 

EIC_calls_april.png

How to be successful in Horizon Europe (focus: Health)

On April 22nd 2021, MedTech Europe is organizing for its members webinar How to be successful in Horizon Europe (focus: Health). The practical and pragmatic webinar will be hosted by our CEO Rudolf Fryček and our Programme Manager in the domain of Health and Biotechnology Martina Nešverová. As this is a MedTech Europe members’ restricted event, please do not hesitate to contact Rudolf to learn more about the topic.
How to be successful in Horizon Europe_Health.png

MEET OUR TEAM: Roman Pašek

Roman recently celebrated two years with AMIRES. He started as a Project Manager in March 2019 and due to his hard work, excellent skills and mindset he became a Programme Manager soon after. Roman is currently leading our Deep Tech group. In AMIRES Roman is managing the OASIS project (Open Access Single entry point for scale-up of Innovative Smart lightweight composite materials and components), acts as Dissemination Manager of H2020 project MANUELA (additive MANUfacturing using mEtal pilot Line) and is responsible for H2020 project proposals preparation.

He is also helping companies in achieving their business goals via business innovation coaching, where he’s mostly been working with companies in the area of Internet of Things.

About his work he said:

“Working at AMIRES has been a blast so far! The scope of activities is diverse and so have been the opportunities for growth. The team is excellent, the working ethic is demanding, yet flexible, and the coffee machine produces a decent productivity booster.”

In addition to his work in AMIRES, since 2015 Roman has also been cooperating with the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic and is a member of three different programme Boards assessing a wide variety of R&D projects. Even though Roman is a family man with two children, he always finds some time to play his favorite guitar or read a book.

Roman.jpg

Horizon Europe first strategic plan 2021-2024

Horizon Europe is a funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion. The programme is starting this year and will last until 2027.

The first plan for four years sets the strategic orientations for the targeting of investment. This secure that EU research and innovation actions participate to EU priorities.

Part of the strategic plan are also four strategic orientations:

  • Promoting an open strategic autonomy by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains;
  • Restoring Europe’s ecosystems and biodiversity, and managing sustainably natural resources;
  • Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy;
  • Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society.

Moreover, the European co-funded and co-programmed partnerships together with EU missions are identified and supported through Horizon Europe. The strategic plan addresses a several of horizontal issues, such as gender.

The first call for proposals will be published in late spring 2021 and will be presented in details at the European Research and Innovations Days which be held on 23-24 June 2021.

For original article and more information click HERE.

HEU_pic.jpg

Last chance to register! Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop, 28 APRIL 2021

Check out the position of the companies participating in this workshop as speakers in the value chain of the expansive field of regenerative medicine. Register for free, and find out more about future technology solutions, therapy, products, and applications in regenerative medicine together with relevant information about enabling funding of the research in this field.
The full program and more information on the speakers and the registration can be found HERE

RegMed_workshop_value chain v3.0.jpg

Open Access Research Publishing Platform

European Commission has officially launched its own open access platform – Open Research Europe (ORE). The platform will present the results of research funded by Horizon Europe as well as Horizon 2020. ORE provides everyone free of charge access to the latest scientific advances. Already 40 scientific papers from diverse fields of research have been submitted and are available.

One of the standard methods of working under its research and innovation funding programmes is open science. ORE is supported by a Scientific Advisory Board, which provides guidance on publishing policies, therefore the researchers are assured that the policies and guidelines are of the highest standards. To learn more about advantages and platform itself click HERE

Open Research Europe.png

Picture source: https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/blog/accelerating-knowledge-sharing

Webinar: MedPhab open call to support photonic medical device innovation

AMIRES with its experience in open call preparation and implementation is in the core team organising for MedPhab open calls for demo-cases.  MedPhab, Europe’s pilot line for photonics-based medical devices, is launching an Open Call for proposals for companies developing medical products. In the selected projects MedPhab will provide technology development services to companies that are adopting advanced photonics technologies in medical diagnostics solutions, with a subsidized financial support of up to 75%.

This programme will be launched soon, having as first cut-off on July 15, 2021, and to explain all steps needed for participation, MedPhab is organising a Webinar on May 11, 2021 11:30 CEST. If you are interested in learning more about MedPhab and about how you can participate in the Open Call tune in to this webinar. More information about the Webinar HERE, and about MedPhab open call HERE

 

MEdPhab-1440x810.jpg

EU launched new support scheme for women in Deep Tech

Thematically on the day that is internationally dedicated to women (8.3), the European Commission announced a new initiative called “Women TechEU”.

The aim is to support women leading deep tech start-ups in Europe. It is funded under European Innovation Ecosystem Work Programme of Horizon Europe and it will offer first-class coaching and mentoring to female CEOs and founders. Moreover it will be a targeted funding to help them to take their business to the next level.

“Women-led companies are on the rise” – the full view is that it is not only a matter of fairness, but also a major case of using Europe´s full potential of excellence in science and businesses. As per the latest statistics at least 25% of applications invited for the second stage of evaluation should come from the women-led companies.

To support the idea and fulfill the aim a call for mentors has been launched.

For more information and to view a original article, click HERE.

Video source: https://community-smei.easme-web.eu/articles/open-call-eic-women-leadership-programme-call-mentors

The MOSAIC project is entering its final phase!

The consortium aims at constructing the prototype of a fixed semi-Fresnel solar concentrator and an ad-hoc mobile receiver. This novel approach of CSP plants will optimize the cost of the installation per Kwh; besides, it will be modular and scalable to adapt to the needs of the solar industry and energy demands.

The prototype at Cener facilities in Sangüesa is on its way towards its final state, as depicted in this video created by Increscendo:

Here is a brief overview of the last works carried out on the construction site:  

  • The mounting towers for the mobile elements and the oven have been erected.
  • The mechanical, optical and electrical elements of the tracking system have been installed and are being tested.
  • The innovative dummy hoses have been connected to the receiver.
  • The meteorological station has been connected to the tracking system, and the DCS of the whole prototype has been updated to achieve a full control of the plant.

The next key step will be the installation of the field of the solar mirrors, along with the evaluation of a watering system for the mirrors.

For more information, do not hesitate to visit the MOSAIC website. For the latest news about the tracking system by Tekniker, click HERE

AMIRES at EuroNanoForum 2021!

AMIRES is very pleased to attend the EuroNanoForum 2021, an international online conference where we will not only promote our services but more importantly, we will disseminate our projects funded from EU Horizon 2020.

The conference is held on May 5th – 6th , 2021 with the main topic: Role of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials for innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability in Europe and on a global scale.

Not only experts across different sectors will be part of the conference, but Exhibition Hall and Poster sessions will be available to visit as well.

AMIRES will disseminate projects across Health & Biotech, Energy and Sustainability, New Materials and Flexible & Wearable Materials as well as Deep Tech domain.

Registration for potential interested parties is free of charge. For more information visit official EuroNanoForum website.

ENF_2021.jpg

Open positions for Deep Tech and New Materials and Flexible & Wearable Electronics domains!

Without our highly dedicated team our job and results will not be a success. Our team is our pride. To support growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for positions of:

Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Deep Tech domain
Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in New Materials and Flexible & Wearable Electronics domain

Are you passionate about Advanced Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Photonics or Flexible & Wearable Electronics? Are you target oriented, responsible and flexible? If time management and team spirit are no strangers to you then we are looking for you!

Apply for our newly opened positions by sending your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to Bajarova(at)amires.eu till April 21th, 2021.
Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job will be contacted by April 23th, 2021.

For more information read HERE.  

OITBs as a service to the Industry – Virtual Workshop on May 4, 2021. Register now!

With the aim to promote the European Open Innovation Ecosystem as service provider to Industry, FlexFunciton2Sustain project, in which AMIRES is a partner, organizes a workshop:  “Open Innovation Test Beds as a service to the Industry” as satellite event to the 2021 EuroNanoForum Conference. 

The European Commission has invested approx. 250 million euro in Open Innovation Test Beds (OITBs) with the aim to bring nanotechnologies and advanced materials within market reach by providing access to demonstration and upscaling facilities as well as advisory services to advance technologies from laboratory validation to prototypes in industrial environments. Up to today, 25 OITB projects have been launched in six technology domains.

The objective of the workshop is to take stock from current policy initiatives and Open Innovation Test Beds in order to get new ideas to support the Advanced Materials European Innovation Ecosystem in the context of Horizon Europe. OITBs, related clustering initiatives and end-users will have the opportunity to share their experience, expectations and new ideas to bring nanotechnologies and advanced materials within the reach of companies and users. The event is targeted to representatives from the OITBs, Industry, Industry Associations, other projects likely to integrate results to OITB service portfolio and the European Commission.

The workshop will be held on 4th May 2021, 14:00 – 17:30 CEST as Online Event and will feature two sessions:

1. About OITB and about user expectations to the European Open Innovation Ecosystem;
2. OITB as a Service for Industry: Introduction to the service portfolio of established OITB

If you are interested to join the event, please register through the EuroNanoForum Website.

Participation is free of charge!

Looking forward to discussing with you about the fast-track to turn your ideas to market-ready innovations!
 

FF2S workshop_May.jpg

PANCAIM website has been launched!

We are pleased to announce that the full version of the PANCAIM project website is now available. Click HERE and find out more about how the project aims to develop trusted impactful AI applications for regular clinical use to help clinical decision-makers to give the right treatment to the right patients at the right time, and at the right cost and improve treatment outcomes of PDAC patients.

We will keep you updated about the project´s progress and latest news, you can also use the contact form to get additional information. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Capture.PNG

AMIRES as a coaching support to LIGENTECH

We are thrilled to see another successful story from our coaching sessions. Our CEO Rudolf Fryček as a coach supported the company LIGENTECH in its growth, with expanding the pool of their partners and the ecosystem at European level and to win the highly competitive EIC Accelerator grant.

LIGENTECH is a B2B company manufacturing Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) for customers in high-tech areas such as communication on ground and space, Quantum technologies, LiDAR and Biosensors.

Managing Director of LIGENTECH Michael Geiselmann shared:

“Coach Rudolf Frycek’s help focused on the business plan and fundraising, and more specifically the EIC Accelerator, a European scheme helping start-ups in the field of new technologies. “Thanks to the coaching, we won this grant, continues Michael Geiselmann. We are therefore very happy. It will allow us to finance the growth of our company for two years and also to be able to switch to large-scale manufacturing of our technology.”

We thank for the trust the LIGENTECH put in us.

AMIRES can help you identify new opportunities in the field of technology and in finding the most suitable solutions to your needs and technical challenges. For more information visit Our Services. 

For original article click HERE.

Press Release – PHABULOuS Announcing the establishment of the PHABULOuS Pilot Line Association

PHABULOuSPilot-line providing highly advanced & robust manufacturing technology for optical free-form μ-structures – is the European one-stop shop for the manufacturing of free-form micro-optics offering accelerated innovation & production cycles from prototypes to piloting and large volume production.

PHABULOuS announced a big milestone with the establishment of its independent PHABULOuS Pilot Line Association, moreover after the review process the pilot line is now the 20th official partner of the projects in Public Private Partneship with Photonics21.

Check the official Press release HERE. 

Phabulous Press Release.jpg

PrintoCent Webinar on SmartEEs cases

On the 16th March, 2021 the Webinar on success stories of EU-SmartEEs organized by PrintoCent and VTT presented together seven projects.

AMIRES as a business coaching partner of SmartEEs was proud to support the project IoTflexNode – the IoT device that fits and bends, the project by Fuelium SMARTK7 – Smart cassette, Adaptive Architecture Systems (FLXilight) – MESH – modular adaptive skin for high efficiency buildings and last but not least O.light by ESYST – Modern Smart Lighting.

During the presentation, our CEO Rudolf Fryček presented a digital Marketplace for Flexible & Wearable Electronics.

The Marketplace offers Innovation companies the possibility to explore innovative offerings, based on flexible electronics. Moreover, the digital marketplace offers information and contacts to the leading European organizations involved in flexible & wearable technologies research, development, integration and commercialization. The SmartEEs Marketplace is a place to innovate the business of SMEs, Mid-caps and Large companies while scouting for new business opportunities with flexible electronics technologies and to connect supply (ready to integrate products, prototypes, services) & demand (designers, integrators, solution providers, vendors), and to facilitate the promotion of innovative products.

To learn more about SmartEEs, click HERE.

Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop “FROM LAB TO CLINIC”

CSEM and AMIRES invite you to the Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop with the main slogan “FROM LAB TO CLINIC”. It is organized in the frame of the OrganTrans EU funded project and is a part of the webinar series “NEXT GEN ORGAN-ON-CHIP & ORGANOIDS”. The workshop initiative aims to bring together leading experts from different companies and countries from across the expansive field of regenerative medicine. Structured around keynote presentations from selected speakers, the workshop will facilitate the exchange of views on the future technology solutions, therapy, products, and applications in regenerative medicine together with relevant information about enabling funding of the research in this field.
Take the opportunity, participate and find out more about incredible technology, modern trends, and interests of the key players in this field. Establish your new network for future collaborations! You can find below the list of companies presenting at this event.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Companies
Clinicians
Standardizers
Innovators
Researchers
Policy maker

Banner.jpg

Open position in Deep Tech!

Without our highly dedicated team our job and results will not be a success. Our team is our pride. To support growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Deep Tech domain.

Are you passionate about Advanced Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence and Photonics? Are you target oriented, responsible and flexible? If time management and team spirit are no strangers to you then we are looking for you!

Apply for our newly opened position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Deep Tech domain by sending your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to Bajarova(at)amires.eu till April 6th, 2021. Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job will be contacted by April 7th, 2021. Read HERE for more.

JOIN AMIteam!.jpg

#podnikám SmartEEs2 – Inovujte s ohebnou elektronikou

 
30. března 2021 se pod záštitou JIC uskuteční seminář zaměřený na fungování, pravidla a možnosti využití programu SmartEEs2.

SmartEES2 (Sustainable ecosysteM for the Adoption, Ramp-up and Transfer of Emerging Electronics Solutions) může nabídnout jak finanční podporu na vývoj a validaci prototypu nebo koncových produktů s využitím z dostupných technologii, tak i podporu při realizaci.

Nepromeškejte šanci se dozvědět důležité informace a možnost diskuse s našim CEO Rudolfem Fryčkem.

Seminář je určen jak pro zkušené, tak pro začínající podnikatele.

Více informací se dozvíte ZDE

OASIS Open Call 1st cut-off winners announced!

The winners from the 1st cut-off of OASIS Open Call are these six applicants:

  • Trixell (France)
  • S.Z.T.K. “TAPS” – Maciej Kowalski (Poland)
  • Thales Alenia Space (France)
  • Décathlon (France)
  • Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU (Spain)
  • AT-P AVIATION Sp. z o.o. (Poland)

Congratulations and let the development of their exciting Democases begin!

210315_OASIS 1st-cut off winners.jpg

CONDOR website is now alive

The full version of the CONDOR project website is now up. Visit https://condor-h2020.eu/ to discover how we will reach our goal to become a basis for the next generation of non-fossil fuel production technologies and meet the involved partners working to bring this idea into reality.

Stay tuned for our latest news and keep yourself up-to-date with details on our dissemination activities. If further questions remain, an online Contact form is available to get in touch with us. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
 

CONDOR website.png

INSPIRE project aims to revolutionize photonic integrated circuit technology

InP on SiN Photonic integrated circuits realized through waferscale micro-transfer printing

New H2020 project INSPIRE will revolutionize photonic integrated circuit technology by combining highest optoelectronic efficiencies in InP photonics and lowest optical loss in SiN photonics, in a single platform through wafer-scale micro-transfer printing technology.

The project, coordinated by Eindhoven University of Technology, was launched on 1 January 2021. Partners in the project are IMEC (BE),  Smart photonics (NL), X-CELEPRINT (IE), Thales (FR), University of Cambridge (UK) and Amires (CZ). Further details are available in the project´s first press release here.

PressReleaseImagev6.jpg

Welcome our new team member!

AMIRES team is growing again! We are happy to welcome our new colleague Marika who joined us in March.

Based on the Marika´s experience which she gained at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague and in the Czech Liaison Office for R&D in Brussels, we believe that she  is a great fit to our team. Her experience with EU Research & Innovation landscape will make our team even stronger.

In AMIRES, Marika is involved in the Deep Tech domain, specifically she is covering the PICs portfolio. In line with that she is in charge of H2020 projects InPulse (Indium-Phosphide Pilot Line for up-scaled, low-barrier, self-sustained, PIC ecosystem) and INSPIRE (InP on SiN Photonic Integrated circuits REalized through wafer-scale micro-transfer Printing).

To learn more about our team click HERE.

Marika, welcome to our team, we are looking forward to working with you!
 

P1070816-1440x1081.JPG

PANCAIM´s first PRESS RELEASE

PANCAIM – A European consortium to improve pancreatic cancer treatment with artificial intelligence optimizing, integrating genomics and medical imaging

European (EU) H2020 funded PANCAIM project, officially started on 1st January, 2021, will develop trusted impactful AI applications for regular clinical use to help clinical decision-makers to give the right treatment to the right patients at the right time, and at the right cost and improve treatment outcomes of PDAC patients.

Read the Press Release announcing the launch of the PANCAIM project.

PANCAIM_twitter_header-1440x480.jpg

The JePPIX Pilot Line has launched a Demonstrator Open Call offering pre-commercial InP PIC production

The JePPIX Pilot Line offers commercial InP PIC production, based on mature Process Design Kits (PDKs). The JePPIX Pilot Line is now opening a Demonstrator Open Call to provide support to innovative businesses and catalyze their transition to industrial prototyping and pre-commercial production of high-performance indium phosphide photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
 
The objective of this call is to find innovative partners who are interested in bringing a PIC-based product to the market, thereby demonstrating the capabilities of indium phosphide (InP) technologies “Made in Europe” and showcase the competences of the JePPIX Pilot Line supply chain.

The Call is now open and applicants are able to apply anytime until 12 November 2021. Up to 15 selected Demonstrator Open Call applicants will receive pioneer funding of up to 50% in in-kind contributions. The Call encourages applications from eligible companies of any size, and addressing any market segment, who are ready to take their InP PIC-based products to piloting readiness level and are willing to share high-level information about their demonstrator cases.

Demonstrator Open Call participants will have the opportunity to receive support from experienced specialists from the JePPIX Pilot Line consortium covering design, test and characterization, consultancy, and software support, among others. Piloting fabrication runs will additionally further process robustness and reliability, and contribute to accelerating your time to market, and lowering your development costs.

Information on eligibility criteria and application guidelines can be found here. Further assistance is available through the Helpdesk by phone to +420 226 217 422 or by email to helpdesk@jeppix.eu (Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 17.00 p.m. CET).

 

InPulseOPenCall.jpg

MARVEL website has been launched!

We are extremely pleased to announce the official launch of our MARVEL project website! Our goal with this website is to provide our visitors an easier way to learn about MARVEL project, its goals, perspectives and assure an on-going communication between general public, scientific community, media, policy makers, industries, end-users, etc. on one side and partners of the project on the other.
Our new website is fully responsive, meaning that you can view it with ease on any device, whether in the office, at home, or on the move! Amongst the features, the website contains integrated social media buttons for Linkedin and Twitter, to foster improved communication with the broad public. We will be constantly updating our content with information about the project progress, achievements, and events connected to us on the News & Events page. You can also sign up for our updates or to contact us directly through the contact form.

Visit us HERE

MARVEL HOME-1440x1161.jpg

NEW GRANTS TO BEST RESEARCHERS

European Commission presents the first work programme under Horizon Europe, the new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2021-2027. The new EU largest transnational programme ever supporting research and innovation- Horizon Europe will have a budget of €95.5 billion for 2021-2027. This represents a 30% increase to the H2020.   

The first work programme includes three main calls for proposals for frontier research actions for a total amount of €1.9 billion: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants. The European Research Council (ERC), an EU public body for funding of scientific and technological research, will manage this Work programme. 

Three main Calls for Proposals:

  1.  The first call is “Starting Grants”  which will support top researchers to start their own independent research team or programme. The call will be launched on 25 February, with a budget of €619 million and a deadline of 8 April.
  2.  The second call, the “Consolidator Grants“, for researchers who are consolidating their own independent research team or programme will open, with a budget of €633 million. The deadline for applications is 20 April.
  3. The third call, the “Advanced Grants”, will be launched on May 20, for leading advanced investigators, with a budget of €626 million and deadline on 31 August.

The European Research Council awards grants through open competitions to projects headed by starting and established researchers. As its sole selection criterion is scientific excellence, it strives to attract top researchers from anywhere in the world to come and stay in Europe.
The UK will be part of Horizon Europe. The UK government announced the UK will associate to Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation programme 2021-2027. Association will give UK scientists, researchers and businesses access to funding under the programme on equivalent terms as organisations in EU countries.

•    Read the ERC 2021 Work Programme

MEET OUR TEAM: Mariana Pacheco Blanco

Mariana Pacheco Blanco joined AMIRES team 1 year ago and currently she was justly promoted to programme manager for healthcare domain. Her vision to better communicate science and her active involvement in voluntary activities are worth sharing.

Mariana studied the bachelor in biomedicine in Puebla, Mexico (BUAP). Since then she has been interested in pursuing a scientific career and become passionate about immunology. Mariana continued her study in Mexico City where she obtained a master’s in science, working in an immunology laboratory (CINVESTAV-IPN) and finally completed doctoral studies abroad. Germany brought a good opportunity for her in the Max Planck Institute. After that she moved to the Czech Republic due to personal links, where she stayed in a postdoctoral position at BIOCEV- having fun in the lab however she was inclined to make a switch in her career, and she said:

“Amires has been the perfect place. I can still be in contact with science but also with the knowledge and technology transfer for the development of innovative products. Working at Amires provides me a broader overview of scientific and technological development in Europe and be in the core of leaders in Research organisations and companies.”

In addition to her work at Amires, Mariana participates in voluntary activities. For example, she is a mentor in the programme “Leader Women in STEM”, organized by the US Foundation USMX leaders network. This programme has Mexican women, around the world mentoring high school students from rural areas in Mexico, in addition it provides leadership training in a cycle of 6 months. Since December 2019 she is coordinator of Science, technology and Innovation (STI) of the Mexican Network in the Czech Republic and organizes communication of science articles in the Czech chapter website (in Spanish). Since December 2020 she is part of the Commission of this network that coordinates STI in Europe.

Mariana believes that “It is very important to communicate science”, you can read her articles in the communication website: Immunobites.

Recently she participated in the first Meeting of BUAP Alumni: Legacy and Perspective of Biomedicine at BUAP in the world, which took place on 12-14 January, 2021 in Mexico. Students from the Bachelor of Biomedicine or interested in studying this or similar careers, were the main audience. They could listen Biomedicine BUAP Alumni, who are located in different scientific positions in Mexico and the World. The audience could see the open opportunities that bring the study of this bachelor or similar scientific studies. Mariana had the opportunity to present to alma mater in Mexico her career path, with the title “From bugs to multidisciplinary groups”. Listen to her motivated (HERE from min 25, in Spanish), about her start in Puebla,  Mexico City, Germany to the Czech Republic and her involvement in multidisciplinary groups searching for scientific and technological innovation.

20200205_173249.jpg

SABINA delivered a set of modular solutions to help reduce buildings and districts carbon emissions as well as overall operating costs

SABINA was an EU funded H2020 research and innovation project that aimed to develop new technology along with financial models that would connect, control and actively manage thermal and electric networks using generation and storage assets in order to exploit synergies between electrical requirements and the thermal inertia of buildings, whilst allowing aggregators to provide flexibility and balancing services to the grid. SABINA aimed to maximise the usage of variable renewable energy sources by converting excess electrical energy to heat or cold and storing it using the thermal inertia of buildings. Provision for aggregation at district level were provided to maximise the effect of SABINA. SABINA lasted for 4 year and finished in October 2020 with AMIRES as a partner responsible for project management and dissemination.

A set of critical factors are required to enable deployment of any new technology focussed on energy and carbon reduction in any market. While any technology may be proven in test environments deployment in real word settings can often be subject to other outside influences that should be reviewed prior to attempting deployment. Policies already exist in a number of member states that supports the introduction of innovative new technologies to deliver on a common EU carbon target. The interplay between the market, technology development and policymaking align itself well to the wider deployment of SABINA either as a technology supporting market and policy ambition or as a seed for transformative change in countries seeking to scale up ambition in carbon reduction. As part of our work on SABINA the partners assessed which markets in EU member states were already undertaking a reasonable level of demand side response at a national strategic level. Based on IEA data the findings demonstrate that a large proportion of the EU would be viable for SABINA deployment on the basis that flexibility and aggregation markets either already exist or are ramping up activity.

As the SABINA system relies on critical and regular data streams and the ability for swift response to them much of the successful deployment of the system will be dependent on the maturity of smart grids within any EU member state. The viability of SABINA is dependent on a number of key Net Zero transitions within any host member state. The challenge to enable the switch over from gas to electricity for our heating brings a number of critical risks in supply and demand of energy, placing greater pressure on our national energy infrastructure and requiring low and zero carbon generation to provide demand in a way that reduces our contribution to climate change. In order to provide the additional demand required to support the electrification of heating and vehicles in a sustainable way significantly higher levels of renewable deployment is needed.

Coupled with an increase in overall demand it will be important to develop technologies that can support swift demand side response, much greater flexibility in smart energy systems and digitalisation of operational control – SABINA can play a leading role in supporting this.

More information related to SABINA is available here.

FROM LAB TO CLINIC – Virtual Regenerative Medicine Workshop

Are you involved in the R&D of Regenerative medicine products or technologies? Or you are a clinician who is interested in knowing more about the new trends, and establish new contacts, or starting new collaborations? Then, register HERE for the “Virtual Regenerative medicine workshop: FROM LAB TO CLINIC” organized by CSEM and AMIRES in the frame of the OrganTrans EU funded project and find out more about incredible technology, modern trends, and interests of the key players in this field. Establish your new network for future collaborations!
The workshop is a part of the webinar series “Next Gen OoC & Organoids”.
More information coming soon…

RMW for AMInews.jpg

Get INSPIRED!

INSPIRE LOGO 2000x15002-1440x507.png

A new Horizon2020 project INSPIRE (InP on SiN Photonic Integrated circuits REalized through wafer-scale micro-transfer printing) was launched on 1st January 2021. INSPIRE combines the power of indium phosphide technology with the full capability of silicon nitride photonic technology, creating and leveraging volume manufacturing techniques.

Read more information about the aim and consortium that AMIRES is also part of HERE.

Capture2.PNG

PANCAIM project has kicked-off!

On January 20th, 2021 PANCAIM project (Pancreatic cancer AI for genomics and personalized Medicine) was officially kicked-off via online conferencing service where all partners from 9 organizations participated. The project is coordinated by Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen from Netherlands, with the participation of Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), Oslo universitetssykehus HF (Norway), Spanish National Cancer Research Center (Spain), University of Glasgow (UK), Collective Minds Radiology (Sweden), Siemens Healthineers (Germany), The Hyve (Netherlands ) and Amires (Czech Republic).

PANCAIM will develop trusted impactful AI applications for regular clinical use to help clinical decision-makers to give the right treatment to the right patients at the right time, and at the right cost and improve treatment outcomes of PDAC patients.

More information will be shortly available at www.pancaim.eu.

 

pancaim all-720x390.PNG

AMIRES – Female power in STEM

February 11 is the day of the Girls and Women in Science, in which we celebrate all females who contribute to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines.
Being that AMIRES is a company that seeks business innovation, through pushing the state-of the art technologies and advancement in Science in different fields, we count on excellent human resources, and great representation of women.

From 17 AMIRES team members, 10 are excellent female professionals in a high leadership position. Lenka Bajarova, AMIRES Managing Director, has outstanding scientific project management expertise and leads the AMIRES team. Moreover, from the other 9 women, 8 lead at least 1 EU funded project in STI (Science, Technology and Innovation). These incredible women share discussions, lead events and stir the outcomes of high-quality STI projects, whose consortia consist of companies, research centers, innovation centers, universities and even hospitals.

The Health Programme Manager, Martina Nesverova, is a senior team member with expertise in the Health and Biotech fields. With her thriving trajectory she has successfully led the preparation of proposals, which have been funded mainly by extremely competitive EU funding programmes. In addition, she had started long-standing partnerships with companies and research organisations not only in the Czech Republic.

A successful team is based on diversity and acknowledging the importance of a multidisciplinary approach. The AMIRES female team is a perfect example of this, bringing up a combination of skills and knowledge that encompasses different fields such as business, political sciences, international affairs, languages, biomedicine and even forensic entomology. Therefore, in AMIRES we have learned that by tackling situations from different angles provides more efficient and effective solutions from a multidisciplinary and enriched vision.

Science is not only found in a laboratory or in a university office, but is everywhere, and we need representation of women at all levels. At AMIRES we are showing it and we are making it our strength. Choosing AMIRES is choosing gender equality and empowerment of women in STEM.

AMI-720x291.png
AMIwomen-720x618.png

TINKER WEBSITE LAUNCH

It is official! TINKER website has been launched!

Visit https://www.project-tinker.eu/ and take the journey with us. We will keep you updated about the project´s progress and latest news.
So keep your eyes open.

This is just a start! 

AMIRES looking for new team member!

We are proud of the work we do, and our success is primarily the result of our passionate team of dedicated people. To support our growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for a position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects.

If you are interested in new technologies, great at communication, familiar with European R&D&I funding, have analytical mind set and organizational skills and like challenges, then our job proposal is for you. Read HERE for more.

Good News for the EU and Beyond

The Commission welcomes the political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on Horizon Europe, the largest transnational programme ever supporting research and innovation. The new EU research and innovation programme will have a budget of around €95.5 billion for 2021-2027 (current prices). This includes €5.4 billion (current prices) from NextGenerationEU to boost our recovery and make the EU more resilient for the future, as well as an additional reinforcement of €4.5 billion (current prices). This represents a 30% increase vis-à-vis the current research and innovation programme, Horizon 2020 (comparing Horizon Europe against Horizon 2020 for EU27, in constant prices) and makes it the most ambitious research and innovation programme in the world.

This is a big support for researchers and SMEs. 

Read more  https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_2345

The world of “Photonics for Medical devices”

Photonics for medical devices.jpg
Last Wednesday December8, 2020 the Webinar on Photonics for Medical Devices organized by EPIC gathered more than 20 organisations, including companies, research organisations and clinical institutions, which talk and discussed about opportunities in medical devices utilizing photonics. Within those companies, AMIRES was represented by our Health-Life Sciences project manager, Mariana Pacheco Blanco.  Moreover, MedPhab pilot line was also presented, in which Mariana acts as project manager.
We, at AMIRES are very glad to be part of such an essential and powerful value chain impacting European business and healthcare products, improving lives!

You can see this event HERE

Flexible Electronics Report

There are over 200 projects that deal with flexible electronics within the H2020 programme. The most active organisations are the RTOs and the Higher Education Institutions such as Fraunhofer, VTT, CEA, IMEC, TNO, CNRS, Cambridge, Oxford, EPF Laussane and Imperial College, among others.

Discover more in-depth analysis of flexible electronics within the Horiozon 2020 Programme, created by John Kennedy Mwangi, AMIRES. The analysis includes:

  • NUMBER OF PROJECTS OVER THE YEARS
  • DISTRIBUTION OF PROJECTS AMONG THE FUNDING INSTRUMENTS
  • PROJECT RANKING IN TERMS OF FUNDING
  • THE KEY PERFORMERS
  • THE DOMINANT PRIVATE FOR PROFIT ENTITIES
  • NUMBER OF PROJECTS PER COUNTRY

Full report HERE

download.png

Continue reading

SmartEEs2 Webinar takeaways

Can flexible and wearable technologies innovate your products and services? How to get technical, business and financial support for testing it?

On December 4, 2020, AMIRES organized a webinar in the framework of the SmartEEs2 project. This webinar was specifically aimed at informing companies in Central Europe about possibilities to participate in the open calls for Application Experiments.

Within SmartEEs2 five Calls for Application Experiments are opened inviting interested companies to submit their application experiment proposals. Selected Application Experiments will demonstrate the transfer of flexible and wearable electronics technologies into new products / series of products, processes, business models and business opportunities. The next, already third, Call for Application Experiments is open until the 15th of January 2021.

At the workshop, participants were informed about the SmartEEs2 project and its objectives and how to submit a proposal in the Call for Application Experiments. The webinar also included two examples of companies that were supported through the first SmartEEs project.

Webinar presentations

Presentation title Speaker
Introduction to the workshopMichael ten Donkelaar, AMIRES
Introduction to SmartEEs2Rudolf Fryček, AMIRES
Company testimonial 1 – ESYSTJaroslav Sochor, ESYST, Czech Republic
Company testimonial 2 – IDEAGianluca Di Buo, IDEA, Italy
SmartEEs2 registration processMinja Maric, AMIRES

Webinar recordings

Upcoming Regenerative Medicine workshop…stay tuned

Due to the combination of the following: end of the year duties, the upcoming Christmas break and the difficult time of the sanitary situation, we need to postpone this event for Spring 2021. We apologize for the change of plans, however we want to assure you a high-quality experience through the newest trends in Regenerative Medicine. We thank you for your understanding and please stay tuned!

Are you involved in the R&D of Regenerative medicine products or technologies? Or you are a clinician who is interested in knowing more about the new trends, and establish new contacts or starting new collaborations? Then, register HERE for the “Virtual Regenerative medicine workshop: from lab to clinic” organized by CSEM and AMIRES in the frame of OrganTrans EU funded project and find out more about incredible technology, modern trends, and interests of the key players in this field. Establish your new network for future collaborations!
Picture2-1440x1150.png

MedPhab at virtual medical tech exhibition COMPAMED

COMPAMED.png
201116 COMPAMED.jpg
MedPhab shared a booth with three other European Photonics-based Manufacturing Pilot Lines during virtual COMPAMED. HERE  people could visit the virtual booth coordinated by MedPhab partner, EPIC.  More than 500 people had viewed what MedPhab offers, through the recorded presentation of Ralph Liedert from VTT, which you can see HERE as part of the IVAM Session: Laser and Photonics Applications. In addition, Anja Haase from MedPhab partner, JOANNEUM RESEARCH, shared with the audience their technology in micro- and nano imprint lithography during the microfluidics session of the virtual COMPAMED HIGH-TECH FORUM 2020. Watch her presentation HERE

Next generation of renewable energy technology! CONDOR project launched

Picture1-720x534.png

A new Horizon2020 project CONDOR (COmbined suN-Driven Oxidation and CO2 Reduction for renewable energy storage) was launched on 1st November 2020. The main project’s objective is developing a modular device for the production of fuels by using water and carbon dioxide as feedstock and sunlight as the sole energy source.
Read more information about the aim and consortium that AMIRES is also part of  HERE.

MANUELA project’s Open Call has been launched’

MANUELA project’s General Assembly meeting is taking place today and marks the launching of an Open Call for Business Development Cases. This is a unique opportunity for European companies to access the top-notch equipment and services of this Metal Additive Manufacturing Pilot Line, in order to develop and test novel parts, components or products exploiting the benefits of metal AM.

The Open Call will have two cut-off dates on 31st March and 30th September after which the best proposals for Business Development Cases will be selected. You can find all the details on MANUELA’s website here – https://manuela-project.eu/open-call/ – or you can contact its helpdesk at helpdesk@manuela-project.eu.

The Call is open for companies of any size and from any industry. In case you are interested we strongly encourage you to check the technical feasibility of your idea with us prior to submitting a proposal.

MANUELA M27 GA group photo-1440x845.png

SmartEEs Tuned Another Application Experiment to Bring Lighting Comfort With a Healthier Solution

ESYST, a Czech-based supplier for interior lighting, industrial lighting and public lighting, submitted a proposal to SmartEEs project for an application experiment aiming to bring smart light solutions.

There were two main problems:  lack of intelligent lighting luminaires and low lighting comfort resulting in unhealthy solutions for lighting interiors, which disturb hormone production and thus prevent an undisturbed circadian rhythm. SmartEEs solution, with the service provider – Fraunhofer FEP was developing human-centric light by LED/OLED combination. Development of esthetically pleasing smart lights, utilizing both LED and OLED for their emission capabilities of required wavelengths. By combining two separate tuneable-white modules, the color temperature range of emitted light was expanded, which improves quality over standard human-centric lights. By adding smart control on top the resulting lights should offer a wide range of applications and features such as usage statistics which may lead to more effective use in the future and thus lower power consumption. AMIRES, as a SmartEEs business provider for this case, identified growth potentials by analyzing market segments and further business opportunities throughout the business coaching sessions.

Watch ESYST’s story to bring lighting comfort and healthier solutions to life with SmartEEs support.

MARVEL project has kicked-off!

On November 5th – 6th, 2020 MARVEL project was officially kicked-off via online conferencing service where all partners from 6 organizations participated. The project is coordinated by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) SCITEC-CNR, with the participation of ITM-CNR and other 5 European partners from different countries: Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (Italy), Cardiocentro Ticino Foundation (Switzerland), Paperdrop Diagnostics (Spain), HansaBioMed Life Sciences (Estonia) and Amires (Czech Republic).
MARVEL project, whose full name is “Evolving reversible iMmunocapture by membrane sensing peptides: towARds scalable extracellular VEsicLes isolation” – will develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools using extracellular vesicles. This innovative technology can help to detect bladder cancer and provide therapeutic treatment of cardiovascular diseases, which are among leading causes of deaths in the world nowadays.
Extracellular vesicles are membranous particles that are released from a cell. They are found in biological fluids such as blood and urine and they are involved in communication between cells. Extracellular vesicles act as signalling “vehicles” in both physiological and pathological mechanisms. These characteristics make them fundamental in the development of innovative methods in diagnostics, therapy, and industrial biomedical applications. Therefore, MARVEL’s goal is to upgrade the existing technology for reversible extracellular vesicles isolation and move beyond the analytical scale. This is crucial for the manufacturing scale production of extracellular vesicles and further their deployment in cardiac repair and non-invasive diagnosis of bladder cancer.
More information will be shortly available at www.marvel-fet.eu
MARVEL KOM 05.11 (2.1)-1440x898.jpg

Next generation of renewable energy technology: CONDOR

The next generation of innovative renewable energy system is ahead of us thanks to the CONDOR project (COmbined suN-Driven Oxidation and CO2 Reduction for renewable energy storage) launched officially on 09th of October 2020. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, the project will address the two big scientific challenges related to the conversion of sunlight into fuels and mitigation of anthropogenic climate change.

CONDOR aims at developing a modular device for the production of fuels by using water and carbon dioxide as feedstock and sunlight as the sole energy source. The projects will develop a photosynthetic device made of two compartments: (a) a photoelectrochemical cell that splits water and CO2 and generates oxygen and syngas, a mixture of H2 and CO; (b) a (photo)reactor that converts syngas into methanol and dimethylether, via bi-functional heterogeneous catalysts. The final target is a full photosynthetic device with 8% solar-to-syngas and 6% solar-to-DME efficiencies with three-months continuous outdoor operation. CONDOR has the ambition to become a basis for the next generation of non-fossil fuel production technologies as it proposes an innovative approach that brings both techno-economic (cost reduction, higher efficiency, lower technological and manufacturing complexity) and environmental (reduced CO2 emission, reduced energy for production, reduced usage of rare materials) advantages in comparison to current solutions for renewable production of methanol and dimethylether.

The project’s innovation potential in terms of scientific and engineering activities is possible by combining the interdisciplinary approach, complementary competences and international collaboration. Coordinated by the University of Bologna and with AMIRES participation, the CONDOR consortium is unifying well reputed technology development teams and key industrial partners, specialised in nanomaterials preparation and characterisation by operando microscopy and spectroscopy, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, photochemistry/photoelectrochemistry, PEC engineering and assessment of the environmental and socio-economic impact of the proposed technology, including life cycle assessment.

Additional information about the CONDOR project can be found at: https://condor-h2020.eu/

LOGOS PIC.jpg

TINKER’s first PRESS RELEASE

The H2020 TINKER project bringing 15 partners from 8 EU countries under its roof has started on the 1st October 2020 and HERE is the first project’s Press Release.

Read more details and stay updated!

AMIRES looking for new team member!

We are proud of the work we do, and our success is primarily the result of our passionate team of dedicated people. To support our growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for a position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects.

If you are interested in new technologies, great at communication, familiar with European R&D&I funding, have analytical mind set and organizational skills and like challenges, then our job proposal is for you. Read HERE for more.

2021 COMMISSION WORK PROGRAMME

Every year, the European Commission adopts a work programme which sets out its key initiatives for the year ahead.It contains new legislative initiatives across all six headline ambitions: 

A European Green Deal
A Europe fit for the digital age
An economy that works for people
A stronger Europe in the world
Promoting our European way of life
A new push for European democracy

A full list of the 44 new policy objectives under the six headline ambitions are set out in Annex 1 of the 2021 work programme.

AMIRES IS AMONG WINNERS OF EU DATHATHON 2020

The winners of the EU Datathon 2020 were announced on 15th October on the Digital event during the European Week of Regions and Cities and AMIRES is proud to be among them. 
datathon_winners.png

EU Datathon is an annual open data competition organized by the Publications Office of the EU since 2017. The main goal is to stimulate innovation and transform the interaction between citizens and the EU administration. There were four categories according to the challenge to be addressed:

  1. A European Green Deal (Challenge 1),
  2. An economy that works for people (Challenge 2),
  3. A new push for European democracy (Challenge 3)
  4. and a Europe fit for the digital age (Challenge 4).

Our team, consists of John Kennedy Mwangi, Rudolf Fryček, Roman Pašek and Lenka Bajarova, submitted the proposal for the competition by May 3, 2020, for the CHALLENGE 2 and we were selected as one of the 12 finalists from among 121 proposals on May 29th, 2020. Over the following months, we developed the EU4Regions platform and presented it on 15th October on the Digital event during the European Week of Regions and Cities.
Our platform EU4Regions emerged number 2 in challenge 2.  EU4Region, the application created by AMIRES helps identify unknown patterns, causal relations and changes resulting from the injection of EU funds in various regions. It maps the state of cohesiveness and inclusion of EU regions through funding.  The open data from EU CORDIS EU, RegioEvaluation and Eurostat were used to determine whether EU funding is helping our regions. The app should help policymakers adjust financial support. We are grateful to be part of creating new value for citizens through innovation and promoting the use of open data.

Visit our virtual stand addressing Cohesion & cooperation here or watch our final speech below.

Proposals for EU Missions for a Greener, Healthier and More Resilient Europe

High-level independent experts presented their proposals to the European Commission for possible EU missions on some of our most pressing societal challenges. By 2030, the proposed missions aim to find solutions for saving more lives from cancer, making Europe climate resilient, restoring our ocean and waters, achieving 100 climate-neutral cities, and ensuring 75% of soils are healthy. 

The five mission proposals submitted by the Mission Boards, the independent experts advising the Commission, are:

  1. Conquering Cancer: Mission Possible. Targets by 2030: more than 3 million lives saved, living longer and better: achieve a thorough understanding of cancer, prevent what is preventable, optimise diagnosis and treatment, support the quality of life of all people exposed to cancer, and ensure equitable access to the above across Europe.
  2. A Climate Resilient Europe – Prepare Europe for climate disruptions and accelerate the transformation to a climate resilient and just Europe by 2030. Targets by 2030: prepare Europe to deal with climate disruptions, accelerate the transition to a healthy and prosperous future within safe planetary boundaries, and scale up solutions for resilience that will trigger transformations in society.
  3. Mission Starfish 2030: Restore our Ocean and Waters. Targets by 2030: filling the knowledge and emotional gap, regenerating marine and freshwater ecosystems, zero pollution, decarbonising the blue economy, and revamping governance. These mutually supportive objectives will enable the regeneration of the water cycle as a whole.
  4. 100 Climate-Neutral Cities by 2030 – by and for the citizens. Targets by 2030:  support, promote and showcase 100 European cities in their systemic transformation to climate neutrality by 2030 and turn these cities into innovation hubs for all cities, benefitting quality of life and sustainability in Europe.
  5. Caring for Soil is Caring for Life. Targets by 2030: at least 75% of soils in the EU are healthy for food, people, nature and climate. The proposed mission combines research and innovation, education and training, investments and the demonstration of good practices using “Living labs” (experiments and innovation in a laboratory on the ground) and “Lighthouses” (places to showcase good practices).

The Commission will announce its final selected missions at the end of 2020. The missions will launch in 2021 as part of Horizon Europe, the next EU research and innovation programme. 
More information HERE. 

Photonics Digital Innovation Hub Secures €19 Million to Boost SME Growth and Ensure Europe’s Global Competitiveness

PhotonHub Europe – a new pan-European photonics digital innovation hub –has been awarded €19 million investment from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. AMIRES, as a business support provider, together with other partner organizations will help European SMEs and mid-caps become highly competitive digital businesses through the faster and smarter deployment of photonics-based technologies, directly creating over 1.000 new high-tech EU jobs and nearly €1 billion in new revenues and venture capital by 2025.

PhotonHub will provide a broad range of services and capabilities covering:
•    training and upskilling supports
•    “test before invest” innovation support
•    supports to find investment

PhotonHub Europe will commence operations from early 2021 and will be operating a continuous open call for companies to apply for its support services. Applications for support will be facilitated online through the PhotonHub website located at www.photonhub.eu.

Read first PhotonHub Europe press release highlighting the essence of photonics in traditional industrial base HERE

PhotonHub hands-on (5) (Large)-720x473.jpg
PhotonHub hands-on (1) (Large)-720x478.jpg

From flexible plastic and paper surfaces and membranes to sustainable ecosystem

On 21st of October 2020, over 50 participants joined virtually the workshop on Applications and Industrialisation of Functional Polymer Films, Paper and Membranes. The event was organized jointly by Amires and Fraunhofer-FEP, in cooperation with the Technology Centre CAS, in the framework of FlexFunction2Sustian project. With a wealth of expertise and knowledge-sharing, the workshop provided the ideal opportunity for the attendants to digitally network, to exchange ideas on the latest developments and emerging trends in the fields of sustainable packaging and smart plastic films.

The virtual event was opened by Rudolf Frycek, CEO of Amires, and John Fahlteich, Group Leader at the Division: Plasma Technology at Fraunhofer-FEP and also coordinator of FlexFunction2Sustian project. The topic on sustainable and smart packaging was presented by the speakers Jakub Pedzinski (Capri Sun), Marlos Silva (Sonae MC), Wolfgang Lohwasser (AMCOR Flexibles). They shared interesting insights on the development of the industry by addressing the new challenges for reducing the environmental impact of the packaging and undertaken approaches to move to a more “circular” world. High-impact future innovative solutions for smart plastic films for design, optics and security were presented by Jaakko Raukola (ISCENT), Rafael Michalczuk (Swarovski), Tomáš Těthal (IQ Structures), Stephan Trassl (Hueck Folien) and André Kalio (Schreiner Group). Apart from the company profile, each speaker provided information on the in-house machines and process developments. Examples for the application of smart plastic films as well as thriving innovations and ideas for the products of tomorrow were also provided during the presentations. In addition, Alexander Schmidt (Sonnenberg Harrison Partners mbB) presented an overview of the intellectual property landscape of the nanofunctionalised surfaces.

At the end, John Fahlteich had the pleasure to introduce the new Horizon 2020 funded project FlexFunction2Sustain as the latest European initiative for enabling novel solutions and products for plastic and paper-based flexible materials and films. Apart from providing more details on the concept of the Open Innovation Test Bed, he informed the participants about the future possibilities and EU support offered for innovative SMEs and industries in the framework of the project. Learn more about FlexFunction2Sustain here.

The workshop represented a perfect opportunity to learn about the latest developments and industrial applications in the field of sustainable packaging and smart plastic films and possibilities to integrate polymer films, paper and membranes in existing or new products. With the motivation from speakers and a chance to interact with key industry stakeholders, it was truly an event to remember. Stay tuned for the next events organised in the framework of FlexFunction2Sustian project by checking the project website. 

FF2S_colorw400.png

Join the last in OASIS series of webinars!

The OASIS Open Innovation Test Bed has launched an Open Call for Democases providing support to companies in the development of lightweight multifunctional products based on aluminium and polymer composites.

Join the third and last in our series of webinars on 10th November 2020, 1 p.m. CEST.

During this webmeeting, you will learn why and how to apply to this unique opportunity to benefit from the European Commission’s support through the OASIS project. Examples from Airbus and Pleione Energy will show what kind of projects are feasible.

This webmeeting will provide you information about:

  • the Horizon 2020 project OASIS
  • the open call for companies and institutions
  • the technologies that you can access through the pilot-lines
  • the business services provided by OASIS to boost your innovation
  • showcases already implemented to give you an impression of what can be achieved on the technological side with the support of the OASIS consortium.

You can register for the event here – LINK

 

OASIS Open Call_webinar 3-1440x503.png

OrganTrans and RegenHU as part of the current and Future Perspectives on 3D Bioprinting

 OrganTrans and the importance of its Consortium as developer of 3D printing technologies was highlighted by Simon Mackenzie, CEO of RegenHU and OrganTrans partner in the interview with Next Big Innovation Labs® in India. See the complete intereview here (min. 15  OrganTrans was mentioned)
 

TINKER Kick-off meeting

On October 14-15th, 2020, TINKER project was officially kicked-off via online meeting and coordinated by scientist Leo Schranzhofer at PROFACTOR GmbH with AMIRES participation.

In the period of 3 years, starting from 1st of October 2020, European Union´s H2020 funded TINKER project is set to develop a new reliable, accurate, functional, cost- and resource efficient pathway for RADAR and LIDAR sensor package fabrication, using “key enabling technologies, especially inkjet printing and nanoimprint llithography”. The main aim is to establish the TINKER platform based on Additive Manufacturing and Fabrication of RADAR and LIDAR sensors packages as use cases.

The TINKER consortium consists of 10 the most excellent industrial companies, 3 research specialists, one consultancy and a service association, who are major players in the field of semiconductor and microelectronic manufacturing, as well as in the fields of material and process development and industrial fields applying or interested in applying AM for their needs.

More information will be shortly available at www.project-tinker.eu.

TINKER_logo_v1_4-360x360.jpg
TINKER kick-off group photo 1-360x202.png
TINKER kick-off group photo 2-360x202.png

MARVEL: the beginning!

The innovative project starts at the beginning of November 2020! MARVEL project – by the full name “Evolving reversible iMmunocapture by membrane sensing peptides: towARds scalable extracellular VEsicLes isolation” – was selected among 28 proposals and received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. It offers new diagnostic and therapeutic tools using extracellular vesicles. The proposed technology can help to detect bladder cancer and provide therapeutic treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
You can find out more about the project and MARVEL team by watching a promo video HERE.
 
Marvel.png

Ideas, trends and networking: Virtual workshop on Applications and Industrialisation of Functional Polymer Films, Paper and Membranes. Register now!

On 21st of October 2020, Amires and Fraunhofer-FEP, in cooperation with the Technology Centre CAS, are organizing a digital workshop on Applications and Industrialisation of Functional Polymer Films, Paper and Membranes in the frame of FlexFunction2Sustian Project.
Structured into two sessions with specific emphasis on the sustainable and smart packaging and smart plastic films for design, optics and security, the workshop targets SMEs, Start-ups and Mid-caps, innovative companies or traditional industries willing to introduce and integrate these materials into their products.
Representatives of leading industries will give talks about the latest trends and share their visions about high-impact future innovative solutions in the respective fields. Already confirmed speakers represent the value chain from packaging material suppliers (HUECK Folien, AMCOR Flexibles, Schreiner Group, Iscent) to users (Sonae MC, Capri Sun, Swarovski) and IP Experts (Sonnenberg Harrison Partners).
During the event, FlexFunction2Sustain project will be introduced as an EU funded initiative to bring together R&D Suppliers, Industries, Startups, Investors and other stakeholders for accelerating innovation in plastic and paper industry – particular smart and sustainable plastics products.
Participation in the workshop is free of charge! Join us online from the comfort of your office or home by filling out the registration form below until 20th of October 2020.

Click here for speakers, programme and registration.
We welcome you to the workshop and look forward to meeting you online!

Register now.png

Join OASIS’ next Open Call Webinar

The OASIS Open Innovation Test Bed has launched an Open Call for Democases providing support to companies in the development of lightweight multifunctional products based on aluminium and polymer composites.

Join the second in our series of webinars on 15th September 2020, 1 p.m. CEST.

During this webmeeting, you will learn why and how to apply to this unique opportunity to benefit from the European Commission’s support through the OASIS project.

This webmeeting will provide you information about:

  • the Horizon 2020 project OASIS
  • the open call for companies and institutions
  • the technologies that you can access through the pilot-lines
  • the business services provided by OASIS to boost your innovation
  • showcases already implemented to give you an impression of what can be achieved on the technological side with the support of the OASIS consortium.

You can register for the event here – LINK

 

OASIS Open Call_webinar 2-1440x501.png

KEY FACTS REPORT ON ICT 

The Information and Communications Technology Research and Development (ICT R&D) sector is one of the most dynamic sectors in the EU economy. What is the state of R&D in ICT in the EU and beyond? Get an insight into it from the 2020 PREDICT Key Facts Report.

The 2020 PREDICT Key Facts Report provides a detailed analysis of the state of ICT R&D activities in the EU28 and 12 further economies worldwide. The statistical information provided by the figures allows the comparison between: the ICT sector and the total economy; the ICT manufacturing sector and the ICT services sector; the four ICT manufacturing sectors, two ICT services sectors, and MC and RS sectors; EU countries; the EU and the international context (including the most relevant countries in the world economy). The report focuses especially on the ICT R&D macroeconomic dynamics. Report states that the ICT sector is one of the most dynamic sectors in the EU economy, standing out for its high R&D intensity and for a productivity that is higher than that of the whole economy.

  • The size of the EU28 ICT sector in 2017 amounted to 630 billion euros value added (VA),
  • employed 6.3 million people
  • and spent 32 billion euros on R&D (BERD) business expenditures.

The ICT sector represented 4.1% of the EU28 total value added, 2.7% of total employment, 15.2% of total BERD, and 18.1% and 20.4% of the R&D personnel and researchers in the EU28, respectively.

Report avaiable HERE.

The COVID-19 Data Portal- Accelerate Coronavirus Research

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), Europe’s flagship laboratory for the life sciences (EMBL) and partners launch the COVID-19 Data Portal that is currently used by 73 000 scientists for vaccine development. This central repository facilitates data sharing and analysis.

A big of scientific efforts are taking place worldwide in order to help combat COVID-19. One of the biggest challenges is to share data and findings in a coordinated way, in order to understand the disease and to develop treatments and vaccines. To address this challenge, EMBL-EBI and partners operate the COVID-19 Data Portal, which brings together relevant datasets submitted to EMBL-EBI and other major centres for biomedical data.
The COVID-19 Data Portal enables researchers to upload, access and analyse COVID-19 related reference data and specialist datasets- such as raw and assembled viral sequences, and signposting to datasets that cannot openly be shared, in particular patient data subject to GDPR requirements, from clinical trials, hospitals and national healthcare systems.

The portal makes it easier for scientists, public health and healthcare professionals to collaborate, which will help accelerate the development of diagnostics, treatment and vaccines.

COVID-19 Data Portal

European Council Adopts Conclusions on the EU Budget for 2021-2027

On 21 July 2020, the European Council agreed on the European Union (EU) budget for 2021 – 2027. The seven-year EU budget (the Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF) of an overall amount of €1,074.3 billion. Alongside the new long-term budget for the EU, they also agreed on the €750 billion recovery package called “Next Generation EU”- aimed at helping the EU come out of the looming recession set in motion by the coronavirus pandemic. €390 billion from the package will be distributed in the form of grants to member states and €360 billion in loans. The EU’s seven-year budget will cover the following main spending areas:

  • cohesion, resilience and values
  • natural resources and the environment
  • migration and border management
  • security and defence
  • neighbourhood and the world
  • European public administration

More information HERE. 

EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF INNOVATION 2020

12 finalist cities competing to become the European Capital of Innovation in 2020 are:

  1. Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
  2. Espoo  (Finland)
  3. Ghent (Belgium)
  4. Groningen (The Netherlands)
  5. Helsingborg (Sweden)
  6. Leeuwarden (The Netherlands)
  7. Leuven (Belgium)
  8. Linz (Austria)
  9. Milano (Italy)
  10. Reykjavik (Iceland)
  11. Valencia (Spain)
  12. Vienna (Austria)

The 6th edition of the European Capital of Innovation Award is funded by Horizon 2020. The prize recognises the EU cities that develop vibrant innovation ecosystems to address public challenges and improve the lives of the people. Cities have shown how they created the conditions for innovation by:

  • experimenting innovative concepts, processes, tools, and governance models as a test-bed for innovation
  • engaging citizens in the innovation process and ensuring the uptake of their ideas
  • expanding the city’s attractiveness to become a role model for other cities
  • empowering citizens by bringing concrete and measurable added value through the implementation of innovative practices
The winner city will receive the title of European Capital of Innovation 2020 as well as €1,000,000 to support its innovation activities and to enhance its capacity to connect individuals, public sector, academia, and businesses to deliver societal benefits for its communities. Five runners-up will get €100,000 each.

The European Commission will announce the winner and the runners-up of the European Capital of Innovation 2020 contest at the European Research and Innovation Days taking place on 22-24 September 2020. At the same event, the Commission will award the EU Prize for Women Innovators 2020, the EIC Horizon Prize for Affordable High-Tech for Humanitarian Aid, and the Horizon Impact Award 2020.

More details here

Save the date: Web Workshop on Applications and Industrialisation of Functional Polymer Films, Paper and Membranes

We are pleased to announce that AMIRES and Fraunhofer-FEP are organising a Workshop on Applications and Industrialisation of Functional Polymer Films, Paper and Membranes. The event will be held on 21st October 2020 (9.30 – 14.00) with a possibility for virtual participation.

Structured into two sessions with specific emphasis on the sustainable and smart packaging and smart plastic films for design, optics and security, the workshop targets SMEs, Start-ups and Mid-caps, innovative companies or traditional industries willing to introduce and integrate these materials into their products. The event will include presentations of representatives of leading industry’s who will give a talk about the latest trends and share their visions about high-impact future innovative solutions in the respective field.

The workshop is organised in the framework of “FlexFunction2Sustain” project which aims to enable novel solutions and products for plastic and paper based flexible materials and films. The project will integrate the existing European infrastructures into an Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) in order to operate in open access mode and serve customers from along the value chain. FlexFunction2Sustain OITB will not only support the market acceptance of these novel products and related technologies, but it will also ensure that prototype ideas from European companies will have the possibility or reaching a semi-industrial scale in short time. Learn more about FlexFunction2Sustain here.

Save the date! We will keep you informed!

FF2S_colorw1000.png

FRIENDSHIP: Better Industrial Solar Heating Solutions

An article related to the potentialities and the future application of the SHIP (Solar Heat for Industrial Processes) technologies has been published by SINTEF, Norwegian FRIENDSHIP Partner. In the article, it is highlighted how FRIENDSHIP will work to break down some of the major barriers to wider SHIP implementation and how the industries will have a huge long-term benefits from this technology. AMIRES was the consultancy appointed for the proposal preparation and it also manages the grant agreement preparation together with CEA after the successful proposal evaluation. In the project, AMIRES is involved as project manager and dissemination leader. 

Traveling, handshakes, vaccines and stamps

Read HERE about traveling, handshakes, stamps and more from the perspective of Prof. Marc van Ranst, University of Leuven, virologist, and scientist expert in coronaviruses. He has been studying coronaviruses before the pandemic started and has been living this crisis extremely close.
The interview was prepared by the European Commission Research Executive Agency (REA) Programme Officer,  Agne Dobranskyte-Niskota, and published in the REAder Magazine.
University of Leuven belongs to the consortium of the twinning project, MiCoBion, led by Charles University in the Czech Republic, and two partners more: University of Paris in France and EMBL in Germany.

3Dprint.com glances at OrganTrans and regenHU

Simon MacKenzie, CEO of regenHU, partner of OrganTrans recently described in an interview to 3DPrint.com the mission of OrganTrans and the role of regenHU in such challenge project.
MacKenzie explained that OrganTrans uses regenHU’s 3D bioprinters to produce organoid-based liver constructs with organoid laden bioinks. He describes that if the feasibility of the approach in a mouse model will be verified, it will be groundbreaking for the disease, showing its potential as an alternative to transplantation for patients suffering from end-stage liver disease.
regenHU is a pioneer and global leader in tissue and organ printing technologies converging digital manufacturing, biomaterials, and biotechnology to lead transformational innovations in healthcare. regenHU are committed to provide disruptive technologies that will enable the community to make regenerative medicine a reality, to cover today’s researchers and tomorrow’s industrial biofabrication needs.
He emphasized that 3D bioprinting is currently behind 3D printing in other applications, however, it is expanding in Europe. And the role of projects like OrganTrans and companies, such as regenHU are pushing the technology onward.
Continue reading here the complete text of the interview.

My stay at AMIRES

My name is Katharina Kosjak and I am currently studying Molecular Biology and Innovation Management at the University of Graz and Campus 02, University of applied sciences. Always fascinated by nature and its regularities, I wanted to focus on life sciences. However, when I made my very first experiences while traveling the world, I discovered the importance of connecting scientists, economists, and politicians. This was the reason I decided to pursue an interdisciplinary study program and combine science and economy. During my studies I used to work as a paramedic, I became a member of the Young European Federalists (JEF) and since February 2020 I have been president of JEF Styria. Through this organization I took part in many international Erasmus programs, I learned a lot about the European Union and I believe it is important to connect the EU with people.
I applied for an internship at AMIRES without knowing much about consulting, but as I know today, it has been the best decision I could have possibly made. At Amires I had the opportunity to gain a comprehensive insight into the fields of project management and business innovation, which is fundamentally based on a good network. Amires is a space where Ideas come together and an ecosystem for entrepreneurship and exchanging know-how. It does not only connect ideas, but it also connects people with several backgrounds on an international level. Behind every project is a vision of continuous improvement, creative thinking, and open innovation. The realization of those visions is only possible with a good team and a network to spread ideas. It is fascinating to see the development of projects, starting with the first idea and to follow every step of a unique process. Working at Amires means being part of an outstanding team, working in an environment with an international character, and gaining the first impression of how the world of tomorrow could look like.

Open position in Health and Biotech sector

Are you passionate about the newest technological trends in medical technologies and medicine in general? Are you target oriented and responsibility, flexibility, team spirit or time management are no strangers to you? MS Office is your best friend and you are not worried to organize calls, take minutes or prepare presentations? Do you enjoy working in multinational environment with English as the main communication language? Are you ready to cooperate with excellent European R&D&I organisations, SMEs, hospitals and large industries? Then AMIRES is looking for you!

Apply for our newly opened position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects in Health and Biotech sector by sending your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to bajarova(at)amires.eu till August 14 2020. Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job competition will be contacted by August 18 2020.

SmartEEs2 Call for AEs – 10 proposals selected for the 1st cut-off date

Following the evaluation process of proposals submitted by the 1st cut-off date, the SmartEEs2 consortium selected 10 proposals to proceed with the contracting phase, and put 1 proposal on a reserve list. The projects are focused on integrating flexible and wearable electronics into advanced new products / series of products.

Altogether 24 proposals were received for this cut-off date, 23 of which were evaluated by the SmartEEs2 Evaluation Panel. The funding amount for each of the selected projects will be decided during the contracting phase.

If you would like to know more about the 1st cut-off evaluation results, please check the Public Evaluation Report.

If you are interested in applying to the SmartEEs2 Call for AEs, please check the requirements on this page.

VirusWebBanner2ndCuttOff-1440x450.png

FlexFunction2Sustain website is now live!

We are pleased to announce that the full version of the FlexFunction2Sustain project website is now available (https://flexfunction2sustain.eu/). Learn more about our goal to establish an Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) to boost innovations for plastic and paper based flexible materials and films. The project aims to integrate the existing European infrastructures into an ecosystem, which will be able to operate in open access mode and serve customers from along the value chain. On our webpage, the users can discover information on the technical facilities that will be upgraded for processing of novel sustainable plastic materials and paper. Their new functionalities will be demonstrated in relevant industrial use cases covering various application areas such as sustainable smart packaging, plastic and paper electronics, surfaces and membranes in bio application and optical film for security and design. In the second phase of the project, the service portfolio will be subsequently verified and demonstrated by 20 pre-commercial pilot cases. Therefore, on the “Open Calls” section, all interested SMEs and industries can sign up to receive the latest information for the competitive calls, foreseen for January 2022 and January 2023. The contacts section provides information for the Project Coordinator and Project Manager as well as a contact form to send your inquire about related activities or additional information.


FF2S_colorw1000.png

AMIRES looking for Office Manager / Executive Assistant

Are you responsible, proactive, diligent? Do you enjoy working on different administrative and organisational tasks having colourful daily routine? Would you like to support our multinational team and help to strengthen its team spirit? Are you a proficient user of Microsoft Office? Do you speak fluently Czech and English? Then AMIRES is looking for you.

Apply for our newly opened position of Office Manager / Executive Assistant by sending your CV and motivation letter (both in English) to bajarova(at)amires.eu till August 5 2020. Only candidates that will proceed to the next round of the job competition will be contacted by August 7 2020.

Join the OASIS Open Call webinar on 16th July

The OASIS Open Innovation Test Bed has launched an Open Call for Democases providing support to companies in the development of lightweight multifunctional products based on aluminium and polymer composites.

Join our webmeeting on 16 July 2020, 1 p.m. CEST.

During this webmeeting, you will learn why and how to apply to this unique opportunity to benefit from the European Commission’s support through the OASIS project.

This webmeeting will provide you information about:

  • the Horizon 2020 project OASIS
  • the open call for companies and institutions
  • the technologies that you can access through the pilot-lines
  • the business services provided by OASIS to boost your innovation
  • showcases already implemented to give you an impression of what can be achieved on the technological side with the support of the OASIS consortium.

You can register for the event here – LINK

 

OASIS Open Call_webinar-1440x501.png

OASIS Open Call has been launched!

The OASIS Open Innovation Test Bed has launched an Open Call for Democases with the objective of providing support to institutions in the development of lightweight multifunctional products based on aluminium and polymer composites. Successful applicants to the OASIS Open Call will get free access to an ecosystem of 12 nanotechnology manufacturing pilot lines, providing nanomaterials, nano-intermediates, nano-enabled products and associated services. The selected applicants will be provided with customized support through a complete set of services integrating technical and business expertise which will enable them to build up sustainable business cases. If interested, please check OASIS’ website, browse through its Catalogue of services, read the conditions of the Call, and eventually apply with your Democase here – LINK.

The Call’s first cut-off date, after which proposals will be evaluated and selected for support, is on 31st January 2021. We strongly encourage all potential applicants to check the feasibility of their ideas prior to submitting their proposals. Please do so by contacting the HelpDesk at helpdesk@project-oasis.eu or by calling this number +420 226 217 422.

OASIS Open Call-1440x405.png

Marketplace: Virtual Catalogue for Flexible and Wearable Electronics is Live!

The Digital Innovation Hub – SmartEEs has built a digital platform, with catalog showcasing a globally unique and comprehensive list of validated Flexible and Wearable Electronics (FWE) products, prototypes and technical services. Particularly in these days, it is essential to build more agile and European value chains and to integrate already existing products or modules for fast market entry.

Through the catalog, each registered visitor can discover available technology and its use in various application fields. The aim of the catalog is to enable business innovation partnerships for developing novel products or services based on Flexible and Wearable Electronics. Last but not least, the registered offering may be involved in the experiments selected and co-financed by SmartEEs. This is the opportunity for the promotion of your FWE products, prototypes and services!

We invite you to register your organization and to share your capabilities with the SmartEEs community.
Register now by following these steps:
1.         Visit: https://ecosystem.smartees2.eu/
2.         Register in: Organization registry
3.         Wait for confirmation (max 48 hours)
4.         Go to the Marketplace and start adding New Items

Currently, the marketplace offers innovating companies the possibility to explore more than 80 innovative offerings, based on flexible electronics. These innovative technologies correspond to the state-of-the-art applications in Organic Photovoltaics, Flexible Displays, OLED Lighting, Electronics & Components and Integrated Smart Systems. Moreover, the Marketplace offers companies the possibility to consult different products by application domain. Available domains comprise applications for automotive, buildings, consumer electronics, energy, lighting, logistics, medical & pharmaceutical, packaging, graphic arts and textile sectors. The SmartEEs Marketplace is a place to innovate the business of SMEs, Mid-caps and Large companies while scouting for new business opportunities with flexible electronics technologies and to connect supply (ready to integrate products, prototypes, services) & demand (designers, integrators, solution providers, vendors), and to facilitate the promotion of innovative products.

See you in the marketplace where we display the best examples of what is possible with Flexible and Wearable Electronics Technologies.
​​​​​​​

3-720x405.png

Medical Devices Development, As Fast As Light?

Perhaps Medical Devices cannot be on the market as fast as light, but we can try to accelerate the process. That is what MedPhab will try to do, being the first European Pilot Line of photonics-based medical devices. Photonics21 published a Press Release about MedPhab on June 22, which highlights the importance in finding better, faster and more reliable ways of developing medical devices.  

Medical devices development process takes normally long time from concept to clinical trials, and for instance to be introduced in the market. This process is not only slow but also significantly expensive. MedPhab aims to cut the costs involved in research and development of medical devices and more specifically diagnostic devices using photonics. MedPhab’s aim is to create easy access for European SMEs, researchers and businesses to a unified infrastructure dedicated to manufacturing, testing, validation and up-scaling of new photonics technologies that are used for medical diagnostics. Photonics being the field of physics that studies, uses and manipulates light is capable of helping the doctors and clinicians to understand diseases with greater specificity and sensitivity without being invasive. Helping its clients to implement cutting-edge photonics technologies into their medical diagnostics products, MedPhab believes it will significantly improve health and patient care. Through the Use Case Validation Program, MedPhab will ensure that the prototypes adhere to the highest medical standards, MedPhab selects companies that are validated with ISO13485 standardised manufacturing. (ISO13485 is the standard for a Quality Management System for the design and manufacture of Medical Devices). Use-case companies will cover both in-vivo and in-vitro domains in order to cover three application areas: hospital use, home care devices and equipment for molecular diagnostics. Moreover, the pilot line focuses on technologies such as Fibre optics, Microfluidics, Surface functionalisation, Instrumentation, Optoelectronic integration, Custom medical patches, Miniaturisation for micromodules and wearables. Medical devices development cannot be as fast as light but MedPhab is lightning a faster path. Read the full press release on MedPhab’s website or Photonics21 website.
​​​​​​​

MedPhab-PR-June2020-1440x959.jpg

Findings of the General Data Protection Regulation Review

The EC published an evaluation report on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The General Data Protection Regulation is a single set of rules of EU law on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. 

The report shows the GDPR has met most of its objectives, in particular by offering citizens a strong set of enforceable rights and by creating a new European system of governance and enforcement. The GDPR proved to be flexible to support digital solutions in unforeseen circumstances such as the Covid-19 crisis. It also finds that businesses are developing a compliance culture and increasingly use strong data protection as a competitive advantage. Read the full report from the EC on the key findings of the GDPR review HERE.

The Key Measures Needed to Achieve the European Green Deal

Fighting climate change and making Europe climate-neutral by 2050 is one of the main priorities of the European Commission. In support of this priority, the Commission is reinforcing Green Deal-related research and innovation with this dedicated call for proposals under the current research and innovation programme – Horizon 2020.

The European Green Deal is our roadmap for making the EU’s economy sustainable and the first climate-neutral continent. Over 35% of Horizon Europe spending will contribute to climate objectives therefore the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG R&I) invites the research and industrial stakeholders, including RTOs to participate in the recently published broader stakeholder consultation on the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy. The Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy aims to provide the policy tools to ensure the financial system genuinely supports the transition of the industry towards sustainability in a context of recovery. The strategy is an integral part of the European Green Deal and will contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal Investment Plan, in particular to create an enabling framework for private investors and the public sector to facilitate sustainable investments.

Read initial roadmap of the key policies and measures needed to achieve the European Green Deal here and  take part in stakeholder consultation on the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy by providing your feedback  through the online questionnaire by 15 July 2020. 
​​​​​​​

AMIRES is One of the EU Datathon Finalists

AMIRES was selected as one of the 12 finalists out of 121 proposals for EU Datathon. EU Datathon is an annual open data competition organized by the Publications Office of the EU since 2017. The main goal is to stimulate innovation and transform the interaction between citizens and the EU administration. Our idea proceeded to compete in the finals during the European Week of Regions and Cities (12-15 October 2020) in Brussels.
There are four categories according to the challenge to be addressed:
  1. A European Green Deal (Challenge 1),
  2. An economy that works for people (Challenge 2),
  3. A new push for European democracy (Challenge 3)
  4. and a Europe fit for the digital age (Challenge 4).
AMIRES team has been tackled challenge number 2- An economy that works for people. As a result, our team consists of John Kennedy Mwangi, Rudolf Fryček, Roman Pašek and Lenka Bajarova will develop new application called EU4Region. EU4Region is a visualisation platform that maps the state of cohesiveness and inclusion of EU regions through funding. It seeks to explore the absorption capacity of EU funding and help identify unknown patterns, causal relations and changes resulting from injection of EU funds in various regions. The AMIRES team’s ambition for this platform is to facilitate evidence-based policy-making by identifying regions that are lagging behind and encourage their participation in future funding programmes.

We are grateful to be part of creating new value for citizens through innovation and promoting the use of open data. Good luck to all teams!
Read more information about EU datathon.
​​​​​​​

EUdatathon.png

AMIRES looking for new team member!

We are proud of the work we do, and our success is primarily the result of our passionate team of dedicated people. To support our growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for a position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects.

If you are interested in new technologies, great at communication, familiar with European R&D&I funding, have analytical mind set and organizational skills and like challenges, then our job proposal is for you. Read HERE for more.

Virus can connect people!

EU hackaton ‘EU vs Virus’ took place on 24-26 April, 2020, in which 600 volunteers and Commission officers from seven departments of the Commission and lead by the European Innovation Council teamed up for this initiative.
The interaction during these two intense days resulted in 2164 multi-disciplinary teams, from different countries and brought innovative ideas and solutions to COVID19 pandemics in different subjects. The winners in topics of health and Life, Business Continuity, Social & Political Cohesion, Remote Working & Education and Digital Finance received 3000 -5000 Euros that were sponsored by different companies, such as Caixa Bank Payments and Consumer, Huawei, AXWAY, EY. They were additionally invited to participate in the Matchathon that was held from 22 to 25 May on the new EIC COVID Platform. This second event enabled match-making with end-users, and provided access to other funding opportunities from across the EU. The closing ceremony occurred on June 2, 2020 as the “Accomplishment day”. More information HERE

Substantial reduction of plastic waste in the world: FlexFunction2Sustain project

FlexFunction2Sustain – Open Innovation Test Bed to boost innovations for sustainable plastic and paper products to reach the market faster

European (EU) H2020 funded FlexFunction2Sustain project, officially started on 1st April, 2020, is set to establish an Open Innovation Test Bed for nano-functionalisation technologies that enables sustainable and smart plastics and paper based products. AMIRES, together with eighteen consortium members, coordinated by Fraunhofer-FEP , unify their competencies, business development expertise and technical infrastructure to provide users an easy access to holistic innovation boosting services through a Single Entry Point. The ecosystem aims at helping companies to drastically reduce the time and cost to progress through the innovation chain from an idea to a successful product in the market.

Read the Press Release announcing the launch of the FlexFunction2Sustain project.​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​

B1940623-1440x960.jpg

Key Enablers of the Progress in Biosensor

AMIRES participated in next interactive EPIC Technology Meeting on Biosensors, occured on 11 May 2020 and here are some of the highlights.

One of the key topics discussed was development of various Point-of-care (POC) tests for timely and reliable detection of COVID-19.  Laura Lechuga, the Head of the Nanobiosensors & Bioanalytical Applications at ICN2 presented a solution, which is cheaper POC nanophotonics-based version of the Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests (RT-PCR) laboratory testing. While establishing a manufacturing process of the nanophotonic-based biosensor, some of the highlighted challenges which are quite common for development of biosensors are: packaging and biofunctionalization.  As demonstrated by presentations of industrial partners (Surfix, PIXAPP, LIGENTEC), Europe’s manufacturing base is ready to address such challenge. One of the recent examples of strengthened manufacturing capability of Europe is the MedPhab H2020 funded initiative, which sets up Europe’s first manufacturing pilot line for photonics-based medical diagnostic devices and instruments to accelerate their development and commercialization.

From the technologies, integrated photonics was presented as a key enabler of the progress in biosensor research and development. Surface plasmon resonance imaging (NESPRI) was praised as a reliable sensing technology method. It has been successfully applied also in ULTRAPLACAD project, which recently developed an ULTRAsensitive PLAsmonic device for early Cancer Diagnosis.

For more information on the agenda and presentations click HERE

​​​​​​​

Breakthrough Advancements in Organic Large Area Electronics

Breakthrough advancements in Organic Large Area Electronics (OLAE) are ahead of us thanks to the RoLA-FLEX project that has officially kicked-off on 1st May 2020. Although its Kick-off meeting needed to be held remotely via a teleconference (on 6th May), the consortium partners managed to have a fruitful meeting and discuss the plan for the project’s first year.
ROLAFLEX_Color_w400.png
RoLA–FLEX is an industry driven project led by National Technical University of Athens, which provides innovative solutions to the existing OLAE challenges associated with performance and lifetime, through:
  • (a) the fabrication and upscaling of organic semiconductors with high charge mobilities (up to 10 cm2/Vs) and high power conversion efficiencies (16% in OPV cell and 12% in OPV module);
  • (b) the development of metal oxides for charge carrier selective contacts and metal nanoinks for highly conductive micropatterns with increased environmental stability;
  • (c) the seamless incorporation of high speed laser digital processing in Roll-2-Roll Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) module fabrication and photolithography based Organic Thin Film Transistor (OTFT) manufacturing and
  • (d) the demonstration of two TRL5+ OLAE prototypes enabled by the developed materials and innovative processes:
  1. A smart energy platform for IoT devices powered by ITO-free and flexible OPVs operating at low indoor light conditions.
  2. A new generation of bezel-less and fully bendable smart watches integrating FHD, ultra-bright OLCD/OTFT displays.
RoLA-FLEX will advance all the aforementioned technologies to at least TRL5 within its timeframe. RoLA-FLEX will create an opportunity for a yearly increase in revenues of almost €400 M only 6 years after its end, accompanied by hundreds of new jobs. A timely investment in the early days of these new markets can ensure significant market share for the SMEs and Industries involved and greatly boost EU’s competitiveness globally.

MedPhab on EPIC webinar “In vivo imaging”

On May 4th, 2020 online meeting about “In-vivo imaging” was organized by EPIC who brought up together start-ups, SMEs and research centres, experts in in vivo imaging. In vivo imaging is the visualization of living organisms for research or diagnostic purposes, in these talks the living organisms are the humans.

Ten speakers presented their expertise, interest and role in this topic with application in medical sector. Jussi Hiltunen, MedPhab coordinator, introduced the pilot-line to the audience of this meeting. Not only the speakers which presented their current research and development were participating but also the attendants contributed to the discussions. Mariana Pacheco Blanco, from Amires, as MedPhab partner described the role of AMIRES in MedPhab, and how the company portfolio and expertise in proposal preparation and project management could be of interest for the attendants.

The topics that were discussed and presented ranged from applications in different cancers, surgery, ophthalmology, endoscopy, and even remote education for medical students and trainees. Start-of-the-art technologies of imaging, such as optical components, lasers, fibres, optical coherence tomography, were presented. This meeting incubates future collaborations and partnerships for applications in in vivo imaging.
Link to the video event.

​​​​​​​

THE MANUELA PROJECT HANDBOOK IS OUT!

The MANUELA project handbook has been published and can be found in the Downloads section.

MANUELA´s ambition is to provide the European industry with world class, reliable Pilot line manufacturing service leveraging metal Additive Manufacturing products.The handbook contains crucial information about what the service offering of the pilot line is, what are its Unique Selling Points and what benefits it brings to its customers. This handbook will be the key material for liaison with future customers and will be updated regularly to reflect the developments within the project.
​​​​​​​

manuela team.png

ORGANTRANS website is up

A full version of the ORGANTRANS project website is up.  Click HERE and find out about how the project aims to enable 3D printing of tissue engineered constructs, what are its objectives, results and key persons in making the project goals a reality.  
organtrans-720x404.png

Join the Global Response

The European Union and its partners are hosting an international pledging conference starting on Monday 4 May 2020.  The aim is to raise €7.5bn to develop and deploy effective diagnostics, treatments and a vaccine.

WHO IS INVITED to pledge to help reach the funding target of €7.5 billion: 

  • International organisations,
  • financial institutions
  • and private sector companies of all countries

They need to ensure that not only we develop these life-saving tools but that we ensure they are universally available and affordable.
Individuals can show their support by spreading awareness to encourage companies to pitch in.

Fund raising starts on 4 May 2020 – JOIN HERE.
​​​​​​​Let’s support European effort to raise funding for developing vaccine and treatments against coronavirus.

​​​​​​​global response.jpg

The Virus Knows No Borders

The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the most fragile countries, migrants and the most vulnerable people is likely to be dramatic. “The virus knows no borders. This global challenge needs strong international cooperation.“ said The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

This means all EU institutions and Member States have to work together as a real Team Europe to provide the effective contribution to the global response. Team Europe approach, aimed at saving lives by providing quick and targeted support to EU partners facing pandemic. It combines resources from the EU, its Member States and financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. From existing external action resources, the EU is mobilising more than €15.6 billion, to:

1. tackle immediate needs, both humanitarian and in the health care sector-  €502 million.
2. strengthen the health, water and sanitation systems of partner countries, and support research- €2.8 billion 
3. address the economic and social consequences- €12.28 billion

The distribution logic follows the needs of our partner countries but will also take into account the added value, efficiency and complementarity of EU resources, with what other European and non-European stakeholders are doing. The EU’s contribution to the emergency humanitarian response will be allocated on the basis of needs on the ground and will prioritize the most vulnerable groups. The distribution of EU resources should not be isolated from what EU Member States will contribute to address the short to medium and long-term impact of the crisis in our partner countries and regions.

The EU will promote a coordinated multilateral response, in partnership with the United Nations, International Financial Institutions, as well as the G7 and the G20.

Download the factsheet on concrete examples of EU support in partner countries

Source:
ttps://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_604
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_606
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/fs_20_607


​​​​​​​

ORGANTRANS in video lecture on Regenerative Hepatology

The recently launched H2020 funded project ORGANTRANS which develops a method for controlled organoid transplantation as enabler for regenerative medicine translation has been presented during an online lecture by Dr. Bart Spee of Utrecht University titled “Regenerative Hepatology”, which provide an excellent overview of the state of the field and mentions some pipeline innovations.  ORGANTRANS is presented as one of the emerging innovative approaches. The video is availalbe HERE and ORGANTRANS is mentioned in minute 48:00 – 49:30.
​​​​​​​

Collaborative Work on COVID19 Research

MICOBION partners, BIOCEV centre in Czechia and Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium are actively involved in the detection and research of SARS-CoV-2 virus, cause of COVID19 disease. At BIOCEV, over one hundred volunteers, which are BIOCEV employees have enrolled in the large-capacity testing process. BIOCEV joined the initiative of Czech academic centres to speed up testing of the presence of this virus. The European Commission, through the Research Executive Agency recognizes each effort in the COVID19 pandemics, and even more from their funded projects institutions, as can be seen in their social media (April 7).
More information at BIOCEV Website and KUL news.


a7.jpg

InSCOPE finishes but its Pilot Line continues

After 39 months of implementation, InSCOPE project has come to an end. Back in January 2017, 11 partners from 8 European countries joined their forces and knowledge for an ambitious adventure of setting up an InSCOPE Pilot Line for Hybrid TOLAE (H-TOLAE) technologies in the automotive, healthcare, smart packaging and building sectors, and validating its services by 4 Showcases and 15 development cases.

It has been an amazing experience and a true example of successful collaboration across different cultures and borders. A perfect match between technical (TNO, CPI, CEA, VTT, IMEC, Walter Pack / Symbose) and industrial partners (Signify, Bosch, KONE and GSK) backed up by EU project management experts (AMIRES) made it possible to set up the Pilot line and achieve some remarkable results in line with the undertaken commitments with the European Commission.

If you are interested to learn more about our major results with the lighting wall, haptic dashboard, interactive elevator or smart blisters please check here. In addition, you can request here your copy of the InSCOPE Handbook with all relevant information about the project and its Pilot Line.

Event though the InSCOPE project ended, its Pilot Line will continue operating under different settings, one of which is a newly awarded H2020 project called SmartEEs2. Interested SMEs and Mid-caps can apply to the Call for Application Experiments with a topic Support to manufacturing of FWE based end-products including upscaling, and the selected companies will be offered a service by the Pilot Line. All those companies who wish to avoid the application process and just discuss independent collaboration opportunities can simply contact our coordinator Corne Rentrop at corne.rentrop@tno.nl .

A big thank you to all our partners and good luck to all with the new adventures!

SmartEEs2 to support 2 proposals fighting against Covid-19

SmartEEs2 partners are committed to contributing to the fight against COVID – 19 and other viruses with flexible & wearable electronics as solutions in the field of prevention, diagnostics, therapy, etc. Therfore, SmartEEs2 partners will preferentially support 2 application experiment proposals related to this thematic particularly under the 1st cut-off date of the Call for Application Experiments.

All interested companies are invited to present their ideas by 5th June 2020.

For detailed information about the application process click here.

Good luck to all and keep safe!


VirusBanner.png

MedPhab website officially has launched!

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ MedPhab website has officially launched!!! Through this open channel, public can learn about MedPhab, and its advantages as the first European pilot line for photonic-based medical devices. Potential customers have an overview of the MedPhab’s capabilities and expertise of its offering in manufacture, development and upscaling of photonics-based medical products.  MedPhab partners help in developing new concepts and a sustainable access to its operations. The technology validation of pilot production line focuses on three application areas: hospital use, home care devices and equipment for molecular diagnostics. External users will be able to adopt MedPhab technologies through the Demo-Case Open Calls programme, which will be open from June 30, 2021, so stay tuned!  Moreover, this program demonstrates the pilot line services and validates the open access business model to accelerate the product development. If further questions remain, info@medphab.eu  email is available, or an online Contact form exists. ​​​​​​​


Ubrings often the missing piece for complex consortia (1).png

Joining SmartEEs Community

Over 30 participants joined the Workshop for Third Party Suppliers offering technology services in the field of flexible & wearable electronics. Originally planned face-to-face workshop at LOPEC 2020 was organized as an online event on 24th March 2020 through the Zoom video conferencing platform provided by AMIRES. SmartEEs2 partners CEA, FhG and AMIRES were happy to present to the invited companies the SmartEEs Community and benefits of becoming it member. Companies had the opportunity to lean more about the project, Financial Support to Third Parties, (FSTP) and evaluation and assignment process of the selected application experiments. Fruitful question and answer session concluded the event with an invitation to companies to stay tuned for further steps in the process of joining the SmartEEs Community.

For more information about the event and presentations, please check the links below:

Recording of the workshop

Presentations

logo_smartees_2-1440x569.jpg

Success Stories– An Effective Impact of Coaching

Platinn Coaching, the Western Switzerland Innovation Platform, fosters the innovation capabilities and competitiveness of start-ups and SMEs. Amires’s CEO Rudolf Fryček, is a Platinn cooperation coach and since 2011 he has been helping SMEs to reach their milestones.
 Lately, two SMEs- regenHU and Daphne experienced an effective impact of the coaching that enabled them to complete the development and testing of its system and put new innovative products on the market. The coaching was primarily focused on the evaluation of European public funding opportunities and the establishment of partnerships in order to develop new products.  Both cases succeeded to get funding from the framework of Horizon 2020, the EU financial tool for innovation.

The success stories belong to regenHU and Daphne that have done a huge step towards:

  • Regenerative medicine – by replacing diseased tissue with healthy, artificially produced tissue
  • Decreasing maritime pollution– by developing a system to purify exhaust thanks to nanotechnology which eliminates up to 99.3% of sulfur oxides and 85% of nitrogen oxides.
regenHU has dedicated its engineering skills to cutting-edge 3D bioprinting solutions, allowing the artificial creation of biological tissues. regenHU develops both software and instruments. Their printers biofacture “in vitro” models to be able to test new products or develop human tissues for regenerative medicine.

Amires CEO, Rudolf Fryček helped regenHu to set up the search for partners and the preparation of the project proposal. regenHU is now part of the Horizon 2020 European funded project Organtrans aims to develop a disruptive solution that enables the 3D printing of tissue-engineered constructs.

Daphne
sells Nanotechnology-based exhaust, catalyst-free, dry scrubber (air pollution reduction technology), which allow cargo ships to comply with the International Maritime Organization regulations on the emissions, while still using Heavy Fuel Oil, which come into effect in 2020. Shipowners around the world will now have to run their ships on fuel containing 0.5% sulfur compared to 3.5% so far. The company has developed a system to purify exhaust gases, called SulPure, this filtration works thanks to nanotechnology which eliminates up to 99.3% of sulfur oxides and 85% of nitrogen oxides. At the end of the process, the exhaust gases are converted into solid particles which can then be recovered to be destroyed or possibly used as fertilizer.

Daphne Technology received 2.5 million euros in European grants in the framework of Horizon 2020. With this latest boost, Daphne Technology will be able to complete the development and testing of its system by the end of the year.  Dr. Mario Michal, Founder and Chief Executive of Daphne said: “Thanks to Rudolf Fryček experience, we were able to understand the European subsidy system. There are a lot of scholarships and grants, but they all operate according to specific rules. Rudolf helped us identify the programs we could apply for, and then formalize our proposal for Horizon 2020 EIC Accelerator. He is truly an expert in his field.”
Horizon 2020, the EU financial tool for innovation is indeed a very useful fund contribution to SMEs to do applied research and therefore to be able to put new innovative products on the market later.

Read also:


SmartEEs2 Call for integration of flexible and wearable electronics technologies is now open!

SmartEEs2 is an original European acceleration program dedicated to helping innovative companies digitise their businesses thanks to flexible and wearable electronics (FWE) testing, experimentation and manufacturing support. How do we do it? We opened a Call for Application Experiments on 6 March 2020 and set 5 cut – off dates between June 2020 and August 2021 for the evaluation and selection of submitted proposals. All interested companies, satisfying the criteria, are invited to submit their application experiment proposals.

All applicants to the SmartEEs2 program will get access to FWE and manufacturing technologies as listed in the Marketplace to integrate advanced features / functions inside new products and / or to make a series of products.

The winners of the Call will benefit from SmartEEs unique ecosystem composed of leading research organizations, a number of innovative technology suppliers, recognized experts in business development and investors.

The selected Innovative Companies will be provided customized support through a complete set of services integrating technical, business, ecosystem expertise which will enable them to build up sustainable business cases.

Check out our Call for Application Experiments (AEs) at www.smartees.eu and do not wait too long to apply! And good luck to all applicants!


logo_smartees_2-1440x569.jpg

Horizon Impact Award 2020

This award is the European Commission’s initiative to recognize and celebrate outstanding projects that have used their results to provide value for society. These projects must have been funded by FP7 and/or Horizon 2020 funding programmes and they must be closed by the time of application.

Coordinators, Project teams take the chance to win The Horizon Impact Award (Five prizes of 10,000 EUR will be awarded) showcase your best practices and achievements from your project for these reasons:

  • You can inspire beneficiaries of research and innovation funding to maximize the impact of their research.
  • You will show the wider socio-economic benefits of EU investment in research and innovation.
  • The Horizon Impact Award will provide the winners with high visibility in the form of public interest and increased media coverage.

Last year winners came up with a new drug for a rare disease, helped prevent child abuse, increased security of browsing the web and protected coastal areas against the effects of climate change.

Closing date for submission is on 2 April 2020. More information on the criteria HERE.

Failed Goal to Boost R&D Spending

The goal to boost R&D spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in all member states up to 2020 has not been achieved.
In 2018, EU member states – UK not included – invested on average 2.19 per cent of their GDP on R&D, amounting to total figure of €295 billion. 
An analysis by European Commission officials estimates the EU needs to add in an extra €109 billion per year to reach the goal of spending at least 3 per cent of GDP on research and development.

More information HERE

An Offer for the US to Join the Horizon Europe

Discussions on Horizon Europe implementation are progressing – here are some of the important milestones that have been achieved. 
A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Besides the 16 EU neighbours already in the existing programme,the Commission is dicussing Horizon membership with six other non-EU countries: Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. The commission is proposing that non-EU countries, including longstanding partners like Switzerland and Israel, get out of Horizon only as much money as they commit to it, a change from the prior formula that saw some countries ending up with more or less money than they contributed. The draft Horizon legislation, which EU member state officials are due to start discussing on 10 February, also requires that Horizon partners share the same democratic values – a veto to China – and provide reciprocal access for EU researchers in their own national programmes.

However as the commission gets ready for formal Horizon negotiations with non-EU countries,  the transatlantic contractual disagreement has grown into a bigger issue.

Constance C. Arvis, director of the US State Department’s Office of Science and Technology expressed “concern” about EU-US cooperation.
“If they (the terms) are finalised in the path that we think they may be, that means that for seven years we are going to have to interact with a structure that is fundamentally not going to incentivise science across the Atlantic. And we think that is a very unnecessary and undesirable outcome,” Arvis said.

In her statement, Arvis said

  • the budgetary terms are “not an incentive to associate” – the legal term for a country formally joining the programme.
  • The proposed terms also don’t allow an international associate any oversight. “In other words, we can pay in, but we don’t get to decide how it’s used,”
  • In addition, the terms would allow the commission “unilaterally to exclude” associated third countries from elements of the programme.

Read the full text Constance C. Arvis, director for science and technology cooperation at the US State Department, delivered Here

More information:here

 

SmartEEs Community – New Call for Application Experiments opening soon!

Are you an SME or a Mid-cap?

Are you interested in integrating flexible and wearable electronics to diversify your activity and develop new products / series of products?

Do you have an idea, but need technologies, expertise and resources?

We have a solution!

Stay tuned and follow us on website and social media  @SmartEEsEU to learn about new opportunities offered by the SmartEEs Community you could benefit from! New Call for AEs opening soon!


logo_smartees_2-1440x569.jpg

Breakthrough in Nanophotonic Devices: POSEIDON

The FET-OPEN project POSEIDON had its kick-off meeting on January, 23-24, 2020 in Aachen, in the facilities of AMO GmbH. POSEIDON is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, which aims at developing a radically new bottom-up approach for integrated light sources for silicon photonics.
“We will tear down the massive costs and complexity barriers of current top-down approaches for fabricating photonic integrated circuits”, says the project coordinator Anna Lena Giesecke from AMO GmbH. “The idea is to integrate light sources directly into the photonic circuits by exploiting the self-assembly of active colloids on chips. In this way, we will be able to realize cheap and yet very powerful optical devices, with a very broad range of applications, from data centers to medical sensors.”  
If the range of potential applications is broad, the project target explicitly the usual wavelengths of data-communications, with the goal of realizing cheap and efficient optical switches to drastically improve the energy efficiency of data-centers and network performance. The project itself is extremely exciting from the scientific and the technological point of view, as it requires developing a multi-scale approach to design and control the self-assembly of the colloids with nanometer-scale resolution in all three spatial directions directly on photonic integrated circuit. 
​​​​​​

The project involves eight partners, which represent the top EU innovation-performers in modelling and simulation, colloid synthesis, hierarchical assembly, development of electrically pumped colloidal light sources and fabrication of photonic integrated circuits. POSEIDON is also endorsed by key innovation players (IBM, Hitachi, Mellanox, Causeway Sensors, Senseair), which are involved in defining the target specifications and impact monitoring of the new technology.  More information on the project can be found at https://poseidon-fet.eu/ (full version available in March 2020).

Contact persons: Coordinator: Project Manager:
Name Dr. Anna Lena Giesecke Kristina Pandek
Organisation AMO GmbH AMIRES s.r.o.
Email giesecke@amo.de pandek@amires.eu

POSEIDON project has a duration of 48 months. Keep tuned on the upcoming project results!

Poseidon.png

Simplify your tracking – IOTSU® by Small Data Garden

Watch the video we’ve created together with Small Data Garden within the SmartEEs project to see what kind of solutions it brings to life.

IOTSU Flexi is a flexible, plaster-like node that enables remote monitoring of assets and measurement of various parameters for a wide range of applications. The capability to measure acceleration, orientation, position, temperature and moisture levels makes it perfect for applications ranging from medicine and sport to premium parcel services and cold-chain management. The option to extend this solution with other sensors makes the breadth of use case scenarios practically limitless.

The three-way cooperation between Small Data Garden, VTT as the technology provider and AMIRES providing business support, has proven to be invaluable in creating a market ready technology within a short time frame. Such cases will also be supported within SmartEEs 2 project so stay tuned for news about that as its first Open Call is about to launch in March!​​​​​​

Simplifying The Study of Organs

One day after the end of the kick-off meeting of the EU project, OrganTrans-in which AMIRES is a partner-, speakers from renowned companies and institutions presented the last updates of the state-of-the-art tissue and in vitro disease models technologies during the workshop: “Next Gen Organ-on-chip and Organoids”. AMIRES was represented by the attendance of Dr. Mariana Pacheco Blanco. This insightful set of talks were organized by OrganTrans coordinators, Swiss research and technology organization (CSEM), on Thursday February 6th, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
When stem cells (precursors of cells) are cultured in a miniaturized and simplified way to represent the complexity of the organ 3D structure and microenvironment are called organoids. In order to mimic the conditions of real organs, the use of micro devices (or chips) have been developed, more substantially in the last decade. During the workshop, through different detailed presentations the audience could have an enhanced understanding of the new technologies using organs on-chip and organoids, mainly in the study of disease models.
The speakers presented data on the validation of the newest technologies of organs on chips, such as liver, intestine, brain, lung, neuronal networks, vascular systems, kidney, muscle. These chips are based on microfluidics, deep machine learning and automatized systems, even tissue printing platforms.   The use of these technologies is being used for the characterization, imaging, functional analysis and even drug studies of organs-on chip and organoids. Not only research in human samples were presented but also tissues of other species, namely rats and dogs, which allows the methodology to be more robust.
One of the main goals of the application of these miniaturized tools is to be able to implement a more personalized medicine, a “You-on chip” medicine as OrganTrans coordinator Gilles Weder more accurately described it.
​​​​​​
Organtrans.png

Regenerative medicine breakthrough: ORGANTRANS

European (EU) H2020 funded ORGANTRANS project is set to develop a disruptive solution that enables the 3D printing of tissue-engineered constructs. AMIRES, together with seven consortium members, coordinated by CSEM will create a standardized and automated tissue preparation and maturation platform, which will provide patients with End-Stage Liver Disease (ESLD) an alternative to donor organ transplants.

Read the CSEM press release announcing the kick-off of ORGANTRANS.​​​​​​​

Picture1.jpg

New European manufacturing capacity for photonics-based medical diagnostics

Photonics is based on combining optics and electronics, and it enables various medical applications from diagnostic devices to instruments for treatment. However, both photonics in itself and its areas of application are fragmented, which poses challenges to equipment manufacturers. Furthermore, the strict regulations within the sector slow down the introduction of new solutions. The orders for the pilot production line are made in a centralised manner and channelled to the manufacturer with the best implementation capability.

The European Commission decided to expand the existing photonics pilot-line offering by funding the establishment of MedPhab pilot-line under Horizon 2020 from 1 January 2020, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.  The purpose of MedPhab pilot production line is to accelerate the commercialisation of diagnostic devices and instruments based on photonics, and to reduce the R&D cost. Based on  testing the  validation of the pilot production line on three application areas: hospital environment, home care devices and equipment for chemical diagnostics. Such project needs the cooperation of a consortium of excellent research institutes and companies that have experience in ISO 13485 standardized manufacturing and/or strong expertise in photonics. The consortium gathered together for two days in Brussels (14 – 15 January 2020), Belgium to discuss the challenges and expectations of the four year work process, demonstrating the importance and potential of MedPhab.

More information about the MedPhab pilot line project launch can be accessed HERE.  

Information about the projet and its progress will soon be available on the project website HERE.

MedPhab KOM.jpg

A new era for free-form micro-optics

The EU project PHABULOuS (Pilot-line providing highly advanced & robust manufacturing technology for optical free-form μ-structures) has been launched on January 15 and 16, 2020, at CSEM in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

The consortium is unifying Europe’s leading Companies and Research & Technology Organizations (RTOs), through the creation of a self-sustainable pilot line for the design and manufacturing of free-form micro-optical solutions. These solutions will be integrated into high added-value devices, spanning from micro displays for augmented reality, to innovative systems for professional, automotive, and transportation lighting to optical effects for luxury. The PHABULOuS consortium will synchronize its efforts to translate urgent and high-impact industrial needs into industrially relevant predictive software packages, manufacturing tools and processes, characterization methods for quality inspection and integration schemes, all necessary for the successful demonstration of this technology in pre-commercial production runs.

Additional information on the pilot line can be found here.

PHABULOUS_KOM picture-1440x959.jpg

Microoptics is … PHABULOuS!

Optical microtechnology is a booming field in different markets such as industrial, medical, automotive, consumer and mobile, and so there is no surprise that EPIC Meeting on Wafer Level Optics, hosted by SUSS MicroOptics in Neuchatel (Switzerland) brought together large number of companies and stakeholders covering the supply chain including end-users, fabrication techniques, materials and metrology. This meeting allowed the key players in wafer level microoptics to discuss the benefits and motivation of standards and potential collaborations to reinforce the industry and reduce fragmentation. Different applications were discussed such as CMOS image sensors, automotive, lighting, AR/VR headsets, datacom, consumer electronics etc.
This event provided a brilliant opportunity to introduce for the first time PHABULOµS pilot line for optical free-form micro-structures that will be developed and set-up during the H2020 project PHABULOµS starting from January 2020. The presentation was held by the project coordinator Rolando Ferrini (CSEM) and can be found here. ​​​​​​​


49048408092_73c948ee8b_c.jpg

Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Partnership

The EC invites you to contribute to the proposed R&I partnership on “People-centric Sustainable Built Environment” to be set up under the Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027) by written comments in the online survey until 15th January 2020. 
Start the online survey HERE.

Towards Climateneutral Continent

The European Commission set out a new EU growth strategy – the European GreenDeal to drive the systemic changes needed to reach climate neutrality and ensure an inclusive societal, ecological and economic transition. An initial roadmap of key policies range from cutting emissions, to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation, to preserving Europe’s natural environment.

This requires action by all sectors.
1. Clean energy
2. Sustainable industry
3. Building and renovating
4. Mobility
5. Biodiversity
6. Farm to fork
7. Pollution

The European Green Deal https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/european-green-deal-communication_en.pdf
More information https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
 

The High-Tech Horizon Prize

End-users and scientific communities take the chance and apply for the High-Tech Horizon Prize (Five prizes of 1 million  EUR will be awarded) while developing innovative solutions in energy, water, shelter & health that can enhance response to urgent needs in humanitarian aid. Solutions should be developed through a frugal innovation approach and should be novel and based on advanced technologies and services, demonstrating the added value and potential of one or more advanced technologies. Closing date for submission: 15 January 2020 at 17:00:00 CET. More information on the rules here
​​​​​​​

BREXIT and UK’s participation in Horizon 2020

UK organisations can continue to participate in Horizon 2020 as a Member State and remain eligible to apply for Horizon 2020 funding as the UK and the EU have agreed a flexible extension of the Article 50 period to 31 January 2020. During this period, the UK will remain a member of the EU with all the relevant rights and obligations. More information here
​​​​​​​


From Flexible Electronics Projects to Ecosystem

Over 40 participants came to Prague on 11th December 2019 to take part in the Workshop on APPLICATIONS AND INDUSTRIALISATION WITH FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS.  The event was organized in the framework of the InSCOPE and SmartEEs projects with the objective of presenting the InSCOPE project results and informing the public about the opportunities offered by the flexible electronics community.

                         

   The workshop was opened by Rudolf Frycek, CEO of AMIRES, and Corne Rentrop, the coordinator of the InSCOPE project. During the first session, participants were able to hear more about the four partners of the InSCOPE project – Bosch, Signify, KONE and GSK – and their experiences and results obtained during the 3-year project implementation. Matthias Mahlich, Peter Bancken, Rasmus Lonnqvist and Panagiota Tsapuornioti gave some interesting insights into the printed electronics applications in automotive, smart buildings and medical packages.

​​​​​​​The second session was dedicated to examples of flexible electronics in the health, packaging/logistics and building sectors, which were realized through a development case of the Dutch company UNITRON supported by the InSCOPE project as presented by Pieter de Wilde, and thought SmartEEs application experiments of innovative companies – Small Data Garden,  Esyst and 3DMA which were represented by  Timo Liukko, Jaroslav Sochor, and Robert Fuhrmann respectively. Representatives of large volume manufacturers, Kari Ronka and Marek Ramski from Flexbright and OledWorks shared their developments and ideas with flexible electronics technologies.

Finally, Rudolf Frycek informed the participants about the future opportunities / benefits and EU support for SMEs and Mid-caps.

​​​​​​​With the motivation from speakers, a chance to interact with key industry stakeholders, and touch and feel the displayed demonstrators, it was truly an event to remember. Stay tunes for next events and we hope to see you there!

  

Happy Birthday Smart2Go!

After 1 year from the project start, the Smart2Go Consortium, supported by the experts from the External Advisory Board, celebrated in Brussels, at the Fraunhofer office, the big progresses in the development of the miniaturized flexible batteries, different energy harvesting solutions (OPV, Thermoelectric and Piezo) and the advanced management platform. Now we are ready for the next steps: set up of the manufacturing processes (i.e. R2R embedding, lamination, printing, converting, etc.) and system integration, interconnecting the different components for the development of the Smart2Go demonstrators. Smart2Go project started on 1st January 2019 and has a duration of 36 months: stay updated about the upcoming project results!

Smart2Go M12 meeting_cut-1440x801.jpg

AMIRES looking for new team members!

We are proud of the work we do, and our success is primarily the result of our passionate team of dedicated people. To support our growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for a position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects.

If you are interested in new technologies, great at communication, familiar with European R&D&I funding, have analytical mind set and organizational skills and like challenges, then our job proposal is for you. Read HERE for more.

WORKSHOP ON APPLICATIONS AND INDUSTRIALISATION WITH FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS

We are pleased to announce that in cooperation with Technology Centre, AMIRES is organizing a WORKSHOP ON APPLICATIONS AND INDUSTRIALISATION WITH FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS in Prague, Czech Republic on 11th December from 9.30 a.m. – 14.00 p.m. in the framework of InSCOPE and SmartEEs projects. The workshop targets companies willing to use and integrate flexible electronics in existing or new products. Participants of the workshop will have the opportunity to see examples of new products and prototypes based of flexible, large area and wearable technologies, and to listen to manufacturers and suppliers presenting their scalable technologies and existing business opportunities.

Last but not least, a support for SMEs and midcaps in the form of micro grants will be presented, including prototyping and faster translation to large volume manufacturing.

Detailed information can be found in the Flyer.

We look forward to seeing you in Prague, and please do not forget to register your participation here.
​​​​​​​

Flyer.jpg

Help to Finalise initiatives under Horizon Europe

The European Commission would like to hear your views on the 12 proposed institutionalised partnerships under Horizon Europe. The proposed partnerships cover the topics such as Innovative Health Initiative, Innovative SMEs or Key Digital Technologies. Draft acts are open for feedback that will be taken into account for finalising an initiative. Let’s increase the impacts of investments and say what matters most. This survey will close on 6 November 2019. Read more HERE

Simpler Rules and Sustainable solution

The European Commission invited all of us to co-design the future research and innovation as part of Horizon Europe – the next research and innovation programme (2021- 2027). The Result is more than 8000 responses received with a strong emphasise on a sustainable solutions and simpler rules- in terms of proposals templates, calls and IT portal. Let’s wait for its strategic planning process towards these findings. Read more Here.

An Expert for Medical Devices 

There is a call for expression of interest for an expert of medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices. Submit your application by 10 November 2019 and join the European Commission’s expert panels with broad spectrum of advisory roles. More information here.

Release of the AMIPLEXUS Version 4.0

Faster, more user friendly and enhanced with new features.
The new AMIPLEXUS version 4.0. was released on October 29th 2019. The improved platform will offer its users new features including:
1. Downloadable interactive reports.
2. Technology-Application-Company matrix feature.
3. Novel analytics based on the NUTS-2 regions and Countries.
4. User friendly search summary for easier and faster navigation.
5. Improved cooperation network visualisation with colour coding and manipulation settings.
6. New datasets Swiss federally funded research projects and ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy in the USA) as well as Updated datasets (H2020, Eurostars, Eureka) as of October 2019.

Subscribe to AMIPLEXUS to visualize and explore R&D and Innovation projects for the following programmes H2020 (25531 projects), Eureka (3905 projects), Eurostars (1750 projects), FP7 (25776 projects), ARPA(738 projects)!.
STAY TUNED!!!

 

 

 

SmartEEs Open Call – 4 proposals selected for the 5th cut-off date

AMIRES, the partner responsible for evaluation process of submitted application experiment proposals for SmartEEs Call for Application Experiments is proud to announce that 4 proposals have been selected to proceed with the contracting phase in the 5th cut-off date. The projects are focused on integrating flexible electronics into advanced new products.

Altogether 21 proposals were received for this cut-off date, all of which were evaluated by the SmartEEs Evaluation Panel. The funding amount for each of the selected projects will be decided during the contracting phase.

If you would like to know more about the 5th cut-off evaluation results, please click here.
​​​​​​​
This was the last cut-off organized through the SmartEEs, but all interested parties are invited to stay tuned and follow us on social media to learn about new opportunities  which will be offered by the SmartEEs Community.

SOLARPACES2019 Takeways for WASCOP, MOSAIC and SOLWARIS

All AMIRES portfolio Concentrated Solar Power related projects (WASCOP, MOSAIC and SOLWARIS), has been presented at Solar Paces 2019 conference that will take place on October 1 -4, 2019, in Daegu-South Korea.

The debate of the conference was mainly run around technologies and ecomonical progress of the as well as the future of the CSP technologies. According to José Luis Martínez Dalmau, president of ESTELA, the strong decline of RES (renewable Energy Company) prices made the policy makers see the costs of the electrical system as the main driver for decarbonization, leaving a bit aside the political commitment to it. In terms of LCoE, RES including CSP, are already competitive against fossil power generation.

At the moment RES gained weight in the energy mix, the lowest LCoE (as sole decisive criterion for technology choices) lost momentum, as it excludes externalities whose costs can be higher than the LCoE itself. Moreover, the need for storage, for network reinforcements, increased curtailments result today in having no longer LCoE, but flexibility in the focus.

By the end of 2018, the current storage capacity of CSP plants exceeded more than 10 times the capacity of all batteries connected to the network worldwide. This mature technology, of great capacity in terms of volume of energy and power of delivery, has demonstrated its reliability. This is a clear opportunity for solar thermal technology with storage. In countries with good DNI, CSP plants with storage will provide the best complement to PV for meeting the demand after sunset and contribute to increasing firmness of the back-up capacity thanks to its manageability.

From PI-SCALE to LYTEUS

In order to evaluate the successful development of the PI-SCALE project and its final results, a review meeting together with representatives of the European Commission took place in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in September 2019.

Within the framework of the PI-SCALE project funded by the European Union under Horizon 2020 programme, the leading European research institutes Holst Centre/TNO, Fraunhofer FEP, VTT, and CPI together with industrial partners Audi, REHAU, Pilkington and EDOL and supported by AMIRES were able to set up the pilot line service for flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) LYTEUS.

LYTEUS is able to supply industrial companies with customized flexible OLED lighting modules and supports the development of new innovative products. The activities of the LYTEUS pilot line continues after the end of the project under the lead of the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP.

In order to promote PI-SCALE results and to present the services offered by LYTEUS, the consortium invites potential industrial customers to a workshop on November 7, 2019, in Dresden, Germany. During this workshop interested parties can now experience the offer of the LYTEUS pilot line service on site at Fraunhofer FEP and discuss it with the partners. The industrial partners of PI-SCALE will also present their impressive applications and the research partners will inform you in detail about the range of services of LYTEUS. Experts will be then available to discuss ideas.

More information is available at www.pi-scale.eu and www.lyteus.com.

11-2019_04-1440x690.jpg

Switch2Save project kicked-off

On October 16 2019, Switch2Save project was officially kicked-off at the meeting of consortium partners in Dresden, Germany. Coordinated by Fraunhofer FEP and with AMIRES participation, the project goal is to improve the availability and affordability of electrochromic (EC) and thermochromic (TC) smart glass technologies. 

The Switch2Save consortium includes leading universities, research institutes and industries from six EU countries. Within the next four years, the partners will collectively develop a combination of EC and TC cells – with optimized maximum energy saving potential – based on a switchable total energy transmittance (g-value). They will scale the manufacturing technologies for increased availability and cost effectiveness, assess the performance of the innovative insulating glass units (IGU), and demonstrate the heating and cooling energy saving potential and the lighting comfort in two operational buildings in Greece and Sweden.

​​​​​​​The Switch2Save EC and TC modules are based on nanoscaled thin film stacks that are applied to plastic webs or ultra-thin glass films by using large area vacuum and atmospheric pressure deposition techniques. The modules have a specific weight of less than one kg per square meter – much less than even a single glass pane in a window. They are easily integrated into IGUs by a lamination step to allow window and glass façade manufacturing with well-established processes – a key requirement for acceptance of the novel technology by construction companies. The integration of wireless switching and standard interfaces directly into the building automation systems will satisfy the needs of building owners and provide maximum energy saving when in operation.
Switch2Save will demonstrate the potential in two representative buildings – Greece’s second largest hospital in Athens and an operational office building in Uppsala, Sweden. The Switch2Save consortium will replace 50 windows and 200 m² glass façade area with the smart glass solution and will perform a full “before-after” comparison of the energy demand for a one-year cycle in both buildings. The findings will accelerate the widespread implementation of energy smart glass and significantly contribute to the goal of a CO2-neutral building stock in the EU before 2050.

More information will be shortly available at www.switch2save.eu

IMG_20191016_121405 (002)-1440x1920.jpg

The Purpose of Our New Logo

 

With 50% success rate, we are one of the best consultancy companies for EU projects, but we were certainly the consultancy with the least visible logo. Even European Commission officials were asking us, why don’t we have a higher visibility in our printed leaflets and roll-ups. So far it followed a simple logic – we wanted to put our clients first, us second. Now, AMIRES is managing R&D projects of a value over 200M€ and has partners in almost all member states. We connect unconnected competencies, build new value chains, construct new networks and ecosystems. AMIRES brings often the missing piece for complex consortia or for business oriented partnerships. This is perfectly represented by our new dynamic logo, featuring missing elements and turquoise colour representing wisdom, trustworthiness, freedom, stability and harmony. All is perfectly fitting our supporting mindset, for our clients, for new proposals and for running projects.

Ubrings often the missing piece for complex consortia (1).png

Smart2Go progresses in the flexible miniaturized battery development

VARTA Micro Innovation, partner of Smart2Go project, has recently produced, using semi-industrial equipment, 2 generations of single layer pouch prototype cells with a nominal capacity of 60mAh, composed by advanced thin and flexible negative- and positive electrodes. The two generations only differ in the overall cell thickness (GEN1: 436µm, GEN2:399µm). With GEN1 cells an excellent cycling behaviour can be achieved. After 500 cycles a capacity retention of 83% was measured. The prototypes will be further investigated and represent one of the key components of the Smart2Go energy supply platform. Smart2Go project started on 1st January 2019 and has a duration of 36 months: stay updated about the upcoming project results!

Battery.png

Meet InSCOPE project at AIPIA World Congress 2019

AMIRES team is happy to announce that they will be participating in the AIPIA World Congress 2019 in Amsterdam on 18th and 19th November 2019 where the InSCOPE project and its Pilot line will be presented together with partners from TNO and VTT. If you are interested to hear about our achievements, see our demonstrators and learn about our services, we will be delighted to meet you at our booth Marathon 3 and give you all details of our Pilot line. We hope to see you there!
AIPIA-1440x708.jpg

AMIRES is hiring!

We are proud of the work we do, and our success is primarily the result of our passionate team of dedicated people. To support our growth, we are looking for highly motivated people to join our team in Prague for a position of Project Manager of European R&D&I projects.

If you are interested in new technologies, great at communication, familiar with European R&D&I funding, have analytical mind set and organizational skills and like challenges, then our job proposal is for you. Read HERE for more.

Deadlines for Horizon 2020 calls

Horizon 2020 offers a variety of funding opportunities for research and innovation activities through calls for proposals that are set out in the Horizon 2020 work programme. Here is the overview of its final round of calls under Horizon 2020 for:

  • Health Care
  • SME Instrument
  • Energy
  • Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology, and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing” (NMBP)
  • The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA)
  • Fast Track to Innovation (FTI)
  • Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) actions are expected to initiate radically new lines of technology through unexplored collaborations between advanced multidisciplinary science and cutting-edge engineering.

Click here to search calls for proposals and tenders of the European institutions.
​​​​​​​

AMIRES_calls H2020_2020 pic.png

Results of SmartEEs support 

Look at a prototype of a device based on flexible electronics/substrate which was developed by the Finnish company Small Data Garden through the SmartEEs support. Are you also searching for support for your innovative technology then do not miss LAST cut-off date for SmartEEs – closes on September 20th! Submit your proposal here.

SmartEES (2)-720x405.png

Co-Design the Future Research

The European Commission invited all of us to co-design the future research and innovation as part of Horizon Europe – the next research and innovation programme (2021- 2027). Let’s increase the impact of investments and say what matters most in online consultation here.

The European Investment Project Portal

We would like to introduce you a portal EIPP where you can register your project and boost its visibility. It is also a place where you can find investment opportunities. Find out more or watch the testimonials of some of the companies who have received financing after being published on the EIPP.

Discover How Physicist Vanessa Survived in Amires

We are happy to say that we regularly open our door for a university student for an internship. This summer we chose Vanessa- the future Master of Science in Physics. You might wonder how a person coming from fundamental academic research can asset from a consulting company. It was challenging for her to focus more on the business part of the research, but she understood that Amires’ work also requires scientific and technical comprehension in various scientific fields. We wished to know her feedback about her stay with us, therefore we asked Vanessa to share her experience.

Yes, Vanessa is studying Physics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and will be graduating with a Master of Science this fall. She conducted her Bachelor’s and Master’s research at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in the Division of Medical Physics in Radiology, mainly working on high-field magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the human brain. During her time at AMIRES, she worked together with several project managers and data analysts in order to get an insight into their versatile daily activities with interesting research topics focusing on the strategic fields of Energy Efficiency, Additive Manufacturing, Photonics, Flexible Electronics, and Regenerative Medicine and Medical Devices. 

“What I liked the most about the job was the fact, that it requires not only administrative and management tasks, but also a scientific and technical comprehension for research and innovation projects in various scientific fields.  At the same time, I also acquired soft and administrative skills which will be helpful for my upcoming PhD studies, as well as for any future job I will work on afterwards” said Vanessa.

Vanessa got also the opportunity to learn about the various funding schemes of the European Union (H2020, FP7), as well as how much hard work needs to be done to create international sustainable partnerships and cooperation.

“My upcoming work as a scientist in an international working environment will definitely benefit from the knowledge, I have gained during my time here at AMIRES.

Amires team had a pleasure to co-work with her and wish her all the best in her future endeavours. Each generation brings with its greater tech-savvy than the last and each brings its own unique approaches. After our experiences we encourage companies to take the opportunity to involve youth people and seek their feedback. These interactions provide them the opportunity to incorporate what they’ve taught themselves into the real world.

Vanessa 2-1440x1659.jpg

Access Innovative Smart lightweight composite materials and components

H2020 funded, OASIS project offers a full package service including non-technical services for accelerated innovation studies and success in industrialisation, market penetration and commercialisation of nano-enabled products. More information can be found via new project’s website.

NanoWorld_image_test-720x373.jpg

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR CALLS IN HORIZON 2020

The European Commission has officially released the 2018-2020 Work Programme for the individual topics and provided insights into the upcoming calls. During its final three years Horizon 2020 will provide further investments of around €30 billion in research and Innovation. Find the work programme 2018-2020, the final round of calls under Horizon 2020, below:

INCREDIBLE 10th ANNIVERSARY OF AMIRES

Happy Birthday AMIRES! We reminisced about our journey that has been keeping us 10 years on and celebrated at the Zámek Kynšperk, a beautiful castle in the Czech Republic, together with all the colleagues and their families. Within this period of time, we have grown an exceptional level of collective motivation in our team that describes our company culture.  AMIRES means a friend of the research and this serves as one of our guiding value such that our experiences and expertise can be only overshadowed by our friendly approach. By a friend we mean our employees – today we are already ten of us, from two 10 years ago. We come from 5 different nationalities, regardless the gender and race, including Italy, Kenya, Montenegro, Slovakia and Czech. With an equal number of men and women, our company embodies gender equality. We believe that our guidance and thematic expertise have uplifted your work and stimulate your results.

Greetings from our team and their family members.

Upcoming 2020 calls in Horizon 2020

Do you aspire to prepare a proposal addressing a topic under the upcoming calls in Societal Challenge, focusing on the topic such as – clean water, nanotechnologies, raw materials, efficient energy or information and communication technology? The European Commission presented the draft versions of Work Programme 2018-2020 for the individual topics and provided insights into the upcoming calls. Find the pre-publication of the work programme 2018-2020, the final round of calls under Horizon 2020, below:

  • For Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy click here.
  • For Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing click here.
  • For Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials click here.
  • For Secure, clean and efficient energy click here.
  • For Information and Communication Technologies click here

This is the perfect chance to start building your consortium ahead of the deadline for the submission of proposals in 2020!

SmartEEs Open Call – 8 proposals selected for the 4th cut-off date

AMIRES, the partner responsible for evaluation process of submitted application experiment proposals for SmartEEs Call for Application Experiments is proud to announce that 8 proposals have been selected to proceed with the contracting phase in the 4th cut-off date. The projects are focused on integrating flexible electronics into advanced new products.

Altogether 18 proposals were received for this cut-off date, all of which were evaluated by the SmartEEs Evaluation Panel. The funding amount for each of the selected projects will be decided during the contracting phase.

If you would like to know more about the 4th cut-off evaluation results, please click here.
​​​​​​​
If you are interested in SmartEEs funding opportunities, you can apply anytime until 20 September 2019. The final cut-off date for evaluations is 20 September 2019 (deadline: 17:00 CET).

EuroNanoForum 2019 Takeaways

Amires had a strong presence at the EuroNanoForum 2019 bi-annual event taking place in Bucharest from 12th to 14th June. This event is focusing on both the industrial application of research results and future strategic research priorities in the area of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials of the Horizon 2020 NMBP Programme and beyond. The event was composed of a conference, workshops, exhibition, site tours, brokerage events and social events, all of which made it a worthwhile occasion.

Amires booth exhibited a number of projects the company is involved in as well as the company’s in-house developed software products AMIplexus and EffiBUILDING. The projects displayed showed the wide range of topics Amires is involved in from photonics & electronics pilot lines (InPulse, Lyteus, SmartEEs, InSCOPE) and nano-enabled materials (OASIS), to additive manufacturing (Manuela) and energy storage (Smart2Go, SABINA).

​​​​​​​On the last day of the event a workshop called “Boosting Innovation for EU Industry” was organized by the European Commission. Amires’ CEO Rudolf Fryček acted as one of the panel experts talking about Amires’ involvement in innovation ecosystem building in Europe through different Pilot Lines, Open Innovation Test Beds and Digital Innovation Hubs.

Innovation Performance in EU Countries

If you wish to know the strengths and weaknesses of national innovation systems in the EU member states, the European Commission released the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS). The EIS shows that Sweden is the EU’s innovation leader this year.  Data takes into account four types of indicators – Framework conditions, Investments, Innovation activities, and Impacts. Compared to last year, Innovation performance improved for 24 EU countries that have a lead over the US for the first time. These findings can help countries identify areas they need to upgrade. Take a closer look at counties’ profile HERE.

WASCOP results in EURONEWS

A dedicated serie called Quenching the thirst of concentrated solar power plants of the EURONEWS FUTURIS programme has been dedicated to the cooling and cleaning solutions in WASCOP. The programme has presented the dust barriers, soiling sensors, special coating mirrors, ultrasonic cleaning system, and a hybrid water cooler prototype, currently under validation in CIEMAT-PSA facilities, as well as versatile cooler and storage tank currently being tested at CEA-Cadarache. Many of these experiments will soon be tested in working power plants in Spain as part of a further European Union project SOLWATT and could be commercially available within three years. The serie is available to watch here. 

Smart2Go first steps towards a smart and flexible energy supply platform

How to combine energy harvesting elements, energy storage and supply system, sensors and lighting elements into an autonomous energy-supply platform for wearable electronics? Which are the technical specifications (for each component) and requirements (including extreme environment conditions) that will allow the smooth integration of Smart2Go platform into the two challenging applications (sport equipment and safety garments)? The Smart2Go partners are now addressing these questions to define the system design. 
Please, stay updated about the Smart2Go results! More information are available on project website: www.smart2go-project.eu 
Smart2Go concept_wlogo-720x300.png

Pilot Testing of IOTSU® Flexi – Partner Search

Flexible electronics enables to produce thin and lightweight the Internet of things (IoT) devices. Finnish company Small Data Garden (SDG) recently developed (supported by SmartEEs) a prototype of a new device based on flexible electronics/substrate (IOTSU® Flexi), ideal for asset or cold chain monitoring, logistics in general and supporting services. It enables monitoring of acceleration, orientation, positioning, temperature and other parameters. SDG is currently looking for partners willing to start the piloting phase and real life scenario development. AMIRES supports SDG in business development and creation of strategic partnerships – supported by SmartEEs project. Send us your requests for your pre-commercial testing of IOTSU® Flexi.

 

Foto_Neuchatel_IMG_4623-1440x1920.jpg

Why the European election matter for science?

The upcoming European Parliament elections will be fought on many issues and results will matter plenty for science and Horizon Europe. Eurosceptics are forecast to make major gains in the elections that could force the next Commission to prioritise issues such as protection, defence and borders over economic and social convergence. The clash of values will have ramifications for science and research funding. Researchers hope for a new Parliament that is willing to defend science against competing budget demands. Read the whole article HERE.

The Resources of R&I actors across the EU

The European Commission recently published a Staff Working Document (SWD) on Technology Infrastructures (8th April 2019) which follows an analysis of the EU investments done through various funding programmes. Most technology infrastructures rely upon a mix of private and public (national and EU) funding. Under Horizon 2020, the EU has invested some EUR 1.2 billion while the European Regional Development Fund is providing in the 2014-2020 programmes around EUR 16 billion. The SWD suggests that there is a “critical momentum to be more ambitious, exploring with relevant national and regional stakeholders a shared vision and jointly developing a European strategy for technology infrastructures to support industry scale-up and technology diffusion across Europe”. The documents shows an estimated breakdown of the EC contribution to projects supporting technology infrastructures, i.e. establishing upscaling, demonstration and validation facilities and services for SMEs and industry users.
  • EUR 545.6 million- Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
  • EUR 628.4 million- Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing (NMBP)
  • EUR 123 million – the PILOTS and Factories of the Future (FOF)
Click HERE for the full document. 


The future EU programme for 2021-2027

The European Parliament endorsed the provisional agreement on HORIZON EUROPE, the next EU research and innovation programme for the next period from 2021 to 2027. The adoption and proposed budged of €94.1 billion for R&D are subject of formal approval by new members of the European Parliament. HORIZON EUROPE will feature a Three-Pillar-Structure similar to Horizon 2020 with some changes to content and priorities to carry on making the difference in the society. Carlos Moedas the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation also expressed support for Horizon EU on his Twitter account saying that investing in research and innovation is investing in Europe’s future, in knowledge and new solutions to maintain and improve the European way of life. Click HERE for the full topic texts.
horizon EU.jpg

Enhanced user experience with the new AMIPLEXUS 3.1

A revamped AMIPLEXUS 3.1 was released in April 2019 with new features.
The New features include:

  • Word clouds – quickly visualize your text search results
  • Highlighting – see where your search terms popped up to easily confirm their relevance
  • Organization cooperation – assess cooperation links between selected organizations

While the Additional data for Horizon 2020 is as below:

  • Results in Brief, Summaries, Reports and Work Performed – further increasing the relevance of your text searches

Contact us for a free 15-min presentation or trial version, to discover how AMIPLEXUS can add value to your innovation-based decisions!

 

wordcloudh2020grey-720x544.jpg

OASIS H2020 project kicked-off

The OASIS project (Open Access Single entry point for scale-up of Innovative Smart lightweight composite materials and components) funded by the European Commission within its Horizon 2020 programme has officially kicked off! The consortium of 20 partners has met for the first time on 6th and 7th March in the premises of the project coordinator Tecnalia in Bilbao, Spain.

The OASIS project aims at fulfilling market potential of nano-enabled multifunctional lightweight products by:

  • Gathering the manufacturing capacity of 12 pilot lines from nanoparticles to final product.
  • Establishing a thorough service offer for associated technical & business development
  • Granting direct access to the whole ecosystem through a Single Entry Point, for easier access especially for SMEs.

Oriented towards enhanced polymer-matrix composites and aluminium, the pilot lines cover the whole manufacturing chain from nanoscale structures in unprocessed form, to intermediate products with nanoscale features and finally nano-enabled products. So, as to provide full support to interested companies, the new “Open Innovation Test Bed” will also offer complementary technical (modelling, characterization, toxicology, life cycle assessment) and non-technical services (business innovation coaching, business planning, access to private capital). These modular services will be provided to companies, particularly to SMEs, to gain access to unique facilities and knowledge without high capital investment. Such support is particularly needed at the crossroads between three KETs (nanotechnologies, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing and processes) and in an era of multifunctional products when wide scope of know-how is needed for pre-production or industrial low-medium volume production.

The project’s official kick-off meeting has set the plan for first actions to build this innovative ecosystem approach. Updated information about the project will be given at each stage through OASIS website.
​​​​​​​

OASIS_1.jpg
OASIS_2.jpg

Transparent and flexible – the new lightness of light

Ultra-thin, transparent and flexible – these are the attributes that distinguish the innovative OLED technology. Within the European research project PI-SCALE, with a total of 14 partners, the lighting experts of EMDE development of light act as so-called “launching customers”, i.e. as pilot customers. Together with renowned companies such as AUDI AG, Pilkington and REHAU, the experts contribute their know-how to adapting a pilot line under the LYTEUS branding to the needs of the market and customers. The aim is to make the innovative OLED lighting technology available to companies of any size in order to launch products quickly and cost-effectively. As an example of new possibilities in lighting design, EMDE development of light GmbH is presenting for the first time a prototype for a light art object at LOPEC in Munich (19 to 21 March 2019), which demonstrates the aesthetics and immaterial appeal of the latest OLED technology.
Colorloop_small-720x480.jpg
“COLORLOOP” prototype © EMDE development of light GmbH

The prototype with the name “COLORLOOP” was developed in close cooperation between the founder of the GmbH and artist Thomas Emde and his colleague, product designer Christoph Petersen. The comprehensive design concept can be seen in the object – it is both an aesthetic work of art and a smart, technologically highly innovative light object.
The EMDE development of light GmbH team has many years of experience with the new OLED light and developed the world’s first OLED luminaire series, which has been available on the market since autumn 2016 under its own OMLED brand. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can not only produce pleasantly warm and glare-free light, but can also be colorful, transparent and flexible. In order to demonstrate the almost infinite application potential of OLEDs, the interdisciplinary team of artists, designers and engineers developed a light object that playfully handles additive color mixing and the immaterial aesthetics of ultra-thin and flexible OLEDs.
Product designer Christoph Petersen of EMDE development of light about the motivation for developing the demonstrator: “Our goal is to show the variety of new applications with OLED light on an object with which the user can interact. Our light object “COLORLOOP” plays with the effect of additive color mixing by using magnetic contacting to arrange OLEDs in the three light colors red, yellow and blue differently on spring steel rings. The spring steel rings are used for electrical contacting and mechanical fixing as well as for shaping the flexible OLEDs. An advantage of the construction of the light object is the simple exchangeability of each OLED. “
Thomas Emde adds: “With “COLORLOOP” we want to present the new transparent light directly from the laboratory to the public and show application possibilities of OLED light for the design of space and atmosphere. We see new possibilities for using light as a design element for our living spaces in the immaterial appearance of transparent OLEDs and the lightness they bring. We at “COLORLOOP” are not primarily interested in a functional benefit, but rather in creating a special atmosphere by superimposing the various light colors.”
Together with research partner VTT from Finland, a battery-powered driver with programmable control was developed for the “COLORLOOP”. This means that the light object does not require a cable and different light scenes can be retrieved.
The transparent and flexible OLEDs come from the Fraunhofer FEP in Dresden. Their pilot and research lines for roll-to-roll and sheet-to-sheet production of OLEDs are currently the only ones in Europe on which this new technology can be manufactured. The teams from EMDE and Fraunhofer FEP want to work together in the future on challenges in the production and integration of OLEDs in various applications and are open to further development with partners of industry.
The prototype can be seen during LOPEC 2019, from 19 to 21 March 2019 at the ICM in Munich, at OE-A booth, stand no. 216 (hall B0). In addition, the design demonstrator by EMDE was submitted to this year’s OE-A Competition 2019.

Demonstrator Competition LOPEC 2019:

  • Stand: OE-A booth
  • Stand-No: 2016, Hall B0
  • Further information about the OE-A competition at LOPEC 2019: https://www.lopec.com/general/program/lopec-award/index.html
Colorloop_4_small.jpg
“COLORLOOP” prototype © EMDE development of light GmbH

 

The results were achieved on the joint pilot line service LYTEUS of the EU-funded PI-SCALE project and financed within the framework of the European Union’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 under grant agreement No. 688093.

Light from a roll – hybrid OLED creates innovative and functional luminous surfaces

Up to now, OLEDs have been used exclusively as a novel lighting technology for use in luminaires and lamps. However, flexible organic technology can offer much more: as an active lighting surface, it can be combined with a wide variety of materials, not just to modify but to revolutionize the functionality and design of countless existing products. To exemplify this, the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP together with the company EMDE development of light GmbH will be presenting hybrid flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLEDs) integrated into textile designs within the EU-funded project PI-SCALE for the first time at LOPEC (March 19-21, 2019 in Munich, Germany) as examples of some of the many possible applications.

The Fraunhofer FEP, a provider of research and development services in the field of organic electronics, has long been involved in the development of technologies and processes for organic electronics and component integration. The team at the design company of EMDE development of light GmbH also has many years of experience with the new organic light-emitting diode light (OLED), including development of the world’s first OLED luminaire series. OLEDs cannot only emit colored and wide area light, but they themselves are also extremely low-profile and flexible, allowing them to be integrated into many types and shapes of surfaces. They can be even be designed to be transparent and dimmable. To demonstrate the sheer endless potential for employing OLEDs, the designers at EMDE are now integrating flexible OLEDs for the first time into a motorcycle jacket. Used as a material for clothing, OLEDs not only can trigger completely new aesthetic trends, they can also provide active illumination instead of just limited reflectance. This enhanced visibility from all angles means the wearer can be seen more clearly, increasing rider safety.

This is made possible by fabricating the OLEDs on flexible substrates such as plastic films and connecting them to conductive threading for their supply of electrical power. Together with the HOLST Center in Eindhoven, the Fraunhofer FEP in Dresden, Germany, has now for the first time implemented an extended approach of the technology for the OLED on the joint pilot line service LYTEUS within the EU-funded project PI-SCALE – a hybrid OLED.

These new flexible luminous surfaces combine the advantages of printed and evaporated layers in one component. Specifically, the passivation layers, the metallization, and an organic layer were printed in a roll-to-roll process on barrier films from the HOLST Centre (Netherlands). All the subsequent layers required by the OLED were vapor-deposited at Fraunhofer FEP with the help of its R2R evaporation tool, which is unique worldwide. Optical output is very homogeneous thanks to printed metallization over the entire surface of the component.

Claudia Keibler-Willner, head of department at the Fraunhofer FEP, explains: “We have taken a major step forward in economical fabrication processes for OLEDs. The results are impressive: the OLED shines very uniformly. The use of the roll-to-roll process also promises considerable cost reductions for future components. By combining printed and vaporized layers, process throughput and production speed can be increased up to 100 times.”

Clear advantages for designers result – infinitely long materials with practically unrestricted dimensions and configurations can be created. The only limitation is the 30 cm roll width of the substrate material. Thomas Emde of EMDE development of light GmbH looks ahead: “We are very pleased to present a first design demonstrator using the hybrid OLEDs from the EU project PI-SCALE at LOPEC 2019. After examining the first samples, we decided on a prototype that would combine imagination with a practical application. We exhibit a few meters of the hybrid OLED in its raw form from the roll as a “pure” material component. Its transformation into a future product is illustrated through the example of our eyecatcher motorcycle jacket with luminous, integrated, flexible OLEDs. This will suggest the potential of OLEDs as an innovative surface material for interior design and product applications, fashion and textile designs, and architectural and signage uses.” 

The Fraunhofer FEP and EMDE teams want to tackle challenges of fabrication and integration of OLEDs with different surfaces jointly in the future and are open to further development projects with industrial partners.

The exhibits can be seen during LOPEC 2019 in Munich, Germany from March 19-21, 2019 at Hall B0, booth no. 407 of the Fraunhofer FEP and the OE-A competition area. In addition, the aforementioned design demonstrator from EMDE as well as other design kits from Fraunhofer FEP have been submitted to this year’s OE-A Competition.

Jacket.jpg

Prototypes of the Eyecatcher motorcycle jacket with luminous integrated flexible OLEDs at LOPEC 2019
© EMDE development of light GmbH

The results were achieved on the joint pilot line service LYTEUS of the EU-funded PI-SCALE project and financed within the framework of the European Union’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 under grant agreement No. 688093.

SmartEEs Open Call – 4 proposals selected for the 3rd cut-off date

AMIRES, the partner responsible for evaluation process of submitted application experiment proposals for SmartEEs Call for Application Experiments is proud to announce that 4 proposals have been selected to proceed with the contracting phase in the 3rd cut-off date. The projects are focused on integrating flexible electronics into advanced new products.

Altogether 26 proposals were received for this cut-off date, all of which were evaluated by the SmartEEs Evaluation Panel. The funding amount for each of the selected projects will be decided during the contracting phase.

If you would like to know more about the 3rd cut-off evaluation results, please click here.
​​​​​​​
If you are interested in SmartEEs funding opportunities, you can apply anytime until 20 September 2019. The next cut-off date for evaluations is 19 April 2019 (deadline: 17:00 CET).

Pilot line project lnPulse launches to give Europe edge in integrated photonics

The four-year project InPulse kicked off in Eindhoven on 23 January. It will offer new-entrant companies direct access to state-of-the-art manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) based on indium phosphide. This will enable the development of products for a wide range of new markets. 16 European partners have started InPulse to reduce barriers and accelerate development. They are backed by 14 million Euros of funding from the European Commission.

The pilot line will enable innovators to develop products fast, thus being able to focus on their products rather than the technologically complex task of fabrication. Currently there are only a handful of companies that can develop PIC-enabled products. They do this with their own in-house fabs (production lines), and a consequence is that start-ups with promising ideas have trouble entering the market. The InPulse manufacturing pilot line therefore enables new entrants to take their concepts from prototype to pilot production on industry tools and processes. InPulse connects the design process to manufacturing, testing and packaging to streamline the development cycle for businesses who do not own a fabrication plant or have production knowledge.
The project partners of InPulse will create manufacturing-grade process design kits that will be the automated intermediary between the design, production and testing. The separation of design and fabrication process know-how enables newcomers to avoid the prohibitive investment overheads in PIC fabrication technology.
InPulse will use closely aligned methods that scale in volume and that focus on accelerating the design cycle, creating more accurate and predictable design tools, manufacturing and high-throughput testing. The project builds on the pioneering work of the Joint European Platform for Photonic Integration of Components and Circuits (JePPIX.eu), which is already offering PIC prototyping services. InPulse enables the transition to manufacturing.

The first phase of work will focus on making the technology more robust and on putting in place the business processes for accelerated development programs. In the second stage of the project some thirty new products will be developed to demonstrate the pilot line capability. For this phase the project consortium is looking for additional companies and designers that want to take their ideas and designs to pre-production.

The project partners of InPulse are the Eindhoven University of Technology, AMIRES, Aarhus University, Bright Photonics, European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC), ficonTEC Service, Fraunhofer HHI, III-V Lab, Mellanox Technologies, Photon Design, Synopsys, SMART Photonics, Technobis Fibre Technologies, Tyndall National Institute, VLC Photonics and VPIphotonics.

InPulse.png
4Y3A3985-1440x960.JPG

The project is supported by the European Commission, the Photonics21 Public Private Partnership (PPP), and the PhotonDelta integrated photonics eco-system. InPulse builds on JePPIX technology. The European Commission has defined photonics as one of the six key enabling technologies of Europe. More information is available here

Flexible OLED panels open up new opportunities for product packaging

Bright eye-catching packaging helps products stand out on the shelf. With OLED lighting, products can stand out even more and have the potential to add even more features to product packaging. In the case of the Lyteus bottle label, a flexible OLED panel embedded in the paper label lights up to show the logo.

The Lyteus label features a rectangular OLED panel integrated into the label, which shines through a printed cut-out in the paper label to display the logo. However, the OLEDs can be printed to produce any shape or colour. And highlighting the product brand or catching the attention of passing shoppers is just one possible application. They could also be used to highlight specific product details, such as a drink’s flavour or colour, or to provide additional information.
Integrating sensors into the packaging further extends the possible uses, opening up a whole new range of opportunities. For example, the package could light up only when touched or when the product was opened, the OLEDs could flash in time to music or light up to warn that the contents were hot.
The OLED panels are incredibly thin, just 330 µm thick, making them ideal for embedding into paper labels. They are also very flexible, so can be easily bent for curved objects like a bottle or cup. Currently, production of the OLED labels is based on a sheet-to-sheet process. For mass manufacturing for labels, the process needs to be scaled up to be able to produce large numbers of labels consistently. Therefore, Holst Centre is developing a roll-to-roll pilot production process to address the challenges of producing OLED labels in large quantities.
“We are seeing a lot of interest from the packaging market for OLED labels”, said Erno Langedijk, Business Development & Program Manager at Holst Centre. “Currently we are working towards the launch of a roll-to-roll pilot line for OLED labels, which will be needed by the industry to print the necessary volumes of labels for mass production.”
Holst Centre is also working to further develop the technology for labels. For example, the current implementation still needs wires and a cell battery. These could be replaced in the future with flat, flexible batteries or even flexible wireless charging coils. And it may eventually be possible to integrate flexible OLED displays, providing even more possibilities for attracting and informing customers about products.
For manufacturers interested in the technology, Holst Centre offers three test kits. The Starter kit includes some sample basic OLEDs panels, the Standard kit includes a wider range of shapes and colours, and the Premium kit is customized to the customer’s specific needs with OLEDs in any shape or colour.

copyright Lyteus_Bottle with OLED printed label


​​​​​​​European pilot line PI-SCALE, branded as Lyteus, brings together leaders in OLED technology from across Europe to create a pilot production line and product development services for OLED products. Lyteus is an initiative of the Photonics Public Private Partnership co-founded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 688093 (project PI-SCALE).

Ready, set, go! Smart2Go project left the starting blocks!

The Smart2Go project, officially started on 1st January 2019, organized its first meeting on 14-15 January 2019 in Dresden (Germany) at the Fraunhofer FEP Institute. Smart2Go is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme aiming at the development of an autonomous energy-supply platform. Based on the results of the project it will be possible to use a wearable without caring about recharging over its entire lifetime. More information about the project can be found at www.smart2go-project.eu (full version available in April 2019).

Smart2Go_Group photo-1440x1578.jpg

During the meeting, 9 EU innovation performers (researchers and companies) involved in flexible electronics and energy scavenging and storage and 2 industries with very challenging product use cases discussed the work plan for the development of materials and components to be integrated in the energy storage and harvesting system. External experts in the field of standards for printed electronics, flexible electronics based products and R2R coating, printing and laminating processes also participated to the meeting. 

Smart2Go project has a duration of 36 months, please, stay updated about the upcoming project results!

SABINA project developed its first training tutorials

SABINA is an EU funded H2020 research and innovation project that aims to develop new technology and financial models to connect, control and actively manage generation and storage assets to exploit synergies between electrical flexibility and the thermal inertia of buildings. Besides the R&D progress, the important aspects for the SABINA consortium are training activities, as well-educated professionals in the domain of energy efficiency are a prerequisite for a successful and effective energy management. The SABINA training activities will be realized through tutorials, practical training and summer school that will be organized at the end of the project.
After two years of its running, SABINA team prepared a first package of tutorials, giving general introduction into SABINA project and overview of the topics that the team have worked on up to now, e.g. modelling for thermal mass exploitation, model predictive control at the building level or novel generation of RTU. The tutorials are available as an on-line presentation on following link.
In the future when the tutorials content will be turned into practical workshops, it will be further specified based on the targeted audience of the trainings.

European Parliament Supports €120 B EU Research Budget

The European Parliament officialy approved budget for the upcoming EU research and development framework programme Horizon Europe. Not only it approved the €94.1 billion proposition made by the European Commission, it even called for an increase to €120 billion. Even though some member states led by the Netherlands have already expressed their disagreement with such tremendous budgetary increase, this vote has been an important milestone in moving towards the next reserach framework programme.

The legislation adopted by Parliament does not cover the precise terms for grant applications under Horizon Europe; that will come later from the Commission. The current rules have been criticised for being too bureaucratic, and there is a concern that the next set could be even worse. Another concern is the budget for agriculture research. There is a proportionate cut in terms of agriculture, food and natural resources from the Commission’s 10.6 per cent (of the Horizon Europe budget) to 9 per cent, at a time when there are huge challenges for the agricultural sector in meeting the needs of food security and emissions reduction in line with the Paris agreement. This topic is likely to be a subject of further discussion.

MANUELA Additive Manufacturing using Metal Pilot Line Project kicked-off

MANUELA project has been officially launched on 1st October 2018 and will last for four years until September 2022. Partners of the consortium met for the first time in Brussels, Belgium during the project´s kick-off meeting that was organized on 25-26 October 2018. Relying on two major Additive Manufacturing technologies (LPBF: Laser Powder Bed Fusion and EBM: Electron Beam Melting), MANUELA aims at deploying an open-access pilot line facility, covering the whole production sequence, to show full potential of metal AM for industrial AM production.

At first, careful instrumentation and adaptation of LPBF & EBM machines will allow increased process reliability and speed. Secondly, the pilot line – including the adapted processes – will be deployed. The hardware layer will integrate novel process quality control monitoring and automated post-AM handling and processing. The line will be fed by design/optimization and AM process simulation workshops. Those workshops will collect continuous feedback from the physical parts of the pilot lines, to increase process reliability and robustness. MANUELA relies on a consortium composed of industrial end user’s, suppliers, (material/powder, AM hardware, quality monitoring system, software, automation and post-AM treatment) as well as top research institutes in powderbed metal-AM, covering full range of AM technology chain for pilot line deployment. The deployed pilot line will be validated with use cases, covering wide span of applications including automotive, aerospace, energy and medical.

New Funding & Tenders Portal by EC

The Participant Portal which was used as a communication tool of European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme has been replaced by recently introduced Funding & Tenders Portal. The aim of the new Portal is to host all centrally managed EU programmes in one location. Moreover, the Portal will serve as a central depository of calls for tenders and the related procurement contracts. The current users of the Participant Portal will be able to transfer using their current log-in credentials. As of end of November, users accessing the Participant Portal will be automatically redirected to the new portal. Very soon later, the old portal will be switched off. Click HERE for details.

EffiBUILDING presented as dissemination and exploitation platform at the ECTP Conference

Our database for the energy efficiency solutions for buildings have been presented to the ECTP conference on the 13th and 14th November in Brussels.

More than 170 stakeholders from the whole construction value-chain and representatives of the European Commission shared their experience and discussed how the EU construction industry is shaping a high-tech Sustainable Built Environment.

EffiBUILDING was presented as a platform to disseminate and exploit the project results, together with the best case of our Member GOLD Q-Air from Trimo Group, attracting many questions and excellent inputs from the conference audience. Presentation is available for download here.

SOLWATT, winner of the Quality Innovation Award

SOLWATT project has been selected as the winner in the national phase of the Quality Innovation Award in the Potential Innovations category. The jury highlighted that the project meets the five characteristics that were valued: novelty, usefulness, learning, customer orientation and effectiveness. The award was delivered on Tuesday, November 27, at a ceremony held in the auditorium of CSIC, in Madrid, with the presence of several authorities.
The National Association of Centers of Excellence-CEX has recognized eight Spanish organizations in the national phase of the Quality Innovation Award, QIA, a competition created in 2007 by Excellence Finland to promote innovative projects in companies and organizations, share experiences and give local and international recognition to the best ones, with the ultimate goal of increasing the competitiveness of companies and the participating countries. The other organizations awarded in the other categories were Biocurve, AMADIX, the Royal Academy of History, the consortium of Teruel Airport, Ficosterra, Qualityfry and Textil Santanderina. These eight organizations will compete on February 27 in Beijing to win the international prize in the categories in which they participate.

TSK-720x479.jpg
Foto Grupo galardonados Premios QIA-720x479.JPG

IndTech 2018 Takeaways

INDTECH2018, an event of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, combined workshops, keynote presentations, talks, matchmaking and exhibition. 12 pre-conference workshops were organized presenting results from EU funded projects and clustering initiatives dealing with batteries, photonics, characterization techniques, advanced materials, safety aspects and Life Cycle Assessment.

Most of the presentations of the conference were focused on the results from the consultation between the European Commission and large industries and how their requirements are reflected into the upcoming H2020 calls. Some aspects were highlighted several times during the event: 1) the required interconnection amongst the different European platforms and pilotlines and 2) the importance of data sharing for the definition of common standards and interfaces. Automation in manufacturing processes and sustainability of the developed technologies were also discussed. During the Medical Technologies session, digitization was pointed out as the current main driver of the industry.

In AMIRES booth, which was a part of the event’s exhibition, the various industrial technologies stakeholders were able to find how they can better benefit from the European research and innovation ecosystem. Examples inlcude:

  • Universities, RTOs and companies can increase their chances in winning Horizon 2020 funding, find the right partnrs for innovation, follow the latest technology trends and benchmark their performance via AMIplexus cooperation visualizaiton tool 
  • SMEs can innovate their product portfolio by digitization, adopting flexible electronics with the help of SmartEEs European accelleration program for integration of flexible electronics technologies into novel products and apply for the call for applications
  • Companies can explore new lighting applications with help of Lyteus European pilot line for flexible OLEDs
  • Companies can ask InScope pilot line for a help with integration of Hybrid TOLAE (H-TOLAE) technologies in the automotive, healthcare, smart packaging and building sectors

IMG_0639-720x540.jpg
5c270726-00e1-462a-b910-f2d21d298c67-720x540.JPG
IMG_0638-720x540.jpg

Release of AMIPLEXUS Version 3: the innovation data intelligence tool

AMIPLEXUS is a tool for project coordinators, group leaders, technology scouts, advisers, and coaches who want to:

Be more successful in Horizon 2020
Find the best partners for innovation
Follow the latest technology trends
Benchmark your performance

AMIPLEXUS version 3 has been released as part of our commitment to continuously provide better and more efficient user experience. The new platform is more user friendly and intuitive; in addition to the previously available semantic based text search and network visualisation showing collaborations and ecosystems of organisations.

The new features in the versions 3 include:

  • Faster Loading
  • Faster Searches
  • More user friendly and intuitive user interface
  • Data analysis of funding data through interactive and downloadable graphs
    These graphs allow the user to visualize the funding trends for various technological areas as by way of analytical visualization in terms of interactive and downloadable graphs for the number of projects, type of funding schemes, and funding cost corresponding to the search criteria. The graphs also allow the comparison of the participation potential of different organizations in H2020 and FP7 programmes.

 

graphs.jpg
  • Geolocation of relevant organizations through interactive and downloadable maps
    When searching using different criteria, the interactive maps display the geographical locations of the related organisations on an interactive map for the H2020, FP7, Eureka and Eurostars programmes.
map.jpg
  • Data filtering through interactive and downloadable data tables
    The data tables are interactive and downloadable and contain pertinent information about organisations in H2020, FP7, Eurostar and Eureka programmes that are related to the search criteria. The user can further search and filter within the tables to obtain a specific set of  relevant information.
datatable.jpg
To gain a competitive edge, the rapid processing of available data and timely extraction of insightful information, contact us for a free 15-min presentation to discover the value for your innovation-based decisions!

SmartEEs Open Call – 3 proposals selected for the 2nd cut-off date

AMIRES, the partner responsible for evaluation process of submitted application experiment proposals for SmartEEs Call for Application Experiment, is proud to announce that 3 proposals have been selected to proceed with the contracting phase in the 2nd cut-off date. The selected companies come from France and their projects will be focused on integrating flexible electronics into wooden sports equipment, car wooden dashboard, and flexible tags for asset management and tracking.

Altogether, 18 proposals were received for this cut-off date and they were all evaluated by the SmartEEs Evaluation Panel. The funding amount for each of the selected projects will be decided during the contracting phase.

If you would like to know more about the 2nd cut-off evaluation results and about the selected application experiments, please click here.

If you are a start-up, an SME or a Mid-cap and if you have an idea of how to integrate flexible electronics technologies provided by SmartEEs consortium into novel end-products, you can still apply until the expiry of the 3rd cut-off date – 16 November.

Approaches To Smart Packaging

The second InSCOPE workshop “Embracing Opportunities in Smart Packaging” was held at CPI premises, Darlington, the UK on 26th September 2018. The event featured a series of presentations from industry experts in hybrid and embedded printable electronics, discussions, networking and a tour of CPI’s newly expanded printable electronics scale-up facility. InSCOPE presented their findings and opportunities of a pilot line service to advance the accuracy and reliability for hybrid printable electronics and discuss the pharma approach to smart packaging.There were a number of drivers discussed, which included:

Picture1.jpg​​​​​​​
  • Diabetes – there’s a significant rise in the number of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes that need constant support in order to manage their conditions. This is an opportunity for lightweight wearables/tags and sensing systems. There are opportunities for development of smart wearable (potentially transdermal) patches that can
    1. Measure levels of glucose or other biomarkers in sweat/blood
    2. Measure levels of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API – potentially insulin) in the patch
    3. Deliver medication/API to the body as part of a feedback loop

  • Poor patient adherence/compliance – the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) estimates that long term adherence to medication is as low as 50%. There’s a significant opportunity for smart packaging solutions to support an improvement in this.

  • Crowded market for direct mail – there is currently no way to understand if a directto-home mailing has been opened/read. Interacting with a smartphone could give usage statistics or lights or ‘bling’ could make the mailing look more attractive and increase customer interaction probabilities. Note that cost/price of the electronics needs to be low here, although there is a discussion to be had on price versus value to the customer carrying out the mailing. The ELEP envelope case was specifically discussed.

  • End of life/sustainability – there’s a Worldwide drive to reduce waste, including plastics. This presents opportunities for reuse of packaging and using electronics to identify materials as they go into waste streams, this could enhance recyclability.

In order to realise smart packaging and printable electronic solutions InSCOPE has a significant capability set (seen by workshop participants on the 26th September 2018) ranging from:

  1. Test and validation of printed electronic materials – this includes inks (for sensing, conductivity, antennas etc), adhesives, active substrates etc.
  2. Process design, development scale up and test of printed electronic components – including antennas, sensors, communication etc
  3. Product and process design, development scale up and test of flexible hybrid electronic sub-systems and devices – such as smart packaging, smart tags, labels, wearables etc

The InSCOPE project is particularly keen to talk to organisations interested in the development of smart packaging in order to support process and device development as well as scaling up to market seeding volumes.

Rudolf Fryček, CEO of AMIRES, on Integration of Flexible Electronics Technologies into Novel Produts

 

Dr. Rudolf Fryček, CEO of AMIRES, has provided an interview to the SmartEEs Horizon 2020 project, an original European acceleration program dedicated to help innovative companies to access new markets and grow their business in adopting flexible electronics in new products lines. Within SmartEEs, AMIRES not only provides a support to the coordinator with management and coordination of the project, but has also been responsible for the evaluation process of submitted proposals for the Call for Application Experiments (AEs). In addition, AMIRES has been tasked with setting up and management of a Helpdesk for the entire duration of the Call. Finally, AMIRES is also involved in procedures setting and appropriate templates definition for all the above-mentioned tasks.

Click HERE and find out more about the Call for Application Experiments, the Helpdesk, the evaluation process and more.

Widening Actions in Horizon Europe

In preparation of the upcoming Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, the European Commission has published a report titled “Review of Issues Related to Methods, Criteria and Indicators for Widening Actions“. The report provides recommendations for selection of criteria and indicators that might be used to define targets for future “Widening Actions” designed to address inequality in research and innovation performance across EU Member States.

The assessment indicates that there are advantages and disadvantages to all potential indicators and that no single indicator adequately captures all aspects of the research and innovation process. Existing composite indicators could be adopted, but there are disadvantages in terms of complexity, timeliness and the ease with which these indicators can be reproduced. An alternative approach to combining indicators is proposed based on “filtering” Member States using their ranking on three selected variables:

  • Economic status – GDP per head
  • Research performance – % of scientific publications in the top 10% citations
  • Innovation performance – Number of PCT Patent applications per million population

The report recommends that the Commission considers further the merits of a “filtering” approach based on the three shortlisted variables. Click HERE to access the report.

Discover how magicians (EU researchers) fight evil (cancer) in the ULTRAPLACAD project video!

Discover how magicians (EU researchers) fight evil (cancer) in the ULTRAPLACAD project video!
Cancer is a leading cause of death in Europe. The video is describing, in a simple way, the ULTRAPLACAD approach for early diagnosis of cancer through detection of biomarkers circulating in blood (liquid biopsy), thus reducing invasive procedures. The development of the ULTRAPLACAD platform enables a broad range of clinical applications and is therefore a step to saving thousands of lives.

Great success for the Workshop WASCOP Water Consumption Management in CSP Plants at SolarPaces 2018

141 total registrations and more than 50 external participants are the numbers of the WASCOP Water Consumption Management in CSP Plants at SolarPaces2018. For the first time, SolarPaces included the topic of the Water Consumption Management in the conference and WASCOP Consortium, together with the sister projects SOLWATT and MinWaterCSP, has contributed to provide solutions to the needs of the CSP community in the topic. CSP Industrial stakeholders, policy makers, researchers and students, have discussed with a range panel of experts about the proposed cooling and cleaning solutions. A huge thanks to MASEN (Co-organiser) and SolarPaces committee for the support to achieve this great result!

MOSAIC concept presented at SolarPaces2018

Cristobal Villasante has presented at the SolarPaces2018 the MOSAIC concept through the oral presentation “MOSAIC, a new CSP plant concept for the highest concentration ratios at the lowest cost” (IK4-TEKNIKER and CENER) in the Central Receivers System session. A large and interested audience has shown his interest and curiosity to the concept. Furthermore, the poster “Analysis of convective heat losses for a solar bowl helical receiver” from POLITO, CENER, and IK4-TEKNIKER, has been published in the poster session of the conference. Both publications will become the official reference material course of MOSAIC, which it will be updated during the project lifespan.

AMIplexus Façade Technology Analysis

Introduction

Research and developmental efforts have been engaged in the race to develop zero energy and carbon free buildings in European cities. Due to the dual impact on both visual aesthetics and energy efficiency, façade technologies have naturally been a point of increasing interest within the Horizon 2020 framework, predominantly in the Innovation Action (IA) and Research and Innovation Action (RIA) sectors. Current technologies under study in H2020 include fluid flow glazing and multifunctional ventilated façades, HVAC and ICT systems, integrated PV and, solid-state perovskite solar cells. Other areas of research are focused on the development of novel biopolymer and composite materials, as well as the establishment of an eco-friendly, efficient manufacturing method for mass production.

Research Focus

Research projects within H2020 have been targeted towards the market introduction and acceptance of an end-product, materials and/or manufacturing process that defines the perfect balance between energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, safety, comfort and cost. Additional desirable properties that would set the standard for future state-of-the-art façade technologies include lighweightness, reduced CO2 emissions, adaptability, high performance insulation, low intrusiveness, reliability and durability. The complete market penetration of these products is, however, currently hindered by limitations such as bulkiness, high costs and insufficient thermal energy conversion efficiency. While the focus is mainly on the development of novel technologies, a few of the projects (e.g. LaWin) plan on developing their products based on already existing platforms to enable rapid market access.
As shown in Figure 1, the largest number of façade technologies projects to have received funding were within the IA and RIA schemes suggesting a clear interest in the advancement of already mature technologies. Expectedly, the largest investments made by the European Union were received by these projects, with only relatively low funds reaching CSA and MSCA initiatives.

H2020 Projects Facade Funding Scheme.jpg
Figure 1. Number of Horizon2020 Projects on Facade Technologies within each Funding Scheme

Key players in this technological area are: FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV (Research organisation, Germany), ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE (Higher Education Institution, Switzerland), Rina Consulting S.P.A. (Private for profit organisation, Italy), NEDERLANDSE ORGANISATIE VOOR TOEGEPAST NATUURWETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK TNO (Research Organisation, Netherlands), FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION (Research organisation, Spain), FUNDACION CARTIF (Research organisation , Spain), YOURISCOM (Brussels), ACCIONA CONSTRUCCION SA (Private for profit organisation, Spain), ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO (Research organisation, Italy), AGENCIA DE L’HABITATGE DE CATALUNYA (Public body, Spain), SISTEMES AVANCATS DE ENERGIA SOLAR TERMICA SCCL – AIGUASOL (Private for profit organisation, Spain)

Ongoing projects in this technological field:

  • TRACKWAY
  • InDeWaG
  • GOTSolar
  • PoLaRoll
  • Q-Air
  • ESPResSo
  • BRESAER
  • BuildHEAT
  • ABRACADABRA
  • GELCLAD
  • 4RinEU
  • Envision
  • PLUG-N-HARVEST

Past projects in this technological field:

  • LaWin
  • E2VENT

 

SmartEEs 2nd cut-off evaluation process ongoing

The 2nd cut-off for submission of application experiment proposals expired on 20 July, and the evaluation process of submitted proposals is still ongoing. Stay tuned for more information about the results of the selection process which will soon be published here.

If you are a start-up, an SME or a Mid-cap and if you have an idea of how to integrate flexible electronics technologies provided by SmartEEs consortium into novel end-products, you can still apply until the expiry of the 3rd cut-off date – 16 November. Please note that SmartEEs will not support the development of your technologies or research activities, but the integration of existing technologies of involved research teams (RTOs), as described in the Marketplace, into your end-products.

Good luck!

MEDILIGHT Final Press Release

MEDILIGHT project, which developed a smart light system for treatment for wound healing has come to its end. Following the final event, which took place on 2 July 2018, at the premises of Laboratories URGO in Dijon, the project published its final press release.  In the document, you can find out how light can be used to improve healing and about the novel solution for the treatment of chronic wounds, which was developed within the scope of the MEDILIGHT project.  Click HERE and enjoy the reading!
​​​​​​​

MEDILIGHT graphics 2017.png-1440x855

Update on UK participation to H2020

Yesterday, the government of the United Kingdom has released a technical notice, providing more details to the UK participants to H2020 on terms of the current participation and the continued support to research and innovation by UK government. By extending the underwrite guarantee, the eligibility of UK researchers and businesses to participate in Horizon 2020 will remain unchanged for the remaining duration of the programme. This is set out in the Financial Provisions of the draft Withdrawal Agreement, which has been agreed by both UK and Commission negotiators and welcomed by the other 27 EU countries at March European Council. Moreover, the government states that as a responsible government it needs to plan for every eventuality to ensure that cross-border collaboration in science and innovation can continue after EU exit.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has been chosen to manage the underwrite delivery. In the first instance, UK recipients of Horizon 2020 funding will be invited by UKRI to register their details on a dedicated portal on the GOV.uk website expected to go live in the autumn. The portal is designed to ensure that UKRI has initial information about projects and participants in order to keep researchers and businesses informed of the next steps regarding the implementation of underwrite payments, should they be required.

More information on the extension of the underwrite guarantee can be found HERE.

Micro-Nano-Bio Systems State of Play in EU

A report on the 11th Annual Concentration and Consultation Workshop on Micro-Nano-Bio-Systems (MNBS2017) has been released! The report covers the state of play of EU-funded Micro-Nano-Bio-Systems cluster, which unites EU funded projects covering research, development and system integration across technologies such as microelectronics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, biomaterials, and ICT.  During MNBS207, AMIRES presented planned development and commercialization of the Horizon 2020 funded MEDILIGHT project technology for a healing of chronic wounds and also contributed to the definition of recommendations on how to address the main identified challenges in advancing MNBS technologies.

Click HERE to access the report.

Update of H2020 Annotated Model Grant Agreement

As of 3 July 2018, the European Commission has released an updated version of Horizon 2020 Programme Annotated Model Grant Agreement (AGA) (i.e. version 5.0). The changes concern: (1) new presentation of calculations for payments and recoveries, (2) updates due to the adoption of the Guide on grant reductions, (3) annotations on the new Lump Sum Pilot model grant agreement (4) annotations on the new MSCA Special Needs model grant agreement, and other. To access the updated AGA version, please click HERE.

UK and Swiss access to Horizon Europe

In an attempt to enable UK entities participation in the upcoming Horizon Europe programme, the European Commission has set up conditions, which open up the possibility for so called neighbour countries and countries outside the Europe to get an associate membership to the programme. Such status would enable them to take part in EU research under the same conditions as the member states. The legal text is written such, that it allows the European Commission to limit an access of these countries (incl. UK or Switzerland) to only certain parts of the programme. The text proposes to give the EU a right to exclude countries from specific parts of the programme if their involvement would risk undermining the core goal of “driving economic growth in the Union through innovation”.

Until now, associate status granted a country full access to the EU research framework by default. This will not change for countries in the European Economic Area – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Canada is the only third coutry, which until now showed a serious interest in the associated country status.  According to first indications, Switzerland is expected to retain a full access to the programme.

shutterstock_443649958.jpg-720x405

Concentrated solar power projects within Horizon 2020

Concentrated solar power utilizes mirrors and reflective surfaces to reflect and concentrate a large amount of sunlight and solar thermal energy and convert it to heat which is in turn used to drive turbines or generators for power production.

In H2020, most of the CSP-related projects are funded within the Research and Innovation Action scheme-RIA (7 projects) and Innovation Action -IA (8 projects) scheme as shown below. This is an indication that major efforts are focused on the advancement of mature technologies. Similarly, a greater proportion of the funding from European Union is directed towards the RIA (35,352,997 €) and IA (55,148,454 €) projects. Other projects with relatively lower funding, are based on knowledge transfer within the Marie Curie Scheme and innovation support among small enterprises within the SME schemes.

number.png-720x439
funding.png-720x480

Research efforts within the H2020 framework are aimed at ensuring that CSP becomes more competitive and acceptable in the power-production market through costs reductions and use of innovative materials. To reduce costs, CSP plants are considering plant automation and optimization through machine learning for smart weather forecasting and power dispatch and reduction of water consumption in CSP plants through minimizing water evaporation losses and decreasing the amount of water used for mirror cleaning.

Innovative materials with high reflective capacities are being developed and include protective and anti-soiling coatings of primary reflectors, high-reflective surfaces for heliostats, high-temperature secondary reflectors, receiver coatings for solar towers and line-focus collectors. Materials being developed for thermal storage include corrosion resistant high-temperature metals and coatings for steam and molten salts as well as high thermal performance concrete.

In the H2020 funded projects, the key companies which are active in this technological area are Amires s.r.o (Czech Republic), Laterizi Gambettola SRL (Italy), General Electric Switzerland GMBH (SWITZERLAND), Alstom Power Systems (France), SBP Sonne GMBH (Germany), and Enerray SPA (Italy). Other major entities include CEA (France), Fraunhofer (Germany), Moroccan Agency For Solar Energy SA (Morocco), IRESEN (Morocco), CICe (Spain), CIEMAT (Spain), Electricite de France (France), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), University of Évora (Portugal), Cranfield University (UK), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), ENEA (Italy), Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Real Instituto Elcano (Spain), and CSIC (Spain). The ecosystem of the organizations, institutions, and companies that are actively involved in the CSP projects within the H2020 framework is as shown in the visualization below:

For more insights from AMIPLEXUS Platform on Horizon 2020, FP7, Eureka, and Eurostars programmes, kindly contact John Kennedy Mwangi.

SmartEEs Open Call – 3 proposals selected for the 1st cut-off date

AMIRES, the partner responsible for evaluation process of submitted application experiment proposals for SmartEEs Call for Application Experiment, is proud to announce that 3 proposals have been selected to proceed with the contracting phase in the 1st cut-off date. The projects are focused on integrating flexible electronics into advanced new products.

Altogether, 19 proposals were received for this cut-off date, 18 of which were evaluated by the SmartEEs Evaluation Panel. The funding amount for each of the selected projects will be decided during the contracting phase.

If you would like to know more about the 1st cut-off evaluation results, please check the Public evaluation report form SmartEEs website.

Opportunities to develop and improve your research and digital skills in AMIRES

Two funded schemes are available to boost the research and digital skills of students or young professionals.

Marie Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF-2018) for companies is a new Horizon 2020 opportunity which allows companies to hire qualified researchers at “post-doctoral” level (Ph.D. or master and at least 4 years full-time research experience) for a maximum of 2 years to work on a “bottom-up” (self-chosen) research project. More information about the Marie Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF-2018) for companies is available here.

Furthermore, The EU Commission has developed a specific traineeship scheme to strength ICT specific skills, in fields like cybersecurity, big data, quantum technology and machine learning or boost digital skills for business in areas like web design, digital marketing, and software development. The pilot project will be financed by Horizon 2020 and implemented through Erasmus+. The Digital Opportunity traineeship initiative will start in June 2018 and more all companies are welcome to offer digital traineeships, in particular, those involved in the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition and businesses active in Horizon 2020.

AMIRES offers the opportunities to host talented researchers and students through these innovative schemes to work on data for innovation. If you believe you can make the difference and you are motivated to join our team, please contact us at bajarova@amires.eu.

AMIRES connections for industrially relevant & innovative projects for a better future

AMIRES is a management consulting company for both H2020 and FP7 projects. AMIRES s.r.o branch based in Prague, Czech Republic, is involved in WASCOP, ULTRAPLACAD, MEDILIGHT, PI-SCALE, MOSAIC, SABINA, InSCOPE and SmartEEs projects within the H2020 framework. In the FP7 it was participating in the AMBASSADOR, FLUIDGLASS, TRIBUTE and LASSIE-FP7 projects. The Neuchatel (Switzerland) based branch, AMIRES Sàrl, was involved in UnivSEM, and iONE-FP7 projects.
Collectively, AMIRES s.r.o and AMIRES Sàrl have partnered with over 120 unique partners in these projects. The visualization below illustrates these connections (magenta lines and red dots for AMIRES s.r.o, green lines and blue dots for AMIRES sarl). AMIRES partners are mostly concentrated in the industrial regions of Germany and Austria, UK, the Basque region of Spain, northern Italy, Switzerland and the Benelux countries.
Besides the project partners, AMIRES is also very active in SME coaching and SME Instrument proposals preparation and, thus, is connected to a wide network of SMEs. Recent examples include Pi Lighting, which got SME Phase 1 Seal of Excellence and now plan to demonstrate their Li-Fi system (click HERE for a video in French) or Swiss Advanced Vision, which is now looking for investors as they plan to disrupt the global intraocular lens (IOL) market with their active Intraocular Lens Concept with Real-Time Autofocus for Cataract Surgery (click HERE for details).
amiconnections2.png
amiconnection1.png

€94.1B budget proposed for Horizon Europe

Today, the European Commission has released its €94.1 billion budget proposition for Horizon Europe, an upcoming seven-year research programme, which was labeled the EU’s ‘most ambitious ever’. If approved, this would constitute a €17.1 billion increase compared to the current popular and oversubscribed Horizon 2020 framework programme. The biggest share of funding, namely €52.7 billion, will be allocated to pillar two – global challenges and industrial competitiveness. Within this pillar, the following clusters were defined:

  1. Health – €7.7 billion
  2. Inclusive and secure societies – €2.8 billion
  3. Digital and industry – €15 billion
  4. Climate, energy, and mobility – €15 billion
  5. Food and natural resources – €10 billion

The plan is to increase the ERC budget to €3.6 billion and support the open innovation (including the European Innovation Council) with a total of €13.5 billion. Money for countries that lag behind the highest performing states will now be allocated to “strengthening European Reseach Area”, which is expected to be supported with €2.1 billion, namely €1.7 billion are planned to go to sharing excellence actions and €400 million to reforming and enhancing the European R&I system.

Planned novelties of Horizon Europe are for example moonshot missions and new rules to ease foreign access. In addition to Horizon Europe, the Commission plans a separate budget line of €4.1 billion for defense research.  Despite the proposed budgetary increase compared to Horizon 2020, the application success rates that are currently about 11,9% under Horizon 2020 might not improve, mainly due to the cuts of research funding at national levels and stimulation of higher numbers of applicants, Jean-Eric Paquet, director general for research and innovation at the Commission warned.

More information about the proposal for upcoming Horizon Europe can be found HERE.

SOLWATT project has been launched

SOLWATT project has been launched on 1st May 2018 and will last for four years until April 2022.

SOLWATT targets to significantly reduce the water used by CSP plants (by 35% for wet cooled & by 90% for dry cooled). The project proposes to demonstrate the efficiency of innovations on solar field cleaning, power-block cooling, water recycling system, and plant operation strategy. Among these are solutions to reduce solar field water cleaning needs, an operation and maintenance optimizer software including soiling forecaster, a MEE water recovery technology running on otherwise dumped heat from the solar field, and a cooling concept for the turbine condenser storing excess heat when ambient is too warm, then releasing it during cool night times.
The solutions will be implemented at two CSP operational sites, “La Africana” parabolic trough plant in Spain and “Ashalim” central receiver plant in Israel, to demonstrate significant reduction in water use while making CSP more cost effective and achieving near-to-market status. The solutions are best applied together, but each will also bring water and cost savings on its own, thanks to their ability to fit any kind of CSP plant; dry, wet, or hybrid cooled, existing or future ones, tailored to location and policy framework. Their application will save more than 0.5 M€/year of operational cost for a 50 MW CSP plant.
Regarding competition on water resources and humanitarian issues, the social acceptance of CSP will be increased by detailed analysis of case studies and education of local population to the benefits of solar energy.
The targeted savings of water and operation costs will increase CSP’s competitiveness compared to other renewable energy and the electricity market in general, as well as its acceptance within local communities, achieving a big step forward in the SET plan goals for CSP technology by 2020. The consortium, led by TSK Electrónica y Electricidad S.A. (Spain), is made up of 13 partners from 6 European countries plus Israel, including 5 industrials partners, 2 SMEs, 5 RTOs and one University.

More information about the project can be found HERE.
SOLWATT consortium

InSCOPE showcases interactive media surface panel for KONE Corporation

Funded by the EU, the InSCOPE project provides an open-access pilot line service that promotes innovation in printed electronics. For the pilot line’s first showcase, the InSCOPE team successfully integrated sensing, lighting and haptic (touch) feedback functionalities to create an interactive media surface panel for the Kone Corporation. Consisting of a smart LED media grid, the showcase panel is implemented in an elevator car where it performs multiple functions including people guidance, decoration, and advertising. The InSCOPE consortium comprises leading research and technological development (RTD) centers in Europe that bring new product concepts to life. Four large European enterprises are involved to showcase and validate the pilot line for applications in the automotive, smart building and medical packaging markets. The five companies are: TNO (Netherlands), CEA (France), CPI (UK), IMEC (Belgium), and VTT (Finland).

The following image shows four showcases in the InSCOPE project related to automotive (top left), medical packaging (top right) and smart buildings (bottom left and right).

By working closely together, these institutes are tailoring hybrid printed electronics equipment and functionalities towards industrial needs. Initial results of the cooperation have brought improvements to printing, assembly and post processing equipment. Additionally, development of printed functionalities (e.g. printed temperature sensors) and assembled functionalities (bare die assembly) have been optimized to fit industrial showcases. The open access pilot line service has been operational since January 2018 and has already processed 15 demo cases. InSCOPE’s ambition is to become the leading hybrid TOLAE pilot line service worldwide.

FIRST RESULTS
In today’s dynamic world, media architecture is one of the most current and recognized fields in urban planning and building design. The Kone Corporation foresees these large area media surfaces being an integral part of future urban space and living. Therefore, developing intelligent wall materials, rather than displays, enables digital solutions to be part of the spatial experience by forming dynamic interior designs.

A first demonstrator prototype of the interactive media surface was shown in PRINSE2018 and at Lopec 2018. The surface was created using roll-to-roll manufacturing of 200 mm x 2400 mm, flexible and transparent display engines. The engines have individual controllable RGB LEDs capable of displaying video content and producing dynamic lighting effects. Scrolling information updates are performed using a Chrome browser application and Bluetooth connection. Long distance capacitive proximity sensors enable UI activation, while short distance capacitive proximity sensors support passenger selection. The media panel can identify people in the elevator with up to one-meter distance, and can recognize different users (adult, child, disabled).

Finally, as part of the UI panel, the haptic feedback element provides user selection feedback. Haptic feedback technology is revolutionizing human-machine interfaces (HMIs), with touch-enabled interfaces already well on the way to replacing traditional pushbutton controls in a broad range of markets.

“We were looking for large scale production using printed electronics solutions, and the InSCOPE project has given us the opportunity to study, share visions and needs based on these technologies,” said Jukka Korpihete, senior lighting design specialist at Kone. The Kone Corporation will implement a total of 18 square meters of interactive media surfaces to an elevator car as a final demonstrator of the product.

To learn more about production guidelines for printed electronics, InSCOPE created the public design handbook of the pilot line (available from the project website at http://inscope-project.eu/handbook/). The EU-funded InSCOPE project will continue to target improvements of advanced printed functions and advanced silicon devices that enable thin, lightweight, bendable, and even stretchable products.

Contact for press:
Jana Mwangi (Mesikova)
E-mail: mwangij@amires.eu
www.inscope-project.eu

“This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731671”.

€100B proposed for the upcoming EU Famework Programme

A € 100 billion budget has been proposed for the upcoming EU framework research and innovation programme (so-called Horizon Europe), which constitutes an increase of €27 billion compared to the current Horizon 2020 programme. This proposed budget includes €97.6 billion for the upcoming Horizon Europe programme and €2.7 for Euratom nuclear research programme for years 2021 – 2027. The total budget could even increase if Switzerland, Israel, Norway and the United Kingdom join the programme as well. The UK already expressed its interest to take part in the new EU programme. Modifications to the final figure are expected before a unanimous agreement by EU’s member states and an approval by the Parliament are reached. One of the key topics to discuss will be how to fill in the budgetary gap after exiting of UK.

GDPR and EU research

The General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) entered into force in May 2016 and will apply across EU Member States as of 25 May 2018. It also applies to any type of scientific research that uses personal data, including studies in (bio)medicine, the social sciences, and the arts and humanities. It affects EU researchers, who need to be able to collect, process, and re-process personal data and collaborate internationally. The Regulation includes exemptions from several general requirements for scientific research and when it comes to freedom of expression in an academic context. For more information about rules for the protection of personal data inside and outside EU click HERE.

SmartEEs 1st cut-off evaluation process ongoing

The 1st cut-off for submission of application experiment proposals expired on 19 March, and the evaluation process of submitted proposals is still ongoing. Stay tuned for more information about the results of the selection process which will soon be published here.

If you are a start-up, an SME or a Mid-cap and if you have an idea of how to integrate flexible electronics technologies provided by SmartEEs consortium into novel end-products, you can still apply until the expiry of the 2nd cut-off date20 July. Please note that SmartEEs will not support the development of your technologies or research activities, but the integration of existing technologies of involved research teams (RTOs), as described in the Marketplace, into your end-products.

Good luck!

Q-AIR project: leading European innovations for glass façades

Q-Air is a unique single skin glass façade that offers all the performance and benefits of an active double skin façade. A premium unitized glass curtain wall system, Q-Air uses an innovative, multi-chamber insulating core, which delivers exceptional energy efficiency, living and working comfort, aesthetics and economic benefits.

Q-Air represents one of the leading European innovations, which is underlined by being selected and supported by Horizon 2020 programme (GA No. 737757), a Fast Track to Innovation Pilot (FTIP) scheme. An innovation project Q-Air: Sustainable Prefabricated Glass Façade with Performance Exceeding State-of-the-art Glass Façades of five consortium partners Trimo, Kohlbecker Gesamtplan, ZAG, Cantori and Skandinaviska Glassystem is dealing with the innovative sustainable glass facade Q-Air and its broad positive impacts across architecture, building industry, environment and society.

More information about the Q-Air Transparent, Opaque and Combination Unit prototypes is available in the Façade category of the EffiBUILDING database.

AMIRES experienced printed electronics at LOPEC 2018 in Munich, Germany

Lopec is a meeting place for all the important players from printed electronics community. AMIRES team had a pleasure to exhibit at Lopec this year, presenting the latest results and funding opportunities of SmartEEs, InSCOPE and Lyteus, the three H2020 projects related to the flexible electronics technologies.

IMG_4684.JPG-720x517
IMG_1974.JPG-720x479

Visitors to our booth could discover some remarkable solutions of printed electronics technologies and benefit from the conversation with lead partners present at the stand.

SmartEEs team presented their open call for the integration of flexible electronics technologies into novel products and encouraged potential applicants to apply for funding. For all those companies that already have a prototype, InSCOPE is a great choice providing scaling-up services for H-TOLAE-enabled new features. The greatest eye-catcher was Lyteus, specialized in promoting flexibility of OLED lighting and showcasing plastic integrated products.

Several interactive activities, such as a presentation from the Commission and a cocktail party were organized at our booth. Mr. Henri Hajbenbach, the EU Project officer, revealed that the EC supported Flexible and Large Area Electronics projects with more than 300M € of contribution over the past 13 years.

IMG_1912.JPG
IMG_1909.JPG

During the two days of Lopec AMIRES had a chance to explore interesting new ways on how printed electronics and hybrid manufacturing of integrated smart systems are changing the future. Here are some of the takeaways from this world’s leading trade fair.

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology exhibited glasses with organic solar cells integrated into the lenses. The glasses display temperature and sunlight intensity. From the most modern technologies, the thinnest and most flexible electronics, the LG caught our attention with a 4.5 mm thick OLED TV. CuteCircuit, a UK based company, showcased a handbag that was not only beautiful but also interactive and transformable. It is app-controlled with display text, Tweets, and animations.

LOPEC is, indeed, a one-stop – shop for creativity and turning interesting and daring ideas into reality. See you next time LOPEC.

20180315_111829.jpg
20180315_111451.jpg

AMIplexus: a tool for innovation decisions, success and updates

Finding new cooperation or business partners? Scouting for new technology? Fast overview in any R&D domain? Those are the most performed searches in AMIplexus performed by AMIRES, but also by AMIPLEXUS subscribed clients, including among others: Max Planck Society (Germany), VTT (Finland), CSEM (Switzerland), EPIC (European Photonics Industry Consortium), Don Gnocchi Foundation (Italy), CYRIC – Business Innovation Center (Cyprus). Ask us what AMIplexus can do for you, get 15 min introduction and 24 hours access for free!

But we don’t have crossed arms with this success, we are committed to continually improve and upgrade our AMIPLEXUS PLATFORM . Recently we have included the most up-to-date information for the Eurostars (March 15th 2018) and Eureka (April 15th 2018) funding programmes.

Users can visualize Eurostars data with inclusion of both the “Type of organization” and “Country” categories differentiated by differing colours, which was not available in previous versions. Currently for the Eureka program, this colour differentiation feature works for the “Country” category.

Moreover, for the Horizon 2020 dataset the users were able to search information relating to various Topics, Calls and even Funding Schemes. In a similar fashion, with the current updates on Eurostars and Eureka programmes, the users are able to filter their searches on either Technology areas and / or Market areas which are analogous to “Topics” and “Calls” found within the H2020 programme.

To demonstrate the applicability of AMIplexus platform we have been also publishing a series of reports and targeted analysis on various relevant technological areas. The technological analysis cover trending topics such as: Photovoltaics, Spectral Imaging, Autonomous Vehicles, Regenerative Medicine , Photonic Integrated Circuits, Collaborative Robots , Smart Factories and recently Flexible, Wearable and Organic Electronics.

MAKE YOUR INNOVATION DECISIONS WITH AMIPLEXUS!!

MEDILIGHT Smart System for Wound Therapy in EC Newsletter

The European project MEDILIGHT aspired to develop a medical device which uses proven therapeutic effects of visible light to enhance the self-healing process and to monitor the status and history of the wound during therapy. As the project is in its final months, finalizing validation of the prototype, the project’s success story was featured in European Commission’s Electronics newsletter.  Click HERE to find out more about what MEDILIGHT has achieved. AMIRES, being responsible for project management and dissemination, is proud to be a member of the MEDILIGHT success team.
MEDILIGHT graphics 2017.png-1440x855

Flexible, Wearable and Organic Electronics projects within H2020

Flexible electronics also known as flex electronics as well as wearable electronics, printed electronics and organic electronics and/or organic semiconductors are emerging technologies driving markets in the areas that require flexibility and stretchability in the functionality of end products.
Previously, in Horizon 2020 programme around 56 projects have been funded in technological areas involving flexible, wearable, printed and/or organic electronics. Out of the 56 projects, eight are funded through Innovation Action scheme, six through Research and Innovation Action scheme, nineteen through Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, seventeen via European Research Council, five through the SME schemes and one project was funded through Coordination and Support Actions. Even though most projects to date were commenced in the year 2016, more funding was dedicated to Flex electronics and organic electronics in the year 2015.
Private companies involved in more than one project are in this technological field are AMIRES s.r.o (Czech Republic), FlexEnable (UK), M-SOLV LTD (UK), Silvaco Europe Ltd (UK) and Siemens Healthcare (Germany). Among the RTOs, the main players are CEA (France), IMEC (Belgium) and Joanneum Research (Austria). Other key players in the field of flexible and wearable electronics are VTT (Finland), Max-Planck (Germany) and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).

The various mature technologies within the projects that were previously funded via RIA and IA schemes are as outlined below:
  • Development of lED displays for advertisement manufacturing process combining Roll-to-Sheet and Roll-to-Roll of flexible electronics with In-mould hybrid integration of TOLAE (Thin Organic and Large Area Electronics) and photonics components – Optintegral project (IA)
  • demonstrate the influence of different surface enhancing and modification techniques on Carbon fibre -based materials for high value and high-performance applications including CNF-based structures for flexible electronics applications- MODCOMP project (IA)
  • Improving the specificity and sensitivity of flat panel X-ray detectors and more importantly advancing the safety of environment and health by establishment of a new solvent-free manufacturing process for large area hybrid-organic electronics – DiCoMo project (RIA)
  • Leveraging the large area and organic electronics to turn classical ceramic tile into a “multifunctional electronic luminous tile” – LUMENTILE project (RIA)
  • Developing a pilot line for the manufacture and system-level integration of flexible organic electronics OLEDs into products by creating an open access mode and serve customers from along the value chain with individual product designs, validation of upscaling concepts, and system-level flexible OLED integration – PI-SCALE project (IA)
  • Taking advantage of wearable electronics and Big Data to collect data and quantify behavioral community patterns on child and adolescent obesity. The collected data will be used to reshape policies at a regional. national and European level on obesity by having in place data-driven effectiveness predictions about specific policies on a community and the real-time monitoring of the population response – BigO project (RIA)
  • Moving beyond current TOLAE demonstration through a major technology jump that drives scalability towards nanoscale resolution and high-definition cost-effective printing. This will be achieved by engineering and scaling up to industrial lines, some new multifunctional high-performing inks and high-resolution roll-to-roll (R2R) process or sheet-to-sheet (S2S) processes of electronic printing of including nano-imprinting and gravure printing – ATLASS project (IA)
  • Acknowledging the potential of printed electronics as revolutionary to electronics industry with an annual growth rate of 32.5% and ability to regain the market share of Europe in electronics, there is need to ensure there is sufficient industrial supply of nanomaterials which are low cost, high performance., environmentally friendly and tailored for high throughput systems. Therefore, better collaboration will be enhanced and encouraged between supply chain partners to ensure nanomaterial production and nanomaterial formulations are tailored for end use applications to meet this need – INSPIRED project (IA)
  • Applying the concept of nanomaterials for printing application to flexible printed electronics and more specifically to printed batteries and provision of new sources of nanomaterials (for example metallic particle (Ni. Cu. Al) and layered positive active material such as LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) and olivine LiFePO4) for the formulation of conductive and electrochemical inks to be used in flexible electronics – BASMATI project (IA)
  • Providing an open access pilot line service for Hybrid Thin Organic and Large Area Electronics (H-TOLAE) technologies capable of sampling products at industrially relevant environment (TRL6) and system prototype demonstration in operational environment (TRL 7) – InSCOPE project (IA)
  • Bringing flexible electronics from lab to market through the development of extremely thin, flexible and durable electronics and establishing the supply chain that allows for standardized manufacturing at the lowest cost and highest volumes of Near Field Communication (NFC) tags and cards and their printable substrates (paper, cardboard, plastic, …) for the advancement of Internet of Things and the ‘internet of games’ – PING project (RIA)
  • Create a technology acceleration hub dedicated to help innovative companies to access new markets and grow their business in adopting OLAE (Organic Light Advanced Electronics) technologies in new products lines. The hub is essentially an organized European innovation network dedicated to OLAE. This network seeks to advise startups, small and medium companies interested in OLAE to be more competitive through innovation and new business models- SmartEEs project (IA)
  • development of optoelectronic materials and devices (organic solar cells, photodetectors and image sensors as well as organic light-emitting diodes) which operate in the near infrared (NIR) region. OSNIRO –(MSCA)
  • reduction of the time to market of OLEDS and organic thin film transistors and circuits with fast operation. Reduction of the production costs of organic devices by enabling a fully solution processed technology coupled with reduction of design costs at circuit level through an integrated model linking molecular design to circuit operation- EXTMOS (RIA)
  • Modelling stability of organic phosphorescent light-emitting diodes so as to integrate various levels of theoretical materials characterization into a single software package, to streamline the research workflows in order for the calculations to be truly usable by materials engineers, complementary to experimental measurements- MOSTOPHOS (RIA)
  • Development of a smart, wearable system, which will provide a personalized therapy for treatment of chronic wounds using the effect of blue light – MEDILIGHT (RIA)

Aiming for new horizons in manufacturing through “smart factories”

In the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), the integration of Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing and cognitive computing in manufacturing processes gave rise to smart factories and smart manufacturing. Smart factories comprise of fully connected and flexible systems that rely on data streaming from operation and production stream to learn and predict and consequently adjust and adapt to new demands and/or changing situations. The results are higher efficiency, increased production and decreased downtimes in manufacturing processes.
In the Horizon 2020 funding programme there is a relatively small number (12) of projects related to “smart factory”, “smart manufacturing”, “intelligent factory”, “smart production” and so on. The funding schemes supporting the twelve projects are distributed as follows: five projects were funded through the Innovation Action scheme (IA), five under the Research and Innovation Action (RIA) while one project each, was funded through Marie Curie Actions (MSCA) and SME schemes. Among the projects, the SILENSE project is the major effort within H2020 in the field of smart factories. With a budget of over 29 million euro, the SILENSE project has 30 participants in its consortium.

The most active Private entities within the “smart factories” projects are FINN-POWER OY (Finland), TTS Technology Transfer Systems Srl (Italy), and Continental Automotive GmbH (Germany). Other key organisations are TNO (Netherlands), TU Chemnitz (Germany), TU Eindhoven (Netherlands), IMEC (Belgium) and CEA (France).The insights on the various mature technological efforts from projects funded through the Innovation Action and Research and Innovation Action schemes are as follows:
  • Development of new generation Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for detecting and thwarting threats targeting industrial installations. This system holistically combines multiple layers comprising of a monitoring layer for traffic probes, a control and coordination layer for gathering and consolidating heterogeneous data from different and remote probes, a decision and analysis layer and finally a human-machine layer that present system behavior to the human end user in a simplistic manner – SCISSOR project (RIA)
  • Development and demonstration of workplace solutions that support the inclusion of increasing elements of knowledge work on the factory floor by empowering workers on the shop floor with smart factory ICT infrastructure – FACTS4WORKERS (IA)
  • Technology fostering for SMEs by creating a methodological and technical framework to allow adaptation of robotic solutions and putting in place infrastructures and environments that will act as clustering points for selected application areas in manufacturing and for product lifecycle management – HORSE (IA).
  • Provision of technology and infrastructure to enable Reconfiguration as a Service for dynamic smart factory systems and manufactured smart products that take advantage of cloud-based services and computing power to continually optimise the performance of manufacturing systems and products with respect to key performance characteristics including throughput, power consumption, utilization, maintenance and other factors – SAFIRE (RIA)
  • Developing simulation methodologies and multidisciplinary tools for the design. engineering and management of CPS-based (Cyber-Physical Systems) Factories. These efforts are aimed at strategically supporting production-related activities during all the phases of the factory life-cycle, from the integrated design of the product-process- production system, through the optimization of the running factory, and finally through to the dismissal/reconfiguration phase – MAYA (RIA)
  • Supporting the development of increased automation and increased customization in smart factories by encouraging flexible and adaptive work organization is crucial both for productivity and work satisfaction. This will be achieved by developing adaptation solutions with which people with different skills. capabilities and preferences can be engaged. motivated and productive members of the work community in manufacturing industries – Factory2Fit (RIA)
  • With smart homes and smart factories in mind, develop smart acoustic technologies and ultrasound intended for Human to Machine and Machine to Machine Interfaces by applying acoustics a touchless activation and control mechanism and developing different smart acoustic technology blocks (hardware, software and system level) and integrating these blocks at system level – SILENSE (RIA)
  • Laser-based Additive Manufacturing (LBAM) lacks competitiveness in terms of (i) lack of integration with production planning systems which hinders process traceability and resource optimisation and (ii) the need for human intervention, especially in post-processing operations. Thus, a multiprocess production cell will be developed which integrates cutting-edge LBAM machines and ICT innovations produce a fully finished product from the incoming raw material – HyproCell (IA)
  • Demonstrate a set of integrated tools for the rapid and autonomous reconfiguration of agile production systems, both at operational as well as managerial levels, integrated with the existing production planning and scheduling tools. These next-generation flexible production systems and the proposed set of enabling ICT tools will allow a rapid and cost-efficient reaction to dynamic market changes, also in small-lot production contexts, reducing the efforts needed to switch between product types and production quantities – ReCaM (IA)

ULTRAPLACAD Newsletter n. 3

The ULTRAPLACAD Newsletter n.3 contains the description of the ULTRAPLACAD industrial prototype and of the methods developed in the project for the chip mass production. ULTRAPLACAD partners describe in the Newsletter the achievements obtained for the microRNA detection, the DNA recognition, and the surface functionalization.

The ULTRAPLACAD Newsletters aim at maintaining the visibility of the project, create awareness and expectations regarding the final results and inform the target audience about advances made in the project. Please, for more information visit www.ultraplacad.eu!

Cybersecurity Projects within H2020

Cyber-attacks and cybercrimes are rising threats to a diverse infrastructure including government, financial, industrial and technological. To counter this trend, focus on cybersecurity has also been enhanced, and various technologies have been proposed, developed and deployed within Horizon 2020 funded projects. The following insights are an overview of projects funded within H2020 and are related to cyber-attacks, cybercrime, cyber surveillance, cyber risks, cyber security, cyber terrorism and identity theft.

In this area of cyber security and for collaborative projects, the key players with more than one project involvement are KU Leuven (Belgium) and ISCOM (Italy). The projects within this technological domain are funded under innovation and action (7 projects), research and innovation action (5 projects), Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (2 projects), Coordination and Support Actions (one project), European Research Council (one project) and a majority of them are funded under the SME funding scheme (11 projects).

The following insights will focus mainly on IA and RIA funded projects that provide mature technology:

The SCISSOR project (funded within RIA scheme) aims to develop new generation Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for detecting and thwarting threats targeting industrial installations. This system holistically combines multiple layers comprising of a monitoring layer for traffic probes, a control, and coordination layer for gathering and consolidating heterogeneous data from different and remote probes, a decision and analysis layer and finally a human-machine layer that present system behavior to the human end user in a simplistic manner. Project PROTECTIVE (funded through IA scheme) focuses on increasing awareness among European organizations on the threats posed to their operations by enhancing the computer security incident response team’s (CSIRT) threat awareness through improved security monitoring and increased sharing of threat intelligence between organizations and ranking critical threat alerts based on the potential damage the attack can inflict on the organizations. Another IA funded project, C3ISP, based on a paradigm of collect, analyze, inform and react, will leverage on information sharing through a flexible and controllable manner inside a collaborative multi-domain environment to improve detection of cyber threats and response capabilities.

As mentioned, cyber-attacks do target transportation infrastructure and systems, and rail is as prone to these attacks as any other installation. In the project X2Rail-1 (RIA funded), one of the goals is to develop new cybersecurity systems dedicated to railways to ensure security among all connected signaling and control systems. With small businesses in mind, project FORTIKA (IA funded) is tailored towards minimizing exposure of small businesses to attacks and empower them to respond appropriately to cyber risks. This would be achieved by creating a resilient overall cyber security solution that can be easily tailored and adjusted to the versatile and dynamically changing needs of small businesses. Project COMPCAT, also IA funded, addresses the needs of public administrators (PAs) faced with a growing risk of cyber threats but hampered by technological, organizational and structural issues to efficiently improve their cybersecurity level. The project will provide the PAs with tools that are characterized by a high degree of usability by non-IT experts and automation and intended for risk assessment, education, monitoring and knowledge sharing.

Project WISER funded under IA has provided SMEs with pre-packaged risk management solution for SMEs, and Risk Management Platform as a Service (RMPaaS). These SMEs often lack the resources and expertise to make security a top priority and establish a strong IT security posture and thus the WISER’s analytical tools are simple and easy to use, facilitating security managers in understanding complex systems. Project ARIES, a RIA project, will leverage virtual and mobile IDs cryptographically derived from strong eID documents in order to prevent identity-theft and related crimes in the physical (e.g. an airport) and virtual (e.g eCommerce) domains. The project will provide a global approach for ID Ecosystem in Europe to address European-specific concerns to improve identity, trust and security, and better support the law enforcement to address the new threats to cybersecurity. By innovatively integrating social and computational sciences, project PROTON (RIA funded) aims at improving existing knowledge on the processes of recruitment to organized crime and terrorist networks and provide a support tool for policymakers at the international, national and local levels. Realizing the need for efficient and effective protective measures against ever-evolving cyber threats and by taking advantage of Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) technologies, project SHIELD (IA funded), seeks to provide a universal solution for dynamically establishing and deploying virtual security infrastructures into ISP and corporate networks.

The SMESEC consortium (IA funded) proposes the development of a cost-effective framework composed of specific cyber-security tool-kit to support SMEs in managing network information security risks and threats, as well as in identifying opportunities for implementing secure innovative technology in the digital market. In order to improve levels of collaboration between cooperative and regulatory approaches to information sharing SAINT project that is RIA funded proposes to advance measurement approaches and methodologies of the metrics of cybercrime. This would be achieved through constructing a framework of a new empirical science that challenges traditional approaches and fuses evidence-based practices with more established disciplines. Specifically, novel and experimental economics will aid SAINT in designing new methodologies for the development of an ongoing and searchable public database of cybersecurity indicators and open source intelligence.

The relevant forthcoming H2020 calls in cybersecurity are as follows:

  1. SU-ICT-01-2018: Dynamic countering of cyber-attacks
  2. SU-ICT-02-2020: Building blocks for resilience in evolving ICT systems
  3. SU-ICT-03-2018: Establishing and operating a pilot for a Cybersecurity Competence Network to develop and implement a common Cybersecurity Research & Innovation Roadmap
  4. SU-ICT-04-2019: Quantum Key Distribution testbed

Increasing productivity with collaborative robots: H2020 insights

Collaborative robots or Cobots (co-bots/ co-robot) are increasingly becoming popular and mainstream especially in manufacturing industries and with SMEs due to their affordability. Growth in their application is mainly being driven by the following industries: automotive, aeronautic, metal and machining, furniture and equipment, food and beverage, as well as plastic and polymers. These robots are designed to be safe to work alongside humans owing to their safety features that are designed to reduce the risk of harm. The features include rounded design and their force-limited joints that sense forces due to impact and quickly react by dissipating these forces, therefore, averting danger to humans and destruction to surfaces and property.

Within the Horizon 2020, there are about 20 projects related to collaborative robots and robotics. Five of the projects are funded by the Innovation Action (IA) scheme, nine via the Research and Innovation Action (RIA) scheme, six are funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) scheme, two projects within the SME Instrument and one project each funded through European Research Council (ERC) sand Coordination and support action (CSA) schemes, respectively. In the H2020 programme, the key players active in the collaborative robots’ technological area are TNO (Netherlands), Technalia (Spain), Fraunhofer (Germany), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), UNIMORE (Italy), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), CNRS (France), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italy), KU Leuven (Belgium), TU Dresden (Germany), and IMEC (Belgium).

Some of the innovations from projects funded through RIA and IA funding schemes are highlighted in this insight. These include:
  • Building collaborative aerial robotic workers with the capability to autonomously conduct infrastructure inspection and maintenance tasks – AEROWORKS (RIA).
  • Technology fostering for SMEs by creating a methodological and technical framework to allow adaptation of robotic solutions and putting in place infrastructures and environments that will act as clustering points for selected application areas in manufacturing and for product lifecycle management – HORSE (IA).
  • Developing new automation concepts for aircraft assembly by employing innovative technologies such as collaborative robots, movable robotics platforms, grippers, compact and lightweight robots. This is aimed at achieving high production rates and reduced costs with maximum production flexibility – ACOTAAL (CS2-IA).
  • In the niche of consumer entertainment robotics, a humanoid robot will be developed. This robot will have the capabilities of interacting and engaging with the public autonomously and naturally in the dynamic environments of a public shopping mall. – MuMMER (RIA)
  • Creating an integrated system for collaborative robotics which can deliver kits, tools, parts and hold pieces on the factory floor during assembling processes – ColRobot (IA)
  • Developing a hybrid work cell for inspection purposes with advanced robotic capabilities while acknowledging the cost implication of fully automating industrial operation and leveraging on cost-efficient human-robot cooperation – CRO-INSPECT (CS2-RIA)
  • Deliver the most advanced but flexible space autonomous system suitable for single and/or collaborative space robotic missions which demand robust operations with adaptable levels of autonomy ERGO (RIA)
  • In order to address ethical concerns on the future of robotics including job replacement, there is need to offer proactive steps towards ethical and responsible robots by suggesting radical changes in current robot design procedures – REELER (RIA)
  • Improving the interaction of human and robots in the workplace by endowing robots with the ability to control physical collaboration through intentional interaction. This will be achieved via force and motion tracking technology, robot learning using cognitive models of human behavior in collaborative tasks and innovative technology for helping humans through predictive physical collaboration – An.Dy (RIA)
  • As a continuation of previous projects (COMET, SAPHARI, and poliMATIC) develop Symbiotic Human-Robot Solutions for Complex Surface Finishing Operations to automated polishing techniques in manufacturing processes aimed at complex shaped metallic surfaces – SYMPLEXITY (IA)
  • Equipping a collaborative and inherently safe assembly robot with cutting-edge sensory and cognitive abilities as well as reasoning abilities required to plan and execute an assembly task for easier and quicker adaptability and installation in an assembly line – SARAFun (RIA)
  • With the rise in labor costs, especially in automotive and the aeronautics industrial sectors, mobile dual arms robots will be created with abilities to perceive their environment and through reasoning, cooperation with each other and with other production resources including human operators and even be able to navigate in the shop floor and utilize dexterous tooling to perform multiple operations – THOMAS (IA).
Forthcoming Horizon 2020 calls related to robotics are:

  1. SRC – Space robotics technologies,
  2. ICT-09-2019-2020: Robotics in Application Areas,
  3. DT-ICT-02-2018: Robotics — Digital Innovation Hubs,
  4. ICT-10-2019-2020: Robotics Core Technology.

New EU Director-General for Research and Innovation

As a part of changes in European Commission’s senior management positions, which included replacements of the Directors-General for climate action, education and employment and others, Jean-Eric Paquet has replaced Robert-Jan Smits at the position of the Director-General for Research and Innovation. Jean-Eric Paquet is a French national and career civil servant, who has served as one of the tree Deputy Secretaries-General of the Juncker Commission.  Within his 23 year experience in the European Commission, Jean-Eric Paquet has been involved in European Commission’s proposals for deepening the Economic and Monetary Union and for Industrial Policy Strategy. In view of the task to reach a consensus on 9th Framework Programme, Paquet’s decisions about the DG internal management could either consolidate or complicate this task. Robert-Jan Smits will become a senior adviser to the European Political Strategy Centre, the Commission’s in-house think tank.

 

EffiBUILDING has established a cooperation with EXCEED Project


​​​​​​​


Due to the common vision and mission, a strong cooperation with the EXCEED Project has been established.

The ExcEED project (which stands for European Energy Efficient building district Database: from data to information to knowledge) aims to create a European database for measured and qualitative data on beyond the state-of-the-art buildings and districts. Key performance indicators (KPIs) will be developed to quantify and benchmark the energy efficiency and the environmental quality at building and district level.

News about EffiBUILDING have been periodically published in the Exceed website. EffiBUILDING community will be updated on the development of the Exceed project.

 

H2020 Insights: Advances in Photonic Integrated Circuits

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) go by many synonyms including integrated photonics, silicon photonics, photonic ICs and so on. These devices use light to perform optical functions by incorporating numerous optical devices. In PICs, information signals are imposed on optical wavelengths typically in the visible spectrum or near infrared region. Various devices found on a PIC may include optical amplifiers, optical lasers, receivers, waveguides, detectors, gratings, multiplexers, de-multiplexers, and attenuators among others.

With the growth of photonics, over 40 projects specific to either integrated photonics, silicon photonics, photonic ICs or photonic integrated circuits have been funded within the Horizon 2020 (H2020) programme. The most involved private companies in this technological area are IBM Research GMBH (Switzerland), XIO Photonics BV (Netherlands), Lionix International BV (Netherlands) Berenschot Groep BV (Netherlands), Ericsson Telecomunicazioni (Italy), and ams AG (Austria). Other key players involved in PICs projects are IMEC (Belgium), Fraunhoffer (Germany), III-V LAB  (France) VTT (Finland), CEA (France), University College Cork (Ireland), Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), University of Ghent (Belgium), Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (Greece) and European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC).

Efforts to provide mature technology are found within projects funded by Innovation Action and Research and Innovation Action funding schemes. Some of these efforts and technologies include:

  • Provision of a one-stop-shop to the European SMEs to enable them to move their PIC based R&D technologies from the laboratories to the market by bridging missing gaps in the value chain, from assembly & packaging, through to equipment optimization, test and application demonstration (PIXAPP project, funding 15 million euros).
  • Exploiting the powerful PIC technology to fabricate 5G broadband wireless networks for dense, ultra-dense and Hot-Spot area use (5G-PHOS Project).
  • Development of photonic needles for spectral tissue sensing as diagnostic tools for screening tumours (InSPECT project).
  • Leveraging advances in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) to develop a novel CMOS compatible low-loss silicon nitride waveguide based PIC technology to be used in in the field of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for ophthalmology (OCTCHIP project).
  • development of new wafer-scale technology for direct and intimate attachment of III-V Indium-Phosphide (InP) photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and BiCMOS electronic chips (ICs) to be used in data transmission (WIPE project).
  • Integrating microwave engineering and photonics by developing a disruptive photonic integration platform that will enable the development of very large scale photonic integrated circuits (VLSPICs) with cascaded stages of tunable structures for analog and digital signal processing that allow functionalities in microwave systems that are complex or totally impossible in the microwave domain (HAMLET project).
  • Creating a universal memory by combining opto-magnetism and spintronics with electronic and photonic integration technologies. This novel technology will be in the form of a spintronic-photonic memory chip demonstrator with 3 orders of magnitude higher write speed and 2 orders of magnitude lower energy consumption (SPICE project).
  • Development of a scalable thermally-enabled 3D integrated optoelectronic platform that can meet the explosion in data traffic growth within ICT. This would be achieved by heterogeneously integrating micro-thermoelectric coolers (μTEC) and micro-fluidics (μFluidics) with optoelectronic devices within the Thermally Integrated Smart Photonics Systems (TIPS project).
  • In order to address the risks if cardiovascular diseases by rapid and early detection, the CARDIS project seeks to demonstrate the concept of a mobile and low-cost device based on a silicon photonics integrated laser Doppler vibrometer and validate the concept for the screening of arterial stiffness, detection of stenosis and heart failure.
  • The TOP HIT project is aggressively developing the micro-Transfer-Printing technique by integrating electronics and silicon photonics components for the magnetic and communication industries.
  • In ROAM project, the orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes of light for communications and networking are being investigated for increasing optical fibre transmission capacity. These OAM components are essentially built on silicon photonics technology
  • The DIMENSION project is establishing an integrated electro-optical platform that extends the silicon (Bi)CMOS and silicon photonics platform with III-V photonic functionality. This offers great opportunities for new innovative devices and functions at the chip-level.
  • The Teraboard project is building a full intra data center photonic platform for intraboard,intrarack and intra data center optical communications. This platform will be based on ultra-high density and scalable bandwidth optical interconnectivity with low data losses, low energy cost and reduced manufacturing costs.
  • The L3MATRIX project provides novel technological innovations in the fields of silicon photonics (SiP) and 3D device integration to cater for higher bandwidth needs in data centers.
  • The PIX4life project, with a funding of 10 million euros, is putting in place a state of the art silicon nitride (SiN) photonics pilot line for life science applications in the visible range which will be accessible as an incentive for product development by a broad range of industrial customers.
  • By implementing quantum simulation on integrated photonic processors, the QUCHIP project will develop new photonic technologies. ranging from on-chip sources of single photons to complex waveguide architectures and on-chip detectors
  • In order to bring photonic reservoir computing to maturation, the PHRESCO project will design a novel reservoir computing chip expected to be a major breakthrough in the field

The following is the funding distribution across the projects in the photonics integrated circuits field.

Companies in the photonics industry which are interested in H2020 funding should watch out for these open and forthcoming calls:

  1. ICT-03-2018-2019: Photonics Manufacturing Pilot Lines for Photonic Components and Devices
  2. ICT-04-2018: Photonics based manufacturing, access to photonics, datacom photonics and connected lighting
  3. ICT-05-2019: Application driven Photonics components
  4. DT-ICT-04-2020: Photonics Innovation Hubs

For more insights on H2020, LIFE, Eureka and Eurostars programmes, kindly subscribe to our AMIPLEXUS MULTIDATASET PLATFORM.

 

Chronic Wound Healing by MEDILIGHT Blue Light on RTS TV

A report on the healing effect of blue light was featured on RTS TV! The report shows a personalized, light-based dressing for chronic wounds, which has been developed as a result of the MEDILIGHT project, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 644267.

Chronic wounds which fail to follow the typical healing process or timeframe are notoriously challenging to treat. Their burden is significant, affecting over 40 million patients and costing healthcare systems €40 billion annually. Urgo Medical aspired to create a dressing able to both stimulate self-healing with light and adapt to the individual patient, thus going beyond existing non-personalized nanoparticle-based solutions.

Urgo worked with 6 more partners in the European project MEDILIGHT to translate the technology behind light stimulation treatments delivered in hospitals into a smart wearable system for the personalized light treatment of chronic wounds at home. Their attention was focused on blue light’s ability to stimulate ani-bacterial effects and accelerate healing.

Enjoy the TV report in French!

 

H2020 Pushing the Human Health Frontiers Through Regenerative Medicine

 

Regenerative medicine develops ways to regrow, repair and or replace damaged and diseased tissues, cells, or organs. This is mainly achieved through the application of therapeutic cells, transplantation of stem cells, artificial organs production with an aim of restoring normal functionality.

As per analysis made to date, about 55 projects in the filed of regenerative medicine have been funded with Horizon 2020, with a majority having one player and funded within ERC, MSCA and SME funding schemes. In the below picture, the project with highest number of participants relates to communication of stem cells research (Eurostemcell). This consortium unites 33 partner institutions which collectively represents over 400 stem cell research groupings across Europe with a common goal of providing trusted high-quality information on stem cells accessible to citizens and stakeholders across Europe.

Key organizations within the field of regenerative medicine are CEA (France), Aarhus University (Denmark), Linköping University (Sweden), Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), Technical University of Denmark (Denmark) and Leiden University Medical Center (Netherlands).

These projects foster intersectoral knowledge transfer through collaboration between academic and industrial participants to push regenerative medicine frontiers. Some of projects aim at developing guidelines to reduce the development and clinical testing timeframes to expedite the process of moving novel regenerative technology from the bench to the bedside.

Research focus within the regenerative medicine domain revolves around a variety of key areas. To fully elucidate mechanisms involved in the differentiation, self-renewal and mechanotransduction, many studies are being carried on embryonic stem cells (ESCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from various organisms as well as human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). To achieve this understanding of cellular and molecular interactions, highly sensitive and real-time characterization is carried out using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Raman microspectroscopy (RMS) and more so computer models. Some efforts monitor the cell-substrate interactions at nanolevels in order to fabricate precise surface topographies through state-of-the-art nanofabrication methods.

In other projects, the goal is to identify methods and materials for protecting stem cells from unfavorable differentiation for example stretch-induced differentiation. Examples of these materials are conductive polymer (CP) materials for the external stimulation of stem cells. There is also the development of new classes of materials such as artificial biomaterials that mimic functionalities of the natural cell environments or metamaterials with nanoparticles whose functionality can be remotely controlled by external magnetic fields. In terms of drugs, targeting tools and carriers specific to certain tissues and pathology are being developed for example GAG-binding enhanced transduction (GET). Novel bioengineering technologies including organ-on-chip, micro/nano fabrication and biomimetics are being developed while photon laser polymerization is already in the pipeline for controlling the geometry of the synthetic cell niches.

 

As seen in the below picture, the projects with the highest funding are MECHANO-CONTROL and INTENS. Both have funding over 7 million euros with 7 and 9 partners, respectively. The MECHANO-CONTROL project aims to understand and control cellular mechanics from the molecular to the organism scale, which will have high applicability in oncology, regenerative medicine, and biomaterials. On the other hand, the INTENS project has an objective to deliver a functional bowel reconstruction to patients with Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS) through an autologous tissue engineering strategy.

The current Horizon 2020 Work Programme for years 2018 – 2020 brings about several opportunities for funding of projects within the regenerative medicine area. These include:

  • NMBP-22-2018: Osteoarticular tissues regeneration (RIA)
  • NMBP-21-2020: Custom-made biological scaffolds for specific tissue regeneration and repair (RIA)
  • DT-NMBP-23-2020: Next generation organ-on-chip (RIA)
  • DT-NMBP-04-2020: Open Innovation Test Beds for bio-based nano-materials and solutions (IA)
  • DT-NMBP-06-2020: Open Innovation Test Beds for nano-pharmaceuticals production (IA)

Shall you wish to find out more, click HERE to watch a recording of European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine Webinar on Horizon 2020 funding opportunities for Regenerative Medicine (2018-2020).

 

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: the transport of the future

 

Autonomous or self-driving vehicles are the next generation of vehicles aimed at providing cleaner and safer mode of transport and revolutionize the way we experience travel. Thus, this topic has gained much traction amongst car manufacturers and in the automotive industry.
In terms of innovation, research is focused towards creating guidelines for cross-cultural road upgrading and passengers and road users’ safety, development of algorithms, simulations, models as well as Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems, navigation satellite systems, state of the art sensors and communication networks. Furthermore, some projects seek to leverage the applications of Big Data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things technologies to advance autonomous vehicles. These innovations should facilitate the seamless integration of machine-human interactions (in case of semi-automation), infrastructure design aimed at uninterrupted and efficient traffic flow as well as safe interactions between conventional and automated models considering shared infrastructure.
The below network shows the network of key players in the autonomous vehicles field within H2020 whereby the clusters represent the various projects. The largest cluster corresponds to the SCOTT project with 52 partners including Brazil and a funding of 39 million Euros. The SCOTT is geared towards the provision of wireless sensor & actuator networks and communication in mobility and smart infrastructure.

There are currently about 15 projects related to autonomous vehicles and the cumulative amount of funding invested in projects related to autonomous vehicles is well over 65 million euros with well over 70% invested in projects that commenced in 2017. Private companies pioneering the autonomous/unmanned vehicles research in the H2020 include Tomtom Development Gmbh, Dynniq Nederland Bv, Tass International Mobility Center Bv, ERTICO-ITS Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center Gmbh. Among the research centers and universities, the leaders in autonomous vehicles include Fraunhofer, CEA, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Centro Ricerche Fiat (Italy), VTI (Sweden), VeDecoM (France), Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (National Technical University of Athens), Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (Greece).

 

AMIPLEXUS in 2017 EPIC activity report

The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC), has acquired the license to the AMIPLEXUS tool as reported in the EPIC-Activity-Report-2017 (page 11). This allows all employees of EPIC member companies to have free access to AMIPLEXUS, get an overview of the already funded projects, their key players and technologies funded. AMIPLEXUS provides unique insights and information in a speed and extent that is not available from any other existing engines.

A newly released AMIPLEXUS MULTIDATASET platform is available to anybody on subscription basis starting from 299 €/year. Search in over 20.000 projects funded within the European Union (H2020, Eureka, Eurostars, LIFE).

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR INNOVATION DECISIONS WITH AMIPLEXUS!!

AMIplexus_EPIC.png-720x394

Horizon 2020 Cooperation Offers

Are you looking for partners or ideas for the upcoming Horizon 2020 calls? If so, check the below cooperation offers of our partners.

 Idea Topic   Proposer Link
Removal of hazardous substances and contaminants by specifically modified particles and automated screen printed electrodes (SPE) for detection of contaminants from different types of environments CE-SC5-01-2018 Methods to remove hazardous substances and contaminants from secondary raw materials Mendel University in Brno, CZ HERE
Nanobiotechnologies based on nanoparticles supported by protein cages with catalytic and enzyme-mimetic activity BIOTEC-04-2018 New biotechnologies for environmental remediation

SC1-BHC-09-2018 Innovation platforms for advanced therapies of the future

Mendel University in Brno, CZ HERE
Fluorescent nanomaterials for optical detection SFS-05-2018/2019/2020 New and emerging risks in plant health Mendel University in Brno, CZ HERE
Use of advanced nanomaterials for ensuring sterility and antimicrobiality of cover materials in agricultural practice SFS-11-2019 Anti-microbials and animal production Mendel University in Brno, CZ HERE
Use of advanced nanomaterials for ensuring sterility and antimicrobial properties of cover materials NMBP-21-2020 Custom-made biological scaffolds for specific tissue regeneration and repair Mendel University in Brno, CZ HERE
Design and manufacture of precision components from ultra-hard materials such as advanced ceramics and synthetic sapphire and ruby for the medical market (e.g. IVD, pistons, valves, implants, fully ceramic dental implants), electronics, wear resistant parts for automotive or bearings used in energy generation, hydrogen storage, sensors, actuators, filters or for creative industry (jewelry) DT-NMBP-01-2018: Open Innovation Hubs for Lightweight nano-enabled
multifunctional materials and components (IA)
DT-NMBP-09-2018: Accelerating the uptake of materials modelling software (IA)
NMBP-22-2018: Osteo-articular tissues regeneration (RIA)
CE-NMBP-26-2018: Smart plastic materials with intelligent recycling properties by
design (RIA)
DT-NMBP-03-2019: Open Innovation Hubs for nano-enabled surfaces and membranes
(IA)
DT-NMBP-19-2019: Advanced materials for additive manufacturing (IA)
LC-NMBP-32-2019: Smart materials, systems and structures for energy harvesting
(RIA)
DT-FoF-07-2020: Reliable and accurate assembly of micro parts (RIA)
NMBP-21-2020: Custom-made biological
Ceramaret SA, CH HERE
Development of a decision-making software to allow simplification in agricultural management, optimization of resources (including personnel) and maximization of harvest with optimized cost  SFS-06-2018-2020 Stepping up integrated pest management
RUR-02-2018 Socio-economic impacts of digitisation of agriculture and rural
areas
RUR-04-2018-2019: Analytical tools and models to support policies related to
agriculture and food
CE-RUR-08-2018-2019-2020 Closing nutrient cycles, B. [2018, 2019, 2020] Bio-based
fertilizers
DT-RUR-12-2018: ICT Innovation for agriculture – Digital Innovation Hubs for
Agriculture
DT-RUR-13-2018: Enabling the farm advisor community to prepare farmers for the
digital age
DT-RUR-14-2018 Digital solutions and e-tools to modernise the CAP
ICT-05-2019: Application driven Photonics components
ICT–11-2018-20: HPC and Big Data enabled Large-scale Test-beds and
Applications
DT-ICT-08-2019: Agricultural digital integration platforms
FELCO Motion SA, CH  HERE

HEREIn case of any questions please contact Martina Urbankova.

SmartEEs CALL dedicated to Integration of flexible electronics technologies is now open!

 

SmartEES is the European acceleration program supported by the European Commission and dedicated to help Innovative Companies access new markets and grow their business by integrating  flexible electronics into products and services.

CALL OPENED ON 18th of DEC. 2017!

By applying to SmartEEs,

European Innovative Companies will benefit from freedom in design, high flexibility in functions integration and the agility of flexible electronics to make the difference in the marketplace.

A financial support of 140k€ (80k€ direct services and 60k€ Voucher) will be allocated to

the 20 most promising applicants.  

Applicants to the program will get access to more than 35 flexible electronics technologies to develop new products integrating organic photovoltaics, flexible displays, OLED lighting, control & Intelligence systems.

The SmartEEs team will provide customized support through a complete set of services from technology to business connections and access to funding beyond SmartEEs acceleration support.

All applicants to SmartEEs acceleration program will benefit from SmartEEs unique ecosystem composed by leading research organizations, recognized experts in business development and access to funding, as well as more than 34 international clusters, 18 industrial partners and 8 private

To enter the SmartEEs acceleration program submit your application online to the open Call at www.smartees.eu

5 Cut Off dates from March 2018 to September 2019

!!! Live application submission at LOPEC-2018 (Munich) at SmartEEs booth on 13-15 March!!!

For Additional info (program, partners, large area electronics, call criteria…)

visit SmartEEs website

 

10% Increase in Patent Activity in 2016

More than 2.6 million patent applications were filed at the world’s five largest intellectual property offices in 2016, an increase of 10.4% over the previous year. These numbers were presented by the recent IP5 Statistics Report published jointly by the EPO, the Japan Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, collectively known as the IP5 offices. Moreover, together the IP5 offices granted 1.1 million patents in 2016 (9.6% more than in 2015).

To cope with increasing demand, the EPO has put in place a series of quality and efficiency measures, which in 2016 led to an 8.5% rise in products (completed searches, substantive examinations and oppositions), and 40% more patents granted.

Click HERE for further information and the report.

Extra €110 million for Horizon in 2018

Extra €110 million was allocated to the Horizon 2020 programme in 2018, reverting a proposal made by EU governments to cut about half a billion euros from EU research budget and fixing the 2018 spending at €160.1 billion. The extra funds will be allocated to Marie Curie fellowship grants, the SME instrument, Europan Research Council, and some climate changes competitions.  In 2018, EU will spend on research €160.1 billion, which is an increase from €157.9 billion in 2017.

ULTRAPLACAD industrial prototype for early cancer diagnosis

The ULTRAPLACAD prototype integrating the novel surface plasmon resonance imaging (NESPRI) and plasmon-enhanced fluorescence (PEFSI) sensing technologies has been assembled. Functional tests are in progress. In parallel, the integrated cartridges for in-vitro cancer detection are under development using high volume manufacturing methods.

In ULTRAPLACAD, many markers can be measured simultaneously. ULTRAPLACAD diagnostic platform will improve early diagnostic testing and will enable more specific selection of patients for therapy, as well as therapy monitoring from liquid biopsies, thus reducing invasive procedures and improving patient management.

During the next year, the ULTRAPLACAD platform including the assays for the detection of mutated DNAs, microRNAs and tumor autoantibodies (a-TAAs) will be finalized and validated. Click HERE to stay updated about the upcoming project results.

100 prototypes in EffiBUILDING

2017 has been an important year for EffiBUILDING, the most innovative sharing platform for the energy efficiency solutions of buildings.

We have reached more than 100 prototypes available for consultation in our database related to the four macro categories windows, façade, photovoltaic modules and sensors. These prototypes represent the future of the technologies and innovations in the energy efficiency of buildings: an article on this important achievement has been also published in the European portal for the Energy Efficiency in buildings BUILD UP.

Furthermore, we have reached more than 50 active members from all over the world, who has registered in the database and share their products and prototypes as well as providing feedback for the product development and the future steps for the database.

These results have been possible thanks to the active members as well as for our cooperation with ECTP (European Construction Technology Platform), which provide an excellent work of scouting and promotion of the most interesting prototypes from FP7 and H2020 European projects.

Finally we would like to wish merry Christmas and happy new year to our community.

New version of AMIPLEXUS released!

Visualise and explore over 20000 funded R&D and Innovation projects!

To gain a competitive edge, the rapid processing of publicly available data and timely extraction of insightful information is of paramount importance. More so, in terms of identifying the key-players in various technological fields and their relationships including their pipeline technologies. Guided by this need, AMIPLEXUS was developed to enable users to efficiently discover the interrelationship and interconnections existing in project-related datasets.

We are pleased to announce that AMIPLEXUS has been upgraded to a “one-stop-shop” multi-dataset platform. The newly updated AMIPLEXUS tool allows users to visualize over 20000 projects funded under the following programmes: Horizon2020 (14838 projects), Eureka (3724 projects) Eurostars (1411 projects) and LIFE (4322 projects). The new version displays relevant project information including a list of all participants for faster and comprehensive data export. Additionally, the users can use full organization names to navigate (instead of EU abbreviations) and create individual organizational networks of project clusters, for better visualisation of partners and their relations.

AMIRES is committed to develop the platform further with additional data sets and various use-case scenarios. Let us know if you have any idea for cooperation.

DISCOVER AMIPLEXUS and request us for a free 15-min presentation to discover the value for your innovation-based decisions!

Overview of Deadlines for Horizon 2020 2018 – 2019 Calls

Are you interested in the upcoming Horizon 2020 calls and would like to get an overview of their deadlines?  Check the below tables Deadlines for HORIZON 2020 calls 2018 and Deadlines for HORIZON 2020 calls 2019. The call details can be found HERE.

WP2018-2020 calls.png

WP2018-2020 calls 2.png-720x519

AMIplexus Insights into H2020 Spectral Imaging Projects

In Horizon 2020 there are about 20 funded projects involving spectral imaging with about 142 organizations participating in them. 64 of these are private for-profit companies. The key players are Quest Photonic Devices Bv, Cmosis Nv, Planetek Italia Srl, New Infrared Technologies Sl and M-Squared Lasers Limited. Considering higher education and research institutions, the most active in this domain are CNRS, Fraunhofer, Max-Planck, CEA, and TU Delft.

The focus areas of research include new spectral imaging techniques such as the application of semiconductor emitters operating at room temperature within the terahertz (THz) spectral region, development of image-based laser processing closed-loop control and use of hyperspectral imaging sensors. Within these projects, the main areas of application are medical diagnostics, gas and material detection as well as surveillance, security and environmental sensing for public safety.

To obtain more insights on Horizon 2020 spectral imaging projects, subscribe to AMIplexus (http://amiplexus.eu/).

The following is the AMIplexus network of spectral imaging projects. To interact with the network, please use the click, drag and scroll functions:

 

AMIplexus Insights into H2020 Photovoltaics Projects

About 106 organizations are involved in the field of photovoltaics within already funded Horizon 2020 projects. 43 of these are private companies for profit such as Acciona Construccion Sa, Wirtschaft Und Infrastruktur Gmbh & Co Planungs Kg, and Onyx Solar Energy S.L. The key players involved in a majority of the projects include CEA, Tecnalia and Fraunhofer.

Research in this area is focused on technologies such as multi-junction cells based on III-V semiconductors that use nanowires and monolithic multi-junction (MJ) solar cells. Other advancement in this field is the use of materials such as multi-functionalised silica nano-particles that allow for self-cleaning abilities as well as solid-state perovskite and organic molecules.

The advancements in photovoltaics are aimed at reducing GHG emissions while reducing material needs by making the cells lighter with higher efficiencies.

To obtain more insights on Horizon 2020 photovoltaic projects, subscribe to AMIplexus (http://amiplexus.eu/).

The following is the AMIplexus network of Photovoltaics projects. To interact with the network, please use the click, drag and scroll functions.

TRIBUTE Concluded at its Final Conference

TRIBUTE final conference took place at Espace Encan in La Rochelle, France on 20th September 2017. During the event, the project was revealed to the public and the results were made well known to the audience. This was a very important action for the recognition of the project to the public and for giving the importance of project’s targets regarding the building energy performance problematic through the introduction of improved buildings’ simulation connected with continuous building monitoring. The representatives from the whole project’s consortium as well as external expert keynote speakers were giving presentation and gladly answering all the questions given from the public.

The conference attracted a wide range of stakeholders from the whole value chain, such as representatives from the industrial sector and the public authorities, engineers from different field as well as students and private investors. Additionally, press conference with the key persons form the project was organized for the local and national media.  A day after the final conference, the TRIBUTE team also met with its Project Technical Advisor at its final review to conclude the work done during last 4 year.

AMIRES at the Conference on Polymers and Organic Materials for Electronics and Photonics: Science for Applications (81th PMM)

Elena Turco (AMIRES) presented the concept of pilot lines of the H2020 projects PI-SCALE and InSCOPE and to introduce the objectives of the H2020 SmartEEs project at the Conference on Polymers and Organic Materials for Electronics and Photonics: Science for Applications (81th PMM). The conference brought together a number of highly distinguished interdisciplinary scientists working in the field of molecular and polymeric materials. The objectives were to achieve international cooperation of researchers both from academia and industry and to stimulate the research growth in the field of organic materials for electronics and photonics.

During the conference, several presentations were focused on innovative materials with enhanced electrical, photoelectrical and optical properties. The applications presented during the afternoon session on Tuesday 12 September included smart windows, conductive textiles, nanosilver paints, oil sensors, smart labels and healthcare monitoring devices.

During the presentation “Mass production and applications in Organic Flexible Electronics: pilot lines and use cases” it was highlighted how the concept of pilot lines can be applicable in the materials development field, too. The projects PI-SCALE, InSCOPE and SmartEEs were presented as inspiration for those companies willing to access to services, available at European level, for the development of innovative products and demonstrators.

Click HERE for the presentation.

 

Industrial Innovation Information Days Key Takeaways

Around 1000 stakeholders discussed the future of European Industry at the Industrial Innovation Info Days, held on 3 – 4 October, in Brussels, Belgium. During the event, plenary sessions with great political impact on the industrial environment and key notes by high level speakers were organized. AMIRES was also following different parallel session in which the topics in the next H2020 NMBP work programme were presented. Delegates had also the opportunity to present proposal ideas.

Discussions also occurred on the 9th Framework Programme preparation including a stronger involvement of SMEs and the importance of social impact and ethics aspects in disruptive innovation. In the parallel session focused on the Testbed concepts the following general recommendations were given:

  1. to be focused on the scale up process;
  2. the Pilot Lines should be in different physical or virtual locations but a Single Entry Point (SEP);
  3. the sustainability analysis and the business study will avoid duplication with existing hubs;
  4. coordination and networking with other similar test beds as well as with other innovation eco-systems in the EU is quite important;
  5. half of the European Pilot Lines are owned by SMEs. These SME should take part of Open Innovation Test Beds and offer services through them.

Presentations from the event can be accessed HERE.

SmartEEs project Kick-off meeting

SmartEEs is one of the five EU projects funded under the H2020 Smart Anything Everywhere Initiative. SmartEEs will develop a Digital Innovation Hub dedicated to Organic Large Area Electronics (OLAE), an organized European innovation network that will provide an access to both competencies and business support for innovation adoption.

The SmartEEs kick-off meeting was held on 14  – 15 September, in Grenoble, at CEA facilities. The project brings together 7 competence centres and 3 partners dealing with business support and networking. During the meeting, several product concepts were presented. These will be included in the Market Place platform where Innovative Companies will be inspired by different potential applications for flexible electronics products. Three workshops were also organized during the meeting to decide on the contents of the Market Place (presenting the SmartEEs services accessible through a One-Stop-Shop); the evaluation and selection process for the proposals (Application Experiments) for innovative companies was discussed and the target groups and related Dissemination strategies were also defined.

20 Application Experiments will be conducted to explore the technology transfer into business, organization of cooperation, access to finance, services to be provided and act as showcases to raise awareness and activate potential users. The first SmartEEs call for proposals (Application Experiment) will be published in SmartEEs website in November 2017. More information will come soon!

H2020 SME Instrument Changes

As of January 2018, the SME Instrument and Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) will become a part of the European Innovation Council (EIC) pilot, which aims to target radically new, breakthrough products, services, processes or business models that open up new markets. This transition is expected to bring about also some changes in the SME Instrument with an aim to expand the reach of its benefits to the European innovation ecosystem.

The SME Instrument’s redesign is planned to improve both its accessibility and the excellence of its selection process. Changes include:

  • Full bottom-up selection approach – the removal of pre-defined topics as foreseen in previous Work Programmes will allow entrepreneurs from all sectors of the economy to apply with their market-creating innovations.
  • Overhaul of the submission forms – the structure and content of these forms have been adapted in order to simplify the submission process for these entrepreneurs and adopt a business-oriented language that is more adapted to their reality.
  • Pool of expert-evaluators – the number of expert-evaluators in the pool with an investor profile has been significantly increased in order to better consider market and investment related elements in the evaluation.
  • Face-to-face interviews with selected Phase 2 applicants – the introduction of this additional step after the remote evaluation will give expert-evaluators a better grasp of the proposals and make sure that only the best and most disruptive innovation ideas pass the cut.

Fast Track to Innovation will exit the pilot phase and also become part of the European Innovation Counicl pilot. The features of FTI will stay the same as in its pilot phase.

Click HERE for draft Work Programme 2018 – 2020, draft applicant guide, draft SME proposal templates and draft pitch deck template.

Horizon 2020 Draft Work Programmes 2018 – 2020 Published

Since the beginning of October, the European Commission has been publishing draft Horizon 2020 Work Programmes for years 2018 – 2020. Even though the official adoption and publication is foreseen for the end of October 2017, the draft work programme parts are made public before the official adoption of the Work Programme 2018-2020 in order to allow a timely preparation of project proposals. Click HERE to find out more.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on BIOPRINTING – Engineering Complex Bioarchitectures To Biomimic Nature: A Step Closer To The Development Of Artificial Organs

On 6 October 2017, the tenth from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  A presentation titled  „BIOPRINTING – Engineering Complex Bioarchitectures To Biomimic Nature: A Step Closer To The Development Of Artificial Organs“ was given by Marc Thurner, CEO and founder of regenHU Ltd. Active in the advancement of biofabrication for over 15 years he is a leading contributor to the 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering scene.

regenHU — a three dimensional biotechnology company, exploiting the potential of 3D bioprinting & cell based therapies — is a creative innovator in the development of biomedical products for regenerative medicine & drug discovery. Based in Fribourg, Switzerland, regenHU is a pioneer and global leader in its field, converging digital manufacturing (3D printing), biomaterials and biotechnology to create transformational innovations in Healthcare

In the webinar, regenHU’s cutting edge biofabrication process, which creates infinite possibilities in the manufacture of artificial tissues and organs, was presented. By engineering Macro & Nano architectures in a single process unit, regenHU has opened the door to a whole new world of possibilities allowing us to mimic biological systems identical to those found in nature. Click  HERE for the webinar recording.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs). Download all the previous webinars HERE.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Horizon 2020 Funding Opportunities for Regenerative Medicine

On Thursday, 21 September 2017, the ninth from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  A presentation titled  „Horizon 2020 Funding Opportunities for Regenerative Medicine“ was given by Dr. Rudolf Fryček, the Founder and CEO of AMIRES and representing Vice-Chair of ETPN RegMed WG. Click HERE for a bio.

In his presentation, Dr. Fyček provided an overview of opportunities for funding of regenerative medicine projects from the upcoming Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018 – 2020, mentioned some of already funded projects, their technologies and key movers.  The presentation used searches from AMIplexus, a cooperation visualization and search tool for projects funded by Horizon 2020 – a European Union’s research and innovation framework programme. Click HERE for more about AMIplexus. Click HERE for the presentation and HERE for the webinar recording.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs). Download all the previous webinars HERE.

Quantum Cascade Lasers by Alpes Lasers

Alpes Lasers is a Swiss engineering company pioneering advanced light sources, especially Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) used in various applications such as gas detection.  The cascade laser is a semiconductor laser. It has the property of emitting in the wavelength range of the mid- and far- infrared. It can thus emit between 4 and 15 microns with very high reliability. It is impossible to arrive at these levels by standard laser diodes and it is very inefficient with conventional lasers that operate at cryogenic temperature.

Due to very specific needs of customers, Alpes Lasers has very few recurring sales, as each case of detection requires a special laser. In the early years Alpes Lasers was able to sell developments, however, it is no loner possible. It is the R & D part of the company that allows Alpes Lasers to be extremely agile to meet the many needs. The public funds allowed Alpes Lasers to finance development. That is why the company reached out to platinn Swiss innovation platform for coaching.

Under the supervision of Dr. Rudolf Fryček, the coaching was done on two levels: (1) communication to partners of potential projects, which brought the company to the Horizon 2020 project WaterSpy, (2) assisting to writing of EUROSTARS project proposals. According to Dr. Fryček, “Alpes Lasers has an indisputable capacity to innovate and to personalize its offer. There is an opportunity to address promising segments to move towards the industrialization stage of the company. European projects can help Alpes Lasers by sharing the risk in terms of technologies, markets or partners. New market opportunities for QCLs are emerging. In the era of the Internet of things, one can expect the growing interest towards chemical and biochemical sensors for which the technology controlled by Alpes Lasers could prove to be decisive.”

Click HERE for the full interview in French.

ULTRAPLACAD video on R2R mass manufacturing

The integrated microfluidics for the ULTRAPLACAD plasmonic cartridge is manufactured with a Roll-to Roll (R2R) process at VTT. In the video, you’ll see the different steps for mass-production: laser processing, lamination, dispersion of biomolecules and final assembly. This Roll-to-Roll manufacturing process will allow to develop in ULTRAPLACAD a plasmonic device for early, ultrasensitive detection of cancer.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Panbio-electronics

On Thursday, 31 August 2017, the eighth from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  A presentation titled  „Panbio-electronics“ was given by Prof. Daniel Simon, the Head of the Organic Bioelectronics group of the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at the Linköping University (click HERE). Click HERE for a bio.

In his presentation, prof. Simon shared achievements of his group’s research on organic electronics and their animal and mammalian applications, particularly relating to neuroscience.  Moreover, it has been recently shown that organic electronics can also be applied to augment plant systems, bringing decades of anthropocentric R&D to the plant kingdom. Click HERE for the presentation and HERE for the webinar recording.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs). Download all the previous webinars HERE.

Cooperation offers of Mendel University for H2020 projects

In view of the upcoming Horizon 2020 calls for 2018, Mendel University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in Brno, Czech Republic (click HERE), its Laboratory of cancer biology and nanomedicine, presents the following two project ideas:

  • Nanobiotechnologies based on nanoparticles supported by protein cages with catalytic and enzyme-mimetic activity (click HERE for details)
  • Engineered protein cages based on apoferritins for active drug delivery and environmental-responsive intracellular disassociation and release of anticancer drugs (click HERE details)

The presented ideas fall into the scope of the following H2020 calls for 2018:

SC1-BHC-09-2018      Innovation platforms for advanced therapies of the future
BIOTEC-04-2018        New biotechnologies for environmental remediation

For details or questions, please contact Dr. Dagmar Hegerova at dagmar.chudobova@centrum.cz or +420 728 048 137.

 

European Innovation Scoreboard 2017

The 2017 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) has been published. EIS provides a comparative analysis of innovation performance in EU countries, other European countries, and regional neighbours. It assesses relative strengths and weaknesses of national innovation systems and helps countries identify areas they need to address. The 2017 report presents a refined analytical framework. Rankings are therefore not directly comparable with previous editions, but time series using the new analytical framework allow performance to be tracked over time.

According to the report, the innovation performance of the European countries continues to increase. The reasons are:

  • human resources
  • innovation-friendly environment
  • own-resource investments
  • attractive research systems

Sweden remains the EU innovation leader, followed by Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK, and Germany. Lithuania, Malta, the UK, the Netherlands, and Austria are the fastest growing innovators. In a global comparison, the EU is catching up with Canada and the US, but South Korea and Japan are pulling ahead. China shows the fastest progress among international competitors.  Click HERE to find out details.

EIT InnoEnergy: Investment Round funding now available year-round

InnoEnergy, Europe’s sustainable energy innovation engine, is making its Investment Round, for supporting and launching revolutionary clean energy innovations, open year-round to offer flexibility to businesses to shorten the journey from lab to launch. During 2017, the Investment Round has already supported seven new projects in the fields of renewables, smart and efficient buildings and energy efficiency – linked to €13.5 million in funding. Since the launch of its Investment Round in 2011, InnoEnergy has supported more than 90 projects with €170.5 million funding, resulting in €3 billion of forecasted sales. This has contributed to 77 patents and 323 project partners working on projects spanning eight technology areas across Europe.

The Investment Round is open to proven European technology concepts that will help to change the future of the energy industry. By offering funding and connecting successful applicants with InnoEnergy’s network of industry experts, the initiative helps address challenges faced when commercialising technology to accelerate innovation.

To receive funding in 2017, your application needs to be submitted before 23 October 2017. Click HERE for more.

Funding Application Criteria:

  • Your aim should be to develop an innovative product or service which could be ready to go to market within less than five years.
  • You have successfully carried out a proof of concept (pilot or type test validation), corresponding to a Technology Readiness Level greater or equal to five (TRL >= 5)
  • You must be part of a consortium of at least three, but no more than seven, European partners from both the research and industry sectors (InnoEnergy can provide a ‘matchmaking service’ to help you find suitable consortia members if required – find out more here.)
  • The consortium needs to be made up of partners from at least two different countries and at least one of the companies commercialising the product or service must be involved in the project from the beginning.

New H2020 SME Instrument business acceleration services kick-off

In the coming months, the Executive Agency for SMEs (EASME) plans to enlarge the business acceleration services available for the companies funded under the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument. The goal is to support the SMEs on their growth path with networking, learning opportunities and facilitating access to business partners and investors.  On top of the already available Overseas Trade Fair Programme and Business innovation coaching, SMEs funded from the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument will now get an access to:

  • Matchmaking events to meet investors and business partners
  • Privileged access to finance and investors
  • Peer to peer academy

The business acceleration services are offered under “Phase 3” of the SME Instrument. They are designed exclusively for companies funded under the SME Instrument Phase 1 and/or Phase 2 and are accessible during and after the grant duration. There is no participation limit to different events as long as the service is relevant for the company’s needs.

Are you interested in finding out more about the options for you? Click HERE for details.

Report on a new vision for EU research and innovation

A report on a new vision for EU research and innovation titled “LAB – FAB – APP: Investing in the European future” was prepared by an independent high level group of leading experts chaired by Pascal Lamy, President Emeritus of the Jacques Delors Institute. The report highlights that in the last twenty years, two thirds of economic growth in industrialised countries is attributed to research and innovation. Its recommendations focus on maximising the impact of EU investments in research and innovation in order to increase prosperity and solve our biggest societal challenges. Click HERE for the report.

The Group proposes eleven recommendations:

  1. Prioritise research and innovation in EU and national budgets, including a doubling of the budget of the post-2020 EU research and innovation programme
  2. Build a true EU innovation policy that creates future markets
  3. Educate for the future and invest in people who will make the change
  4. Design the EU R&I programme for greater impact
  5. Adopt a mission-oriented, impact-focused approach to address global challenges
  6. Rationalise the EU funding landscape and achieve synergy with structural funds
  7. Simplify further, privilege impact over process
  8. Mobilise and involve citizens
  9. Better align EU and national R&I investment
  10. Make international R&I cooperation a trademark of EU research and innovation
  11. Capture and better communicate impact

The High Level Group on maximising the impact of EU Research and Innovation Programmes brings together 12 leading personalities from across Europe with a wide range of expertise. The members hold key posts in universities or research organisations, are leaders of industrial giants and dynamic SMEs, serve in high-level policy positions in national or international organisations, and play important roles in civil society organisations.

H2020 Partner Search on Participant Portal

A new Partner Search feature has been added to the Participant Portal of the European Commission, which allows the participants to search for potential partners for project proposals. The Partner Search can be accessed in the Participant Portal, under How to ParticipatePartner Search section on the left side of the screen. Details on this tool can be found HERE (registration is needed in order to access the information).

ISFOE 2017 Key Takeaways

ISFOE is the biggest scientific & technology event in Flexible Organic & Printed Electronics (OEs). This year researchers, scientists, engineers, business managers, and policy makers from 59 countries participated to the event from 3 to 6 July in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Innovative experimental and commercial materials including special polymers and metallic nanomaterials for the development of organic electronics were presented during the first day. Industries and research centres were describing different methods for the mass production of OEs including printing technologies, R2R processes, laser technologies, in-line quality control, etc. AMIRES presented the concept of the pilot lines for flexible electronics of the two EU projects PI-SCALE and InSCOPE during the workshop Manufacturing and laser technologies. Click HERE for the presentation.

A special workshop was dedicated to Graphene and another workshop on 5 July was focused on Smart Textile and Wearables with the presentation of potential applications and demonstrators. Dr. Dionysios Manessis, coordinator of  the MEDILIGHT project that develops a smart device for chronic wound healing, presented the last project achievements and opportunities for the exploitation of the results. During the Biosensors workshop, research results for RNA, DNA and biomarkers detection were presented including the role of functionalized gold nanoparticles developed within ULTRAPLACAD project by the group of Prof. Giuseppe Spoto.

On 6 July, the Greek vice-minister for Environment, Energy and Climate change Dr. Socrates Famellos joined the workshop Renewable Energy and Storage, highlighting the importance of renewable energy sources and reuse of materials. Materials and technologies for low-carbon energy and for energy storage were presented by CEA and LEITAT.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Selenium nanoparticles and their utilization in scaffolds

On Thursday, 29 June 2017, the seventh from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  A presentation titled  “Selenium nanoparticles and their utilization in scaffolds” was given by Prof. Vojtěch Adam, the Head of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Vice-Rector for Science and Development at Mendel University in Brno. Click HERE for a bio and HERE for information about Mendel University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

In his presentation, prof. Adam outlined the possibilities for utilization of selenium nanoparticles and shared some latest research achievements on selenium nanoparticles and their utilization in scaffolds. Of a particular interest was SelenBact, a skin healing gel for veterinary use, which the Mendel University developed in partnership with MedicProgress and which is today already on the market. Click HERE for the presentation and HERE for the webinar recording. For any questions of inquiries please contact Prof. Adam at vojtech.adam@mendelu.cz.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs). Download all the previous webinars HERE.

Euro Nano Forum 2017 Highlights

The EuroNanoForum 2017 Conference (ENF2017) took place last week in Valletta, Malta under the auspices of the Maltese Presidency of the European Union. During the event, over 600 delegates (scientists, industry, policy makers from the nanotech community) from all over the world gathered to discuss and outline how nanotechnologies and advanced materials can revitalize manufacturing in Europe.  The following are some key takeaways from the sessions and the exhibition:

AMIplexus, Horizon 2020 cooperation visualization tool for better innovation-focused decisions for everybody who needs to get complex picture of already funded Horizon 2020 EU projects, their pipeline technologies and key movers, was introduced as a cloud-based application by AMIRES.  AMIplexus provides a fundamental overview of any type of technology of the application field, including key performers and their relations. During the event, the greatest interest in the tool came from:

  • Private companies, which could search already funded technologies, look up what their competitors already do and find experienced scientific partners for their project ideas
  • Universities and research organizations, which could use the tool to find partners among private companies with an experience in Horizon 2020 projects, see if their project idea has already been funded or find already funded “sister” projects for clustering
  • Support associations and contact points, which could help their clients to connect with the top performers and efficiently enter the word of Horizon 2020

AMIplexus received, among others, appreciation not only from the industrial and scientific communities, but also from the Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Schembri of the Parliament of Malta.  The tool is now available online on a subscription basis (click HERE for more info and the pricing plans).

During the ENF2017 event, services of two pilot lines in the areas of lighting and hybrid printed electronics were presented. Namely,

  • InSCOPE pilot line project, which aims to create impact by offering a pilot line service that advances accuracy and reliability of hybrid printed electronics. The pilot line is modular, ensuring a comprehensive toolbox of printing, assembly, production integration and process validation distributed over the InSCOPE partners. It enables users to replace PCB (printed circuit boards) with printed circuits on foil. Printed electronics replace the rigid conventional circuit boards by conformable foils. This way electronics can be transferred into 3D shaped products and at the same time be manufactured on a large scale, and ultimately on a roll-to-roll basis. Click HERE for more
  • PI-SCALE pilot line project for the production of customized flexible OLEDs. The pilot line includes all the steps required to create advanced flexible OLED product prototypes: specialist high performance moisture barrier and electrode films, sheet-to-sheet and roll-to-roll flexible OLED fabrication, flexible device encapsulation, and lamination, bonding and system-level hybrid integration of thin film flexible electronics. Click HERE for details

The Pilot lines are serviced by top European RTD’s with leading technological positions and give a great chance for SMEs to enter the market by lowering the threshold for experimentation with envisioned innovative product concepts.

In the session on Nano-enabled healthcare, nano-medicine and medical technologies“, new regulatory frame for medical devices and in-vitro diagnostics was discussed. The new regulations 2017/745 and 2017/746, which introduce among others a new compulsory certification system, were adopted on 5 April. The new rules will only apply after a transitional period. Namely, 3 years after entry into force for the Regulation on medical devices (spring 2020) and 5 years after entry into force (spring 2022) for the Regulation on in-vitro diagnostic medical devices (click HERE for more). In connection to the new regulation deployment, the European Commission plans to launch Open Innovation Hubs in which industries will have an opportunity to develop and test medical technologies in line with the new regulation. The first call is expected to be published in October 2017. Moreover, in the session, information about a cellulose-based hydrogel as a promising technology for 3D cell culturing and wound healing by UPM Biochemicals was provided (click HERE). Last, launch of ESTHER, a new association which aims to promote innovative European Health Technology Industry, particularly support SMEs from R&D&I to market access, was announced.  ESTHER is expected to commence in January 2018 (click HERE for more).

In the session on “Nanotechnologies for industrial success” ,the following were mentioned as some of the market shaping points:

  • IIOT/Smart Factory starts to reshape the world-wide manufacturing
  • Lesson learnt from previous 3 industrial revolutions is that those who do not drive and adapt disappear
  • Algorithms will go across company boundaries
  • Risk of factory hacking will not be negligible
  • Cloud storage will increase data protection needs
  • Data encryption needs a breakthrough – EU is way falling behind the US and China
  • Push towards the higher bit density and computing speed

As the key challenges for the industry, mathematical culture across organization complementing what is considered technical knowledge needs to be boosted, a cognitive type of the worker needs to be developed, IP needs to be better managed and emphatic people management needs to be developed.

ENF2017 presentations and conclusions will be available HERE.

H2020 Seal of Excellence – A story from Italy

ProPHOS Chemicals, which submitted to Phase 1 of the SME Instrument (June 2014) a proposal on recovering exhausted extinguishing powder through an eco-innovative process that can extract noble components to use in agriculture, passed a very competitive selection but didn’t get funded. Thanks to the Seal of Excellence received in 2015  ProPHOS Chemicals won 25,000 euros of funding support from the region of Lombardy, thanks to which it was able to go ahead with their idea and was eventually successful in Phase 2 of the SME Instrument.

Click HERE and listen to the success story of Dr. Marco Michelotti, Chief Operating Officer of ProPHOS Chemicals. AMIRES was happy to support ProPHOS in Phase 2 SME Instrument submission.

 

SME Instrument Accessible to Swiss Companies

An article titled “SME Instrument Accessible to Swiss Companies” by Dr. Rudolf Frycek of AMIRES was published in the June issue of the Focus bulletin issued by platinn innovation platform in Switzerland.  The article (in French) can be accessed HERE.  Below is its English translation. Enjoy the reading!

Since January 2017 the Swiss SMEs can receive direct funding for their innovation projects from a specific SME Instrument in Horizon 2020 (2014-2020). The instrument bridges the missing funding between research and development activities towards commercialization of products, services or processes that are ready to face global market competition. The funding was particularly designed to be light in administration and organization and allows the company to fully react to individual needs (e.g. in terms of subcontracting or capital investments). Because the funding is provided to projects with advanced maturity (higher technology readiness level) a single company receives a grant up to 70% of the their costs. This tool allows to share the technological and market risks related to the commercialization of highly innovative projects.

 The programme offers € 50.000 lump sum for Phase I, where an SME can strengthen the technical concept and its feasibility, test pilot application, to start market experimentation, business planning and to secure protection of intellectual property. This information is practically needed for Phase II, which allows prototyping, testing, piloting, miniaturisation, scaling-up and market replication and companies may receive up to € 2.5 Million. By today, about 2650 European SMEs received support and there is more than € 1.8 Billion still available for this instrument till 2020. In 2017 the highest funding is allocated to innovations from the field of healthcare biotechnology sector, disruptive ICT, transport and smart cities mobility, low carbon and efficient energy system, climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials and nanotechnologies advanced materials or advanced manufacturing and processing technologies but others are possible as well.

 The Swiss innovative SMEs are gradually reacting to this opportunity, which can boost their international growth (till now 61 SMEs submitted a project to Phase I and 10 for Phase II). Despite the demonstrated fact the supported companies were mainly from industrialization or renewable life-cycle stage, the start-ups are not excluded. The competition for funding is relatively high (with success rate of 6-9%) therefore only the projects with high-potential innovation, demonstrated capacity and well-prepared proposals have chances to succeed. The other success factors are scalability of the business model, long-term value, team composition and experience.

 The platinn clients can receive a complementary coaching for having higher success in the selection process. The service Cooperation provides proven hands-on experience with proposal preparation to both phases. The service Business Development helps with methodology on the business planning and market experimentation.

Research on bio-sensing technologies and its applications

On 7 – 10 May, 2017, the 5th International Conference on Bio-Sensing Technology took place in Riva Del Garda, Italy.  The event brought together leaders from industry and academia to exchange and share their experiences, present research results, explore collaborations and to spark new ideas, with the aim of developing new projects and exploiting new technology for bio-sensing applications. During the event, several interesting research results were presented including: the development of biosensors using optical fibres, of cotton fibres coated with CNTs, the description of different PCR free techniques, the demonstration of a wearable (wristband) graphene sensor and of a paper based microfluidic devices for urine analysis. Posters on the integration of Raman within multi-task instrument and the concept of Internet of the Body were shown respectively by Horiba and IBM. Presentations about IoT/Connected workplaces (stress/fatigue monitoring), OLED used in lateral flow strips and detection of E.coli in the ice cream production were provided by the industries Toshiba, Cambridge Display Technology and Carpigiani.

Linked to the presentation from the US Naval Research Lab regarding the importance of funding for research activities, Elena Turco of AMIRES presented ULTRAPLACAD project as a success case. The project impact, IVD and liquid biopsy market overview and benchmarking with existing systems on market were presented (click HERE for the presentation).

H2020 SME Instrument Impact Report 2017 released

European Commission has released first Horizon 2020 (H2020) SME Instrument Impact Report,  which highlights the first insights into the growth trends of selected SMEs funded by the SME Instrument, their profile as well as the key features of the programme that have made its unique selling points. It contains cumulative data from 2014 to 2016.  The main highlights of the first three years of the Instrument include:  31.000 applications, 2 457 SMEs supported and €882 million distributed in 36 countries. The SME Instrument has generated on average a 250% increase in turn-over and 122% in employment for funded companies. The programme celebrated two IPOs, €480.7 million of private investment leveraged and deployed 400 coaches to help the funded SMEs fine-tune their market strategy and make contacts. This is addition to getting companies ranked in lists of fast-growing companies, precious awards and plenty of innovative entries on the market.

Click HERE for hightlights and HERE for the full report.

MEDILIGHT Blue Light for Chronic Wound Healing

Being in its third year, the MEDILIGHT project, an aim of which is to develop a smart medical device for professional wound care, already brought about interesting research results in its biological part.  Click HERE and find out more!

A shortened version of the press release has also been published by EU Publications Office on CORDIS, Community Research and Development Information Service (click HERE).

Swiss SMEs Seek H2020 SME Instrument Funding

Since the association of Switzerland as of 1 June 2017, 69 SMEs submitted their applications into the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument calls.  During the first 2017 cut-off, Swiss entities applied for funding of 16 Phase 1 and 4 Phase 2 projects.  However, in the second 2017 cut-off, 43 Phase 1 and 6 Phase 2 applications were received. AMIRES was happy to support several of Swiss applicants through its coaching and consulting services.

H2020 Annotated Model Grant Agreement Update

An updated version of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme Annotated Model Grant Agreement has been published on 21 April 2017. The updates are highlighted and concern the following areas:

  • “International partner” as a new type of the third party
  • Internal invoicing rules
  • In-house consultants – eligibility criteria
  • New definition additional remuneration

Click HERE for the updated document.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Implantable polymeric scaffolds for neural repair

On Thursday, 4 May 2017, the sixth from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  A presentation titled “Implantable polymeric scaffolds for neural repair” was be given by Prof. Maria Letizia Focarete, Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician” and Health Sciences and Technologies – Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research, University of Bologna  (click HERE for a bio) and Prof. Laura Calzà, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology and Health Sciences and Technologies – Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research, University of Bologna (click HERE for a CV).

In their presentation, prof. Focarete and prof. Calzà introduced activities of the Health Sciences and Technologies—Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research of the University of Bologna related to regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and then illustrated a couple of recent research achievements on implantable polymeric biomaterials for neural repair. The presentation could be downloaded HERE and the recording of the webinar is available HERE.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs). Download all the previous webinars HERE.

SABINA Business Models and More Discussed in Sevilla

SABINA (SmArt BI-directional multi eNergy gAteway) project partners met during M6 meeting in Sevilla, Spain, at the premises of Schneider Electric. Apart from the overview of the work achieved during last 6 months in technical Work Packages, two workshops took place dedicated to business models and test site scenarios.

The consortium had also the opportunity to meet with its three External Advisory Board members, who took part in interesting discussions and provided valuable advices for SABINA’s future work.

SABINA partners will meet again in autumn 2017 in Denmark.

Extra €200 million for H2020

The European Parliament has approved additional €200 million for Horizon 2020, the current EU research and innovation funding programme, by adopting a compromise on the mid-term review of the EU budget. The €200 million top-up for Horizon 2020 is part of additional means amounting to €6 billion that will help the EU tackle urgent challenges such as the migration crisis, strengthening security, boosting growth and creating jobs. The additional funds will be distributed as follows:

Click HERE for more.

 

Record Number of Patents Granted by EPO in 2016

In the recently published Annual Report 2016, European Patent Office (EPO) shared information about the record number of granted patents in 2016 – 96 000, which is 40% more than in 2015.  In 2016, EPO received about 160 000 European patent applications, nearly at the same level as in 2015. Such high number indicates a strong interest of innovating firms to assert their patent rights on the European technology market. Despite a slight decrease, the Medical technology  remained the number one field in which the most applications were filed. The strongest growth was seen in Electrical machinery/apparatus/energy, followed by Transport and Computer technology. Pharmaceuticals and Organic fine chemistry saw the greatest drop in the number of applications. European companies filed the most applications in nine of the ten most active fields of technology, with US companies leading only in Computers. Click HERE to find out more.

 

Source: European Patent Office, Annual Report 2016, Country Profiles

MEDILIGHT for chronic wound healing cited as New Pipeline Product by GlobalData

The MEDILIGHT collaborative project on developing a smart, self-adaptable system, which will provide personalized light therapy to patients with chronic wounds was featured as a new pipeline product for would care management in the GlobalData Medical Intelligence Center Daily Alert published on 13 April 2017. GlobalData provides reports with data on a wide range of key metrics and indicators in the consumer goods, retail, technology and healthcare sectors along with valuable insight to enable more informed decision making. The information is available only to subscribed users (click HERE).

 

H2020 Energy Efficiency 2017 Calls

On 6 April 2017, AMIRES took part in an online brokerage webinar on Horizon 2020 Energy Efficiency 2017 Calls organized by the C-Energy 2020 project. During the event, the upcoming Horizon 2020 call for proposals for Energy Efficiency with deadline on 7 June 2017 were discussed and the participants had an opportunity to pitch their project ideas/cooperation offers.  AMIRES was represented by Dr. Václav Smítka (Programme Manager for Energy and Energy Efficiency), who had a presentation on AMIRES´ services and capabilities (click HERE). If you have missed the event, you can listen to the recording and download all the presentations HERE.

Shall you have any questions regarding the below upcoming calls, please do note hesitate to contact Dr. Smítka at smitka@amires.eu.

Horizon 2020 Energy Efficiency Call for Proposals 2017 – Call topics:

Heating and cooling
EE-02-2017: Improving the performance of inefficient district heating networks  https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-02-2017.html

Consumers
EE-06-2017: Engaging private consumers towards sustainable energy https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-06-2016-2017.html
EE-09-2017: Engaging and activating public authorities https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-09-2016-2017.html

Buildings
EE-11-2017: Overcoming market barriers and promoting deep renovation of buildings https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-11-2016-2017.html
EE-14-2017: Construction skills https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-14-2016-2017.html

Industry
EE-15-2017: Increasing capacities for actual implementation of energy efficiency measures in industry and services  https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-15-2017.html
EE-18-2017: Energy efficiency of industrial parks through energy cooperation and mutualised energy services  https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-18-2017.html
EE-19-2017: Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions for energy efficiency  https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-19-2017.html

Financing energy efficiency
EE-22-2017: Project Development Assistance https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-22-2016-2017.html
EE-23-2017: Innovative financing schemes https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-23-2017.html
EE-24-2017: Making the energy efficiency market investible https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/topics/ee-24-2016-2017.html

National Financial Support for Czech SMEs

The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TACR) has opened a new possibility for financing of excellent projects of Czech small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).  For applications submitted into the very competitive Horizon 2020 (H2020) SME Instrument, which are evaluated as high quality projects but due to a limited funding can not be financed, European Commission issues so called Seal of Excellence certificate.  Through its GAMA programme – subprogramme 2, TACR will support projects, which received this Seal of Excellence under Phase 1 of the SME instrument. The first call for submission of applications opened on 20 March 2017. Czech SMEs which submitted their application into the February SME Instrument cut-off and received the Seal of Excellence certificate will have chance to apply for the Czech national funding until 2 May 2017.

While on the national level this option to finance recipients of the Seal of Excellence certificate is utilized by 16 EU member states, on the regional level it is only by 9 states. In the Czech Republic, up until recently, only SMEs headquartered in the South Moravian Region were able to receive such support.

Click HERE for information about the call (in Czech) and HERE about an information seminar for applicants, which will take place on 10 April 2017 (also in Czech).

MEDILIGHT brochure is out!

MEDILIGHT project on chronic wound healing by a personalized light therapy has released its brochure.  It offers information about the project scope, chronic wounds, MEDILIGHT product, its application and more. Click HERE and enjoy the reading!

ULTRAPLACAD: European Consortium Developing Bimodal Liquid Biopsy Test for Colorectal Cancer on GenomeWeb

The project coordinator Giuseppe Spoto (INBB) and project manager Elena Turco (AMIRES) had the opportunity to present the ULTRAPLACAD project to the editor of GenomeWeb, an independent online news organization based in New York and focused on the latest advancements in molecular biology research and molecular diagnostics. The article, entitled “European Consortium Developing Bimodal Liquid Biopsy Test for Colorectal Cancer”, was published on 20th March 2017. During the interview with the journalist Giuseppe Spoto described the project objectives, its innovative technological aspects, the Consortium of partners, their roles and the first achieved results. Elena Turco highlighted the socio-economic impact that ULTRAPLACAD will have on European citizens and presented the preliminary plan for the validation of the final solution and its introduction into the market. For more information about ULTRAPLACAD click HERE. The entire GenomeWeb article is available HERE.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Application of stable Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGF2) in wound healing

On Thursday, 16 March, the fifth from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  A presentation titled “Application of stable FGF2 in wound healing” was delivered by Dr. Zdenek Rucka, former researcher in the field of molecular biology now working as sales and marketing manager at Enantis, s.r.o. Enantis is a growing biotechnology company located in Brno, Czech Republic, specializing on protein engineering and enzyme technologies.

Webinar summary:

Brief introduction of Enantis and its R&D activities was followed by information about current and future use of growth factors (mainly FGFs) in regenerative medicine. Stable FGF2 developed by protein engineers at Enantis was introduced and its possible use in wound healing was further discussed. The opportunities for collaboration with other partners were presented.

The presentation could be downloaded HERE and the recording of the webinar HERE.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs). Download all the previous webinars HERE.

H2020 Opportunities for Swiss SMEs

On 21 February 2017, AMIRES along with Service d’economie, and Euresearch held an event for companies from the Canton of Neuchâtel to present opportunities offered by H2020, particularly the news related to SME Instrument, previously not available to Swiss SMEs.  During the workshop, Dr. Rudolf Fryček (AMIRES) presented  the overall mission of Cantonal platinn support towards more accessible, less risky and less complicated involvement of companies in H2020 and he has shown the service started in 2015 is successful already, as it generated more than 2.2 M€ in H2020 grants for Neuchâtel-based companies.  Mr. Michel Delabays and Mr. Emile Dupont from Euresearch introduced the changes related to full association of Switzerland and the SME instrument conditions. R. Fryček shared the long-term experience in coaching and supporting SMEs, including applying for SME Instrument grants. He also presented some exemplary projects related to Neuchâtel industries. Some of the key messages were:

  • H2020 provides many opportunities for funding strategically focused innovation
  • SME Instrument is a unique tool for Swiss-based companies, particularly those having European Value chain and are targeting pan-European or Global market with their innovation
  • 16 Swiss SMEs submitted already their SME Instrument Phase I and already 4 Swiss SMEs submitted to Phase II and these numbers will grow exponentially
  • Testimonials of successful AMIRES supported SME Instrument applicants will be presented during the National event in Bern on 14th March 2017

After a lab visit at Alpes Lasers, a Swiss engineering company pioneering advanced light sources, especially Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) used in various applications such as gas detection, the participants had an opportunity to network, develop new contacts and discuss their project ideas.

Report on Micro-Nano-Bio-Systems technology and market for its products

As a follow-up to the 10th Concertation & Consultation Workshop on Micro-Nano-Bio- Systems-MNBS 2016, which took place in June 2016 in Otranto, Italy, a report (click HERE) providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of MNBS technology and the market for its products, was published. Focusing on MNBS applications in healthcare, agriculture, food and the environment the workshop discussed “advances made in commercialization of projects and drew on the lessons learnt from late stage or completed projects. The role of validation was strongly reinforced and a clear piece of best practice: ensure validation at the earliest possible stage, emerged. Many projects demonstrated the importance of the development of the commercial team in effective exploitation.”

Some of the MNBS technology recommendations suggested by the report:

  • Healthcare applications of MNBS should remain a major focus for the sector, e.g. PoC diagnostics, personalized medicine and health monitoring.
  • Expand the applications of MNBS in agriculture, food and environment markets, with a strong focus on low cost systems.
  • A strong push to modularization is recommended (Lego brick model).
  • Encourage the links between MNBS and other technology areas.

MEDILIGHT project was represented by Dr. Dionysios Manessis, who presented MEDILIGHT research on the chronic wound healing using the light therapy.

ULTRAPLACAD mid-term results: nanostructured surface architectures and preliminary plasmonic readers

After the first 21 months, the project ULTRAPLACAD is halfway, with important results already achieved. NESPRI and PEFSI nanostructure geometries have been identified. Probes for the selected all-RAS mutations and microRNAs have been synthesized. Candidate antigenic peptides for a-TAA detection have been defined. Attomolar detection of all-RAS mutations and femtomolar detection of microRNAs have been demonstrated. Besides the first version of NESPRI and PEFSI reader laboratory prototypes have been completed and the high-volume fabrication of nanostructured disposable chips has been demonstrated.

ULTRAPLACAD will develop a bimodal industrial prototype integrating novel surface plasmon resonance imaging (NESPRI) and plasmon-enhanced fluorescence (PEFSI) sensing technologies. The aim is to detect mutated DNAs, microRNAs and tumor autoantibodies (a-TAAs). The detection of all these molecular cancer biomarkers freely circulating in blood of colorectal cancer patients will be combined in a single device that will overcome hurdles and limitations of the currently available approaches.

ULTRAPLACAD project has a duration of 42 months, please, stay updated about the upcoming project results! For more information, please, visit www.ultraplacad.eu

LASSIE-FP7 final results: modular intelligent luminaire

LASSIE-FP7 project finished on 31st December 2016. The final prototype demonstrator fabricated by REGENT consists of two LASSIE-FP7 modules of 20 cm x 20 cm. The final luminaire consists of a white plastic rapid-prototyping moulded-housing, a LED foil with printed circuits heat management layers, a light management foil system and a colour conversion film. An active colour feedback loop is also incorporated in each module.

In the last months LASSIE-FP7 project was mentioned in LED Professional Newsletter, LuxLumina magazine, Bulletin of Electrosuisse and Newspaper L’Express. The LASSIE-FP7 final demonstrator was recently shown at Electrosuisse Forum LED 2017  and at Photonics West 2017 in San Francisco.

As stated by the European Commission after the final review meeting, the project has achieved most of its objectives and technical goals for the period with relatively minor deviations.

The final LASSIE-FP7 press release was published by CSEM in 3 languages on 5th December 2016 (click HERE). Objective of the last press release was to announce the end of the project, to highlight the main achievements and perspectives for future exploitation and to remind and advertise the Workshop in Muttenz. The title was “LASSIE-FP7, a European project that explores innovative intelligent lighting solutions” and it contained publishable contents and pictures from the project, including the LASSIE-FP7 final application case.

The key project results and their potential use were also described in articles published at page 44 of LED Professional, in LuxLumina magazine, in Bulletin 10/2016 (October) of Electrosuisse and an interview with the project coordinator was published in the local Newspaper L’Express.”

Congratulations to the LASSIE-FP7 partners!

INternational Smart Collaborative Open-access hybrid Printed Electronics pilot line (InSCOPE) Project Launched

On 11 – 12 January, 2017, a kick-off meeting of a new H2020 InSCOPE project took place in Eidhoven, the Netherlands.  The project will set-up an open access pilot line service for Hybrid TOLAE (H-TOLAE) systems. It will build a revolutionary platform business model for a faster transition of product concept from R&D to products and a support of the build of manufacturing capacity.  The applications addressed cover automotive, healthcare, smart packaging and buildings. The project will build upon expertise of the following partners:

  1. TNO, Netherlands
  2. CPI, United Kingdom
  3. CEA, France
  4. VTT, Finland
  5. INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO-ELECTRONICACENTRUM, Belgium
  6. PHILIPS LIGHTING, Netherlands
  7. ROBERT BOSCH, Germany
  8. WALTER PAK, Spain
  9. GSK, United Kingdom
  10. KONE, Finland
  11. AMIRES, Czech Republic

More information to follow soon!

Who are H2020 SME winners?

According to the European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry, there are more than 23 million SMEs in the EU, representing 99% of businesses. Those SMEs are a key driver for economic growth, innovation, employment and social integration. In Switzerland in 2009 an average of 53.6% of sales revenues were generated by exports by SMEs[1].

Horizon 2020 introduced a new funding instrument specifically designed for innovative SMEs. The dedicated SME instrument’s supports close-to-market activities, with the aim to give a strong boost to breakthrough innovation. Highly innovative SMEs with a clear commercial ambition and a potential for high growth and internationalisation are the prime target.

Almost half of the companies applying to the SME Instrument are micro-sized enterprises and almost a third are younger than 3 years (start-ups). 11% of the companies are backed by accelerators and 12% are spin-offs by academia[2]. On average the profile of the typical SME selected for funding has been on the market for 10.8 years, has an annual turnover of € 4 million and employs 21 people. It’s a good sign if the SME is based in an innovation hub, has received grants or venture capital funding, received innovation-related tax benefits, or won an innovation prize in the last 2 years[3]. Since its launch in 2014, SME Instrument attracts actors never involved in European R&I Programmes: newcomers are more and more successful in getting an SME Instrument grant (87% in 2015 compared to 80% in 2014).

 

Profile of the SMEs winners (2014-2016)[4]

SME Instrument is highly competitive with success rate 8% for Phase 1 and 6% for Phase 2. Spanish SMEs have been particularly successful, followed by firms from Italy, UK and Germany. Compared to other EU countries, Spain has a net of small innovative businesses and is efficient in making use of the offered by EU funding. Most of the Spanish funded companies work in the field of ICT, followed by energy efficiency and sustainable food.

It is worth noting that Italy and Spain account for the highest numbers of evaluated projects. A high number of submissions per country does not automatically correlate with a larger share of selected projects. Whereas some innovation support infrastructures encourage as many companies as possible to apply for the SME Instrument, other national and regional systems put a stronger emphasis on advice, such as determining the stage of product development at which submitting a project proposal could be the most beneficial for an SME. This approach appears to create more results (i.e. in Ireland).

 
 

Manufacturing is the most common activity for the businesses applying to SME Instrument and the ICT sector counts the biggest number of applicants and selected companies. In 2015, most of the projects funded were in the area of low-carbon energy systems. It was closely followed by food production and processing and biomarkers and medical devices. The analysis done at EASME shows that the renewable energy market is important for many sectors like manufacturing, S&T activities, Electricity, Water and waste treatment, Construction.

For the first cut-off of 2017, ICT remained the most popular topic, followed by Healthcare in biotechnology that ranked higher than usual. In fact, January cut-off was the only opportunity in 2017 to submit proposals on clinical research for validation on biomarkers that will be closed for the rest of the year. Other popular topics were Energy, Transport, Eco-innovation & raw materials and Agriculture & forestry.

 

The share of projects above threshold has increased over time. At the beginning of the programme 24% of projects scored above threshold. This share has almost doubled to 40% in November 2015. Applicants have clearly developed an understanding of what is expected of their applications. This has led to an increase of the overall quality of submitted project proposals during these two years.

The SME Instrument allows companies to resubmit their projects for evaluation without treating them differently from a first submission. The large majority (90%) of resubmissions are resubmitted once or twice. A majority of resubmitted projects improve their score. Around 55% of all resubmissions get a better score compared to previous submissions. Resubmissions in Phase 1 double their chance of being selected. The success rate in Phase 1 is 11% for resubmissions, compared to 7% for first time submissions. For Phase 2, the trend is less accentuated but resubmissions are still more likely to be funded (4,4%) compared to first time submissions (4,1%). In conclusion, resubmissions offer the companies an opportunity to improve their applications both in concept and in presentation, thus increasing chances of receiving funding.

For any questions or more information please contact Elena Turco.

[1] Swiss SMEs are small but international by Alexander Kuenzle, (Adapted from German by Julia Slater)

[2] EASME’s report of the first two years of implementation of the SME Instrument 2014-2015

[3] http://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/horizons-2020-sme-instrument

[4] The European SME Instrument, Catalysing European Innovation by Gabriela Mara (EASME) 23rd Nov. 2016

H2020 support to SMEs in 2017

In 2017, €437.5 mio of a financial support is available support to SMEs with innovative business idea at European or global scale. For that purpose 13 topics were identified by the European Commission. Proposals can be submitted for:

Phase 1. Concept & Feasibility Assessment

Idea to concept (6 months). The European Union will provide €50 000 in funding, and carry out a feasibility study to verify the viability of the proposed disruptive innovation or concept. The SME will draft an initial business proposal (around 10 pages).

Phase 2. Demonstration, Market Replication, R&D

Concept to Market-Maturity (1-2 years) Assisted by the EU, the SME will further develop its proposal through innovation activities, such as demonstration, testing, piloting, scaling up, and miniaturisation. It will also draft a more developed business plan (around 30 pages). Proposals will be based on a business plan developed on phase 1 or otherwise. The EU aims to contribute between €0.5 million and €2.5 million.

Phase 3. Commercialisation

Prepare for Market Launch. SMEs will receive extensive support, training, mentorship and facilitating access to risk finance as the project is further polished into a marketable product.

The deadlines for submission of applications in 2017 are:

Phase 1: 15 February, 3 May, 6 September, 8 November

Phase 2: 18 January, 6 April, 1 June, 18 October

In developing innovative ideas and strategies, AMIRES can be of your help with our vast experience in this programme and expertise in SME coaching.

CALL ID SME TOPICS BUDGET
2017
SMEInst-01 Open Disruptive Innovation Scheme €66    mio
SMEInst-02 Accelerating the uptake of nanotechnologies advanced materials or advanced manufacturing and processing technologies by SMEs €35.32 mio
SMEInst-03 Dedicated support to biotechnology SMEs closing the gap from lab to market €7.5   mio
SMEInst-04 Engaging SMEs in space research and development €12.6 mio
SMEInst-05* Supporting innovative SMEs in the healthcare biotechnology sector €80    mio
SMEInst-06 Accelerating market introduction of ICT solutions for Health, Well-Being and Ageing Well €12.5 mio
SMEInst-07 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for sustainable and competitive agriculture, forestry, agri-food and bio-based sectors €37.87 mio
SMEInst-08 Supporting SMEs efforts for the development – deployment and market replication of innovative solutions for blue growth €12.42 mio
SMEInst-09 Stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs for a low carbon and efficient energy system €50    mio
SMEInst-10 Small business innovation research for Transport and Smart Cities Mobility €61.23 mio
SMEInst-11 Boosting the potential of small businesses in the areas of climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials €36    mio
SMEInst-12 New business models for inclusive, innovative and reflective societies €11.4 mio
SMEInst-13 Engaging SMEs in security research and development €14.67 mio
TOTAL €437.5 mio

*Submission of proposals into Phase one SMEInst-05 Supporting innovative SMEs in the healthcare biotechnology sector is no longer possible.

AMIRES and Mendel University entered into long-term cooperation

AMIRES and Mendel University in Brno (MENDELU), the oldest independent specialized university in the Czech Republic, agreed to launch a long-term cooperation, during which AMIRES consultants will be assisting the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Mendel University with getting into strategically defined projects and support their preparation, technology scouting, including training of internal staff.

MENDELU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is a part of the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC). Its scientific activities focus mainly on the areas of Metallomics, Bioanalytical instruments, Health, Environment, and Advanced materials. Click HERE for more.

Click HERE to find out more about AMIRES consulting models.

Intelligent Efficient Solid State Lighting – Swissphotonics Workshop

Intelligent Efficient Solid State Lighting was a subject of Swissphotonics Workshop held on 12 December, 2016,  in the Pantheon at Muttenz near Basel. Around 100 representatives from R&D, companies, light designers, architects, end-users (e.g. large retailers, etc.) attended the event. The workshop was divided into two sessions: in the first session final results of the European Project LASSIE-FP7 were presented, with focus on the development of large-area intelligent SSL modules with high efficiency and high lighting quality; the second session was devoted to technical developments and industrial applications in the field of smart lighting, spanning from components to systems, as well as on the potential of SSL for innovative solutions for human centric lighting.

Carlos Lee, EPIC: “You have a unique opportunity to network with people from BASF, Insolight, Philips Lighting, Regent , Zumtobel Lighting, Fraunhofer, Lfoundry, Swedish Energy Agency, Swiss lighting association, Albis Photonics, CSEM, Exalos, Holst Centre, HTW Chur, Rolic Technologies, TRIOPTICS, VTT, AMIRES, Bartenbach, CEA, cenogent, Electrosuisse, Empa, Gaiker, Geting, iart, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kimoto, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, Metas, Sefar , Swiss Federal Office of Energy, Swissflex Microelectronics, …”

Dr. Rolando Ferrini of CSEM, the coordinator of LASSIE-FP7 introduced the large area lights as an extensively used product in commercial lighting applications. “At the time of LASSIE-FP7 launch the costs for high-quality solutions were quite high and the true potential of modern technologies wasn’t utilized. Even though OLEDs constitute a possible solution for this type of lighting, their price is by far not competitive. The main challenge LASSIE-FP7 had to face was to find a concept for a thin fixture that would offer high light quality and color, or at least CCT tuneability, at a reasonable price, while having a small environmental impact. The key achievements of LASSIE-FP7 are:

  • high CRI above 90 with
  • high color accuracy within 3 to 1 step MacAdam ellipsis and
  • constant color over time due to an intelligent sensor feedback loop

Important aspects on regulations and standards and their unification in USA, Europe and China were presented by Dr. Peter Bennich. Applications for Superluminescent LEDs were presented by the company EXALOS. The role of pilotlines for OLED manufacturing and applications were presented by Dr. Erno Langendijk, coordinator of PI-SCALE project, and innovations in the software for improving the OLED performance were presented by FLUXIM. The last part of the workshop was dedicated to the effect of light on humans and the innovative solutions in the design, software programming and colour tuning. During the open discussion, current limitations and market opportunities were discussed with the strong participation of all the participants.

In the Exhibition area 16 booths were setup with innovative prototypes shown by the R&D partners, the LASSIE-FP7 demos, the REGENT Luminaires and other products and services in the light domain. 2 booths were dedicated to media partners and a booth for AMIRES. During the workshop AMIRES had the opportunity to promote its projects (including MEDILIGHT and PI-SCALE) and the AMIplexus product.

To find out more about LASSIE-FP7 technologies, Human Centric Lighting and Internet of Things, and others, see LED Professional Review (p.44 -48). To download the event presentations click HERE.

Enantis received SME grant for development of wound healing products

30 million CZK (i.e. 1.1 mil EUR) for the development of wound healing products was awarded from the H2020 SME instrument to Enantis, a biotechnological spin-off of the Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech Republic.  The funded research is based on the fibroblast growth factor, a protein used for example in the stem cells research.  It is foreseen that the project will develop products for a more effective healing of hard-to-heal wounds, such as the burns or diabetic wounds.  According to the vice-rector of the Masaryk University the project would never succeed without a close collaboration of biologists, chemists, and business and economic experts. AMIRES was happy to partner with the South Moravian Innovation Centre to support this success story.

Click HERE for an EASME article,  HERE for a TV broadcast, HERE for a press release (both in Czech).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year by AMIRES

The entire AMIRES team would like to say thank you for all the exciting innovation endeavours we have undertaken together, making 2016 AMIRES most successful year ever.  We wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! In 2017, let’s add together even more edges to your AMIplexus cooperation networks.

Swiss Entities to Claim H2020 Funding

On 16 December 2016, the Swiss Parliament adopted the application law for Art.121a of the Constitution, respecting the Bilateral Agreements with the EU in all aspects. On the same day, the Swiss Federal Council ratified the protocol extending the free movement of persons to Croatia, thus fulfilling the necessary condition for Switzerland’s full association to Horizon 2020 as of 2017.

Even though the ongoing projects are not affected by these developments, from now on the respective EU funding for the Swiss partners, as participants from associated countries, has to be claimed in all proposals. In order to receive grants, the Swiss entities have to request relevant funding through the European Commission.

According to Dr. Peter Erni, Swiss National NCP Coordinator, “In the unlikely event that Switzerland should not be associated to Horizon 2020 from 2017 onward, i.e. would have the status of an industrialised Third Country, the Federal Administration will provide national funding for the Swiss share of successful proposals. A precaution measure that is recommended is to have a least three project partners from an EU Member State or an Associated Country excluding the Swiss partner for collaborative projects.”

Click HERE for a fact sheet.

New technology lets scientists see, touch and smell on the nanoscale

Yesterday, the European Commission published in its Success stories information about a successfully finished UNIVSEM – Universal Scanning Electron Microscopyproject, which combined ‘seeing’ thanks to a scanning electron microscope that uses electrons instead of light, ‘touching’ via a scanning probe microscope that drags a tiny pin-like stylus over the surface and ‘smelling’ through chemical analysis. Dr. Rudolf Fryček, CEO and founder of AMIRES gave an interview to the European Commission press, in which he, among other things, describes how a specialized project management can free up project partners to focus on the research and technical side, which was key to the success of the UNIVSEM project.

Click HERE to read the UNIVSEM Success Story interview with Dr. Fryček.

 

Economic Benefits of IP for Europe

In a joint study by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), an impact of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on the European economy was analyzed.  The study found out that more than 42 % of the total economic activity in EU is generated by IPR-intensive industries.  Moreover, about 38 % of EU employment is said to arise from businesses with higher than average use of IPR.  Wages in such industries are more than 46 % higher than in other industries.

According to the EPO President Benoît Battistelli “Intellectual property assets are increasingly important for innovating companies, especially for SMEs, but also for research centres and universities. They have a positive impact on jobs, economic growth and prosperity in Europe.”

Click HERE to read more.

MOSAIC Kick-off Meeting

Kick-off meeting of anew Horizon 2020 MOSAIC project took place in Eibar (SPAIN), on 1 – 2 December, 2016.  The partners discussed technical issues relevant to the upcoming project activities and potential dissemination and exploitation routes. An outcome of this project will be the design, manufacturing and validation of an innovative CSP concept that will have low implementation costs at the highest plant efficiencies,  compared to the current state-of-the-art technologies, and that will reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The Consortium is composed of 10 partners from 6 different EU states:

  • IK4-TEKNIKER, Spain (Coordinator)
  • AMIRES SRO, Czech Republic
  • Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie, Belgium
  • COBRA INSTALACIONES Y SERVICIOS S.A, Spain
  • FUNDACION CENTRO TECNOLOGICO AVANZADO DE ENERGIAS RENOVABLES DE ANDALUCIA, Spain
  • FUNDACION CENER-CIEMAT, Spain
  • POLITECNICO DI TORINO, Italy
  • RIOGLASS SOLAR SA, Spain
  • Senior Flexonics GmbH, Germany
  • Sirea, France

Press release of the meeting is available HEREStay tuned for the incoming news on the MOSAIC project!

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Nanofibrous materials – from polymeric solutions to their applications

On Wednesday, 29 November 2016,  the fourth from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  This fourth event titled „Nanofibrous materials – from polymeric solutions to their applications“, was led by Dr. Marek Pokorný, Chief researcher in Nanotechnology department, and  Dr. Kateřina Knotková, Chief application researcher in Nanotechnology department, of CONTIPRO, a Czech-based producer of bioactive compounds for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

In their presentation, Drs. Pokorný and Kontková:

  • Introduced research development activities at CONTIPRO (click HERE for more information);
  • Provided information about their unique 4SPIN® technologies (i.e. electrospinning, electrospraying, electroblowing and near-field electrospinning) – a desktop electrospinning device used in the nanofiber production and the preparation of nanofiber layers from solutions of biopolymers and synthetic polymer (click HERE for more info and HERE for a video);
  • Gave examples of some targeted applications;
  • Mentioned their openness to new interesting R&D collaborations.

Click HERE to see the presentation and HERE to listen to the presentation recording.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs).

SABINA Kick-off

dsc04504On 3 – 4 November, 2016, a kick-off meeting of the new Horizon 2020 SABINA project took place.  During this first General Assembly meeting, contractual obligations have been discussed and project management procedures and plan have been agreed on by the partners, which enabled a quick start of the project work.  The main objective of SABINA is to provide a beyond state of the art technological solution that brings services to the medium and low voltage grid and will be on the market within five to ten years. SABINA focuses on energy storage and synergies between electric and thermal network and is inherently compatible with demand-response. This goal will be achieved thanks to a close collaboration of 9 partners from 7 countries, namely:

 

  • SMS ENERGY SERVICES LIMITED, UK
  • CSEM CENTRE SUISSE D’ELECTRONIQUE ET DE MICROTECHNIQUE SA -RECHERCHE ET DEVELOPPEMENT, CH
  • UNIVERSIDAD DE NAVARRA, ES
  • INSERO E-MOBILITY AS, DK
  • FUNDACIO INSTITUT DE RECERCA DE L’ENERGIA DE CATALUNYA, ES
  • SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ESPANA SA, ES
  • NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS – NTUA, GR
  • PAN EUROPEAN ICT & EBUSINESS NETWORK FOR SME ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONALSANS BUT LUCRATIF, BE
  • AMIRES, CZ

 

SABINA project website and more information will come soon!

AMIplexus Launch at REinEU2016

It is about a month, since the Re-Industrialization of the European Union 2016 (REinEU2016) event took place in Bratislava, Slovakia.  The conference convened hundreds of representatives from European and international research, innovation communities, and the business sector, who discussed European re-industrialization in the following sessions: Technology trends for industries, Materials for energy and automotive, Industrial symbiosis and new value chain, R&D impact for industry, Human resources in reindustrialized Europe, Financial track and innovation. An outcome of the event was a development of Bratislava Agenda: A call for a European Industrial Revolution to Re-industrialise Europe. The process established by the 2016 Dutch and Slovak Presidencies of the Council of the European Union asserts the following key pillars of Re-industrialising Europe:

  1. Focusing on distinctive European innovations, including disruptive innovations;
  2. Fostering talent and skills for innovation;
  3. Bridging the innovation divide in Europe;
  4. Developing a common ecosystem for re-industrialising Europe;
  5. Improving quality of life, protection of human health and the environment.

Read more about Bratislava Agenda.

During the event, AMIRES hosted in its stand a launch of AMIplexus, a cooperation visualization engine, is an essential tool for H2020 project coordinators, innovation project managers, group leaders, technology scouts, advisers and coaches. Demonstrated by the large interest from the audience AMIplexus is an instrument for gaining a competitive advantage when developing innovative collaborative projects and provides a fundamental overview of any type of technology of application field, including key movers and their relations.  To find out more about AMIplexus contact Dr. Rudolf Fryček.

H2020 Success Rate Down at 10,7% in 2015

The European Commission (EC) published an analysis of the first two years of the Horizon 2020 Programme (click HERE for the entire report).  To minimize the administrative burden imposed on the participants, EC has directed its efforts towards simplification, contributing to the number of applications increasing by 23.9% between 2014 and 2015 and increasing the share of new participants (incl. SMEs and large companies).  On the other hand, the success rates have dropped significantly, making the chances of obtaining funding about half they were in 7th Framework Programme (7FP). In 2015, the share of proposals receiving funding was only 10,7%, demonstrating and increasing number of high-quality proposals.

Some of the other report key takeouts:

  • In 2015, Austrian institutions had the highest success rate (13,9%), followed by Belgian and Irish organizations
  • In 2015, countries with the lowest success rates were Bulgaria (5,6%), Latvia and Hungary
  • A country with the most significant drop in the success rate between 2014 and 2015 is Latvia with 16,7% to 6,1% decrease
  • Since Horizon 2020 began, more than 39% of all applications came from university candidates, 35.2% from the private sector and 18.4% from research organisations
  • In LEIT and social challenges SMEs have received 23.7% of funding overall, and made up 27.6% of participations
  • Submissions from the US, China, Canada and Australia make up almost half of all successful applications from outside Europe
  • Time-to-grant has shortened significantly compared to 7FP, decreasing from 303 days in 7FP to 184,9 in 2015 H2020

 

 

WASCOP and MOSAIC at H2020 Coordinators’ Workshop on CSP

On 24th November 2016, the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) hosted a H2020 Coordinators’ Workshop on Concentrated Solar Power. The aim of the workshop is to investigate potential synergies between projects in the area of Concentrated Solar Power. Fabrizio Perrotta presented the dissemination and communication of the AMIRES CSP portfolio (WASCOP and MOSAIC projects) and participated in the group discussions to identify potential synergies and overlaps. The main follow up actions after the workshop are:

  • Background and methodology benchmark between Sister projects
  • Conjoint training, summer schools and workshops
  • Common booth in key CSP conferences and events
  • Increasing the stakeholders’ identification and involvement

To find out more about the event please contact Fabrizio Perrotta.

Supporting Research and Innovation Excellence in EU

In a quest to nurture research and innovation excellence across EU and closing the gap between high- and low-performing EU countries in R&I , the European Commission has selected this week 10 knowledge centres that will receive together €140 million funding from Horizon 2020. This action will help bring these centres located in low-performing countries in R&I to the level of scientific excellence. Each project will receive maximum €15 million from the so-called Teaming instrument run under Horizon 2020, which is designed to facilitate institution building in eligible countries in close cooperation with Europe’s leading scientific and innovation powerhouses. The overall budget for these measures is expected to increase during the last three years of Horizon 2020.

AMIRES was happy to support its partner HiLASE in applying for funding of a new „Centre of Excellence“ (CoE) for the industrial exploitation of new laser technology in the Czech Republic. Scientists from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences  and the STFC’s Central Laser Facility in Oxfordshire, UK, will work together on the 5.5 year / €45 M  project. HiLASE incorporates advanced solid state laser systems that are ideally suited to hi-tech industrial applications, opening up new processing techniques for surface hardening, semiconductor processing and micro/nano-machining, for example. Click HERE for find out more about the project.

Recipe for successful SME proposal re-submission

On 23 November, 2016, the Technology Center of the Czech Academy of Science hosted in partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic a SME Instrument Conference. The aim of the event was to support motivation and success rate of Czech entities in this specific Horizon 2020 domain.  During the conference, Elena Turco of AMIRES has delivered a presentation PHOSave: recipe for successful proposal re-submission, revealing tips and suggestions for proposal improvement.  The key takeaways are:

  • Reach out to a consultant for the interpretation of the Evaluation Summary Report (to have a third-party perspective)
  • Respect the structure of the European Commission templates
  • Organize the contents in logical sub-chapters (to help the evaluators find the key information)
  • Use tables and schemes and add quantified data (both technical and business impact related) already in the first page
  • Focus on development of a comprehensive business plan
  • Justify well the use of resources and the selection of subcontractors (not just based on quotations but covering other aspects i.e. long term cooperation, recommended by users, etc.)

For further details click HERE to see the presentation or contact Elena Turco.

WASCOP Newsletter is out

First WASCOP project newsletter has been published!  It brings you information about the past meetings of this Water Saving for Concentrated Solar Power project, upcoming events in which you can meet WASCOP representatives, or an article published on the H2020 Research and Innovation Magazine. Click HERE and enjoy the reading!

New AMIRES Services and Products Portfolio

We are pleased to announce the launch of new AMIRES Services and Products sections on AMIRES website.

AMIRES offers mix of complementary services necessary for initiating, planning, executing and managing successful cooperative research, development or innovation projects. We can support your organization in the following areas:

Moreover, as an additional support, AMIRES has developed the following products:

  • EffiBUILDING – a database which provides a constantly updated overview and benchmark for companies and research organizations from the energy efficiency field
  • AMIplexus – a cooperation visualization engine for H2020 project coordinators, innovation project managers, group leaders, technology scouts, advisors and coaches

Do note hesitate to CONTACT US for further information.

AMIRES Hiring

To reinforce our team, AMIRES s.r.o. (Czech Republic) is opening a position for a Project Manager of European R&D&I projects. The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of H2020 projects in flexible electronics and photonics and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals.

Do you have the following skills/traits?

  • Master or doctorate degree in technical field, experience in flexible electronics and
    photonics is an advantage;
  • 3+ years of experience with project administration, management or projects proposal
    writing (EU projects or FP7 / H2020 projects are an advantage);
  • fluent in English (both verbally and in written), French or German is an advantage;
  • very good computer literacy and skills, professional user of MS Office (Word, Excel,
    PowerPoint, Outlook);
  • strong communication (both oral and written in formal and informal situations),
    presentation and organisational skills;
  • target oriented;
  • responsibility, flexibility, ability to work both in team and independently;
  • ability to work in multinational environment;
  • willingness to travel;
  • driving licence;
  • knowledge of European R&D&I landscape is an advantage (FP7, H2020, Structural Funds
    etc.).

Then click HERE for more information.

Roadmap Towards European Leadership in Sensor Systems

AMIRES has been coaching the policy making activity of The European Sensors System Cluster, particularly for the preparation of Roadmap Towards European Leadership in Sensor Systems – Survey of Industrial Needs. The strategic inputs for new Horizon 2020 Work Programmes for 2018-2020 were presented to various EC services on April 2016 and the final document was provided in October 2016. Click HERE to download the document.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Extracellular Matrix Analogues for the Pre-clinical Handling & Transplantation of Cells

On 4 October, 2016, the third from the series of webinars organized by ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group with a support of AMIRES took place.  The topic of this event was “Extracellular Matrix Analogues for the Pre-clinical Handling and Transplantation of Cells” presented by Prof. Matteo Santin of the Brighton Centre for Regenerative Medicine (BCRM), School of Pharmacy & Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton (click HERE for Prof. Santin’s bio).

In his presentation (click HERE), Prof. Santin introduced the lysine-based biomimetic dendrons synthesis as a platform for extracellular matrix analogue.  He covered extracellular matrix analogues from their pre-clinical handling to in-vivo applications. A great importance was put on their exploitation. The key conclusions of the webinar are:

  • Synthetic Extracellular Matrix Analogues can be achieved by macromolecular design, scaled-up batches and GMP conditions
  • Extracellular Matrix Analogues can be exploited as:

    • Specialised substrates for cell pre-clinical handling of cellsMore complex clinically-reflective in vitro models including different types of cells and integrated testing the safety/efficacy of drugs and other products in a regenerative niche
    • Functionalisation of 3D scaffolds
    • Bioink for additive manufacturing adding biofunctionality to a variety of more established polymer

Prof. Santin invited the participants to take part in a questionnaire for the Socio-Economic Study of Biomaterial Research Translation in Europe (click HERE) and by doing so provide a significant contribution to the future of R&D in biomaterials in Europe.

He also extended an invitation to take part in the following events:

  • 28th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials ESB2017, 4 – 8 September 2017, Athens
  • 6th China – Europe Symposium on Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine CESB2017, 21 – 24 May, 2017, Porto

Click HERE to listen to the webinar recording.

PI-SCALE “Hands-on” OLED Lighting Workshop & International OLED B2B Forum

PI-SCALE_NO_Subtext_screenPI-SCALE partners are pleased to announce that registration for “Hands-on” OLED Lighting Workshop & International OLED B2B Forum is now open. The two events will be held at the GLOW Festival in Eindhoven on 15th November 2016. Click HERE for more information about the events, agenda and registration.

PI-SCALE is a European collaboration to create an open access pilot line service offering world class capability in customised flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in order to accelerate the commercial adoption of this technology. The project brings together Europe’s experts and state-of-the-art infrastructure for flexible OLED fabrication, and enables companies to quickly and cost effectively test and scale up their flexible OLED lighting or signage concepts and bring them to a level where they are ready to be transferred to a mass production facility.

REinEU2016 one month to go

reineu_homepage_1200x200px

Preparations for the prestigious event Re-Industrialisation of the EU 2016 are in full swing! Many prominent experts are coming to Bratislava on 26-28 October 2016. Don’t miss the chance be among them. Come to the conference and:

  • explore the reindustrialisation strategy of the EU in 3 plenary sessions
  • get inspired by more than 100 top level speakers from industry and research
  • discover latest trends in 24 parallel sessions
  • learn about financing possibilities for your research and innovation
  • present the success of your organisation in the exhibition area
  • introduce your cooperation ideas and meet potential partner during face-to-face matchmaking session
  • participate in 6 site visits and see innovation in the real world
  • enjoy the networking in the heart of Central Europe

Thematic focus and parallel sessions are following:

  • Technology trends for industries
  • Materials for energy and automotive
  • Industrial symbiosis and new value chain
  • R&D impact for industry
  • Human resources in reindustrialized Europe
  • Financial track and innovation

You can also promote your company as an exhibitor (via booth or a poster, more information here). Don’t miss your chance to discuss the role of nanotechnologies, advanced materials, manufacturing and processing and biotechnology, and register for the conference by Oct 12.

To learn more about the programme and speakers, visit the website.

ETPN RegMed WG Webinar on Intervertebral disc regeneration assisted by collagen nanostructures

Yesterday, the second  from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  This second event titled “Intervertebral disc regeneration assisted by collagen nanostructures” and led by professor Prof. Hans Jörg Meisel, Director of the Center of Neurosciences / Chair of the Dept. of Neurosurgery, BG-Clinic Bergmannstrost Halle, introduced a new and more interactive format of ETPN RegMed WG events.  Prof. Meisel along with his colleague gave a multidisciplinary talk on the novel approaches to the therapy of disc degeneration, such as a self-regenerative implant based adipose mesenchymal stem cells (AMSC), combined with an injectable scaffold material. Click HERE to read the abstract.  Further information about promising use of collagen nano fleeces for medical implants was provided.  Various possibilities of alternative applications were also discussed. The event concluded with propositions for scientific collaborations.  Click HERE to listen to the webinar recording.

The next webinar focused on „Extracellular Matrix Analogues for the Pre-clinical Handling and Transplantation of Cells“ will be held by Prof. Matteo Santin, Brighton Centre for Regenerative Medicine (BCRM), School of Pharmacy&Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton,  on 4 October, 2016, starting at 3 pm.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs).

For more information and registration for future events please contact Dr. Rudolf Fryček.

LASSIE-FP7 Newsletter is out!

The first official LASSIE-FP7 Newsletter is now available. You can find in there an overview of the Large Area Solid State Intelligent Efficient Luminaires LASSIE-FP7 collaborative research project, the latest research outcomes and information about the partners’ activities. Enjoy the reading!

LASSIE-FP7 Project Deadline Extension for Design Competition Registration!

Interested students or student teams must send their application by 26 September 2016 to the email address: competition@lassie-fp7.eu. The details for participation and the main competition rules are described here.

All finalists will be invited to attend the Workshop on Solid State Lighting being held on 12 December 2016 in Muttenz – Basel, Switzerland, where the winner will be announced. The travel costs within Europe and accommodation of the finalists will be covered. A certificate will be issued by the jury panel. The winner will receive a prize provided by the company REGENT that is sponsoring the Design Competition.

MEDILIGHT Project on TV

MEDILIGHT, a collaborative project on developing a smart, self-adaptable system, which will provide personalized light therapy to patients with chronic wounds, coordinated by the Technical University of Berlin (TUB), and co-funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, was featured last week by professor Norbert Gretz of the University of Heidelberg and his team on the German RNF TV.  Click HERE to watch the spot.

ETPN RegMed Working Group Webinars to Boost Collaborative Projects

Yesterday, first from the series of webinars organized by AMIRES and the ETPN Regenerative Medicine Working Group (RegMed WG) took place.  During the event titled “Polymeric Nanocapsules as tools to face challenges in Regenerative Medicine“, Dr. Gemma Vilar Palos, senior researcher in the Human & Environmental Health & Safety in the R&D department of LEITAT Technological Center held a presentation on LEITAT activities and competencies in this area, highlighting the high modularity of polymeric nanoparticles suitable for multiple therapeutic applications.  During the presentation and discussion among the partners several cooperation project ideas and suitable H2020 calls were proposed.  In the event opening section, Dr. Rudolf Fryček of AMIRES presented results of some activities undertaken by the ETPN RegMed Working Group:

  • A survey among the ETPN RegMed WG members took place to identify topics of interest for international collaborative research projects.  A greater involvement of businesses in defining the topics will be promoted.
  • New therapies and devices for tissue regeneration, Nanotechnology for innovative in-vitro/in-vivo diagnostics methods, Antimicrobial implants and technologies against biofilm, Encapsulation of nanoparticles with novel/smart drug delivery materials and 3D biofabrication & cell printing  ranked on high positions in the topics of interest.
  • All identified topics were proposed to the European Commission and may appear in the Work Programme 2018 – 2020.

Click HERE to download Dr. Gemma Vilar Palos’ presentation and HERE to listen to the webinar recording.

The next webinar focused on “Intervertebral disc regeneration assisted by collagen nanostructures” will be held by Prof. Hans Jörg Meisel, Director of the Center of Neurosciences / Chair of the Dept. of Neurosurgery, BG-Clinic Bergmannstrost Halle, on 22 September, 2016, starting at 3 pm.

The ETPN RegMed WG webinars are open to both ETPN members and non-members.  By presenting recent advancement of ETPN members in the Regenerative Medicine field, these webinars aim to improve know how exchange, identification of key European experts and a wider networking between ETPN members (e.g. for collaborative projects). It is also intended to keep webinars open for ETPN non-members, particularly for industrial companies, to facilitate cooperation between researchers and enterprises (mainly SMEs).

New ULTRAPLACAD Project Brochure and Newsletter

The ULTRAPLACAD project, AMIRES is a project manager and a dissemination partner of, just released its brochure and newsletter. ULTRAPLACAD is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and focuses on the development of a compact plasmonic-based device with an integrated microfluidic circuit and functionalized nanostructures for the detection of DNA, microRNA and tumor autoantibodies. Download the brochure and the newsletter to find out more about the project overview, intended impact and the latest news.

Download the brochure HERE.

Download the newsletter HERE.

Swiss Researchers to Request EU Funding

As the agreement on Switzerland’s participation in the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Commission provides for Switzerland’s full association to Horizon 2020 from 1 January 2017, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) has released the following recommendations regarding participation of researchers in Switzerland in H2020 projects:

  1. To request EU contribution: It is important that for all proposal submissions,  Individual Grants (ERC & Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships) as well as Collaborative projects, participants from Switzerland request funding from the EU (EU contribution).
  2. To ensure the eligibility of consortium submitting collaborative projects: A consortium has to consist of at least three independent partners from at least three EU Member States or Associated Countries, in addition to the Swiss partner(s).

In practice it means that “whenever taking part in a H2020 proposal submission, Swiss partners should request their eligible project costs as grant from the European Commission as if Switzerland would be associated from January 2017 onwards. The criteria for being eligible for European funding has been defined as the signature date of the Grant Agreement (GA) and the GA signature of any proposal to be submitted will be in 2017. However, it is still essential that a consortium be composed of at least at least 3 organisations from different EU Member States or Associated countries in addition to the Swiss partner in order to be sure that the project is eligible in the case that Switzerland will not be associated as of 2017. Moreover and as already today, Swiss partners can also coordinate projects, whatever the status of Switzerland will be as of 2017.”

For more details, please see the factsheet of the European Commission, point 8, and the SERI factsheet.

Extension Of The Open Research Data Pilot In H2020

With an update of the 2017 Work Programmes Open Research Data (ORD) Pilot was extended to cover all thematic areas of Horizon 2020. This change applies to all calls announced after 26.7.2016.  Otherwise the setup of the ORD pilot remains the same and is described in Article 29.3 of the Horizon 2020 Model Grant Agreement(s) or its equivalent. The ORD Pilot applies to the data needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications. Additionally, projects can choose to make other data available for open access and need to describe their approach in a Data Management Plan (DMP, see below). Any costs related to open access to research data and related data management and data sharing costs (including the creation of a DMP) will be reimbursed and specific technical and professional support services will be provided.

Further new element in Horizon 2020 is the use of Data Management Plans (DMPs) detailing what data the project will generate, whether and how it will be exploited or made accessible for verification and re-use, and how it will be curated and preserved. The use of a Data Management Plan is required for all Horizon 2020 projects, except if they opt-out of sharing their research data for one of the reasons indicated in general annex L. Note that a DMP is not required at submission stage. Rather, projects must provide a first version of the DMP within the first six months of the project (as a deliverable), to be updated as appropriate.

Click HERE for more information on the data management.

H2020 Health Work Programme 2017 to Support More SMEs

On 8 July, during the information day on ‘Health, demographic change and well-being’, a work programme for 2017 (WP 2017) was introduced.  In an opening speech, Dr. Ruxandra Draghia–Akli, Director of DG Research and Innovation, mentioned that the total budget for WP 2017 is 486 mil. EUR, which will be allocated into calls on personalized medicine, coordination activities types of calls, SME instrument topics, and other actions such as InnovFin ID and Birth Day Prize. The final version of WP 2017 will be published at the end of July 2017 (click HERE to see the version published as of 25 July 2016).

As last year the success rate in the SME calls was very low with a high number of high quality proposals, in 2017 European Commission has decided to allocate additional funds (i.e. 35 mil EUR) to the SME topics.  According to Dr. Draghia-Akli, there is an evidence that companies that have received Phase 2 SME funding are more likely to attract private funding, thus, have a very good growth potential.

Health related SME calls to open in WP 2017 are:

  • SMEInst-05-2016-2017 – Supporting innovative SMEs in the healthcare biotechnology sector
    • Cell technologies in medical applications
    • Clinical research for the validation of biomarkers and/or diagnostic medical devices
  • SMEInst-06-2016-2017 – Accelerating market introduction of ICT solutions for Health, Well-Being and Ageing Well

If you are interested in exploring funding options for your organization, contact us HERE.

Research on Large Area Solid State Luminaries presented at L’Aquila University

LFoundry S.r.l., a member of the LASSIE-FP7 consortium, organised a workshop on 6 July 2016 at the University of L’Aquila, Italy. The event provided insights into the progress and challenges of the research on Large Area Solid State Intelligent Efficient Luminaries.  As the research is coming to its end, Rolando Ferrini of CSEM, LASSIE-FP7 coordinator, and his project fellow researchers of BASF, Fraunhofer IIS+IISB, VTT, REGENT LIGHTING, GAIKER and LFoundry have presented some of the partial results reached.  Lighting technologies trends, market outlook and research projects funding options have been presented by Elena Turco of AMIRES. Some key points mentioned:

  • LASSIE-FP7 LED modules are set to reinforce competitive advantage of industries and create jobs.
  • LASSIE-FP7 LEDs can be used for large areas luminaries, at low cost, having intelligence embedded, demonstrating high efficiency and quality, and being environmental.
  • New technologies enabling large format optical sensors and individual optimization of sensor and readout circuitry processes are to be presented soon.

Click HERE to see the presentations.

LASSIE-FP7 Design Competition is Open!

LASSIE-FP7 has launched a design competition for students with the objective of exploring alternative and innovative ideas for applications and products as well as new design concepts for either professional or architectural luminaires that integrate its innovative modules. The details for participation and the main competition rules are described HERE. For PDF version click HERE.

AMIRES Chaired Sessions at the Industrial Technologies Conference

Last week, Dr. Rudolf Frycek, CEO of AMIRES chaired a section ‘Innovative Financing Solutions for Scaling up and Large Scale Facilities‘ and led a round  table discussion ‘Strong and efficient system for open innovation’ at the Industrial Technologies 2016 Congress (IndTech2016). IndTech2016 is the largest networking conference in the field of new production technologies, materials, nanotechnology, biotechnology and digitalisation in Europe.

The session ‘Innovative Financing Solutions for Scaling up and Large Scale Facilities’ identified the need for innovative financial engineering for SMEs, midcaps and large research infrastructures. The session recommended to lower the barrier between traditional grants (i.e. H2020) and loan and debt financing instruments (i.e. EIB, EIF). Continuity between these tools would facilitate faster industrialisation and scale up.

During the round table discussion on ‘Strong and efficient system for open innovation’ the following policy recommendations have been suggested:

  • To re-gain trust in H2020 by decisive measures and transparency (e.g. stopping activities without fast/sufficient progress);
  • To stop performance measurement of H2020 based on inputs (e.g. funds distributed) and start to measure outputs of EU projects (business impact).

EU and MS have been asked to coordinate better and faster implementation of the S3 strategies and to accelerate building unique but connected ecosystems/brain-belts throughout Europe. Wider public communication on positive societal impacts by industrial technologies and Industry 4.0 is also needed.

FREE access to EffiBUILDING database

EBlogoEffiBUILDING mission is to collect and share information in order to foster the launch of innovative products and prototypes and respond to the urgent needs of societal challenges such as energy and health of citizens. We aim to create the most important sharing platform in the world for products and prototypes for the energy efficiency of buildings. For this reason, database consultation is FREE of charge for registered members. They can also share their products or prototypes as well as compare them. Furthermore, we have tailored a membership (GOLD) for manufacturers who would like to promote their products to a global audience and enhance the impact of their marketing strategy. To become a member, you need only to fill in a short registration form. We are waiting for you to be part of the EffiBUILDING community!

EffiBUILDING is GLOBAL

EBlogoWe are proud that EffiBUILDING is attractive for all countries in the world. In the last three months the majority of the visitors of our innovative database of products and prototypes within the area of energy efficient products & solutions of buildings come from Brazil, United States, Russia, China, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom. This trend is caused mainly by the high number of incoming products from non-European countries such as USA, China and Japan. We are proud of this important result and we will expect to increase the visitors and the users from these countries. Check our news session on the website to be updated of products and prototypes. Manufactures are invited to take this unique opportunity, become our members and promote their products! New important changes are arriving for EffiBUILDING so stay tuned!

Renaissance of chemical and biological sensors

PolymersAMIRES co-organized a lobbying event on sensors in Brussels on 19 April 2016. European Sensor System Cluster (ESSC) initiated the event and Rudolf Fryček participated in the event as a Project Technical Advisor of the ESSC cluster. Challenges and roadmap for 2020 and beyond were presented. Presentations from the event are available only for cluster members who can contact their WG leaders. The European Sensor Systems Cluster (ESSC) identifies technical or non-technical challenges for (bio)chemical sensing and highlight opportunities resulting from nanotechnology, microsystems integration, advanced data evaluation, their manufacturing, commercialization and systemic integration. ESSC mobilizes a pan-European network, ready to advice, assist and execute the national or international measures leading to strengthened position of European Research and Innovation. If you would like to learn more about the ESSC, please contact Rudolf Fryček.

AMBASSADOR and TRIBUTE at EeB PPP Impact Workshop in Brussels

Energy EfficiencyThe Workshop on Impact of the Energy Efficient Buildings Public Private Partnership (EeB PPP) took place in Brussels on 18 and 19 April 2016. The event was organised jointly by the EC and the E2BA (Energy Efficient Buildings Association). It provided an opportunity to present projects, share results and highlight challenges. Projects that were presented included approaches to market assessment, performance monitoring, extensive demonstration activity, pilot production, training and education actions. Some projects are already demonstrating impactful results through patent applications, technology cost reduction and spin out set up. In order to maximise impact of the PPP, participation of all the stakeholders is fundamental from end users to industrial/ academic partners and public authorities. Other important factors include early stage development of commercialisation strategies and approaches for standardisation of products. Projects also need support at early stage to develop solid exploitation strategies that speed time to market. Timely and targeted regulation are also strong drivers of market uptake. TRIBUTE consortium was represented by Mr. Henri Obara from Schneider Electric, the Scientific Coordinator of TRIBUTE project. AMBASSADOR project was represented by Mr. Václav Smítka from AMIRES.

Expanding EffiBUILDING

EBlogo300 is the number of products in EffiBUILDING reached in this month. A relevant goal for this innovative initiative that provides an overview of the latest state of the art to professionals in design and refurbishment of buildings or anyone interested in selecting and comparing an appropriate product.  Important world key players in the efficient windows, facades systems, PV models and sensors are now present in the database with the latest products or prototypes offered in the market. This approach makes EffiBUILDING a marketing tool open 24h and connected with all the world for component producers. You can promote your product and get free access to the database by entering a product or prototype details here and you will receive login details by email (details must be complete and will be controlled by Product Manager). If you have any questions about EffiBUILDING, you are more than welcome to contact our Product Manager Fabrizio Perrotta.

AMBASSADOR summer school and final conference

AMBASSADOR-300x165On 8 September 2016 in Chambéry (France) and on 11 October 2016 in Lavrion (Greece), the AMBASSADOR project will organise its summer schools for energy managers. The topics to be presented will cover overall energy context, optimization strategies for buildings and districts dimension as well as the practical demonstration of the District Energy Management and Information System (DEMIS) developed within the framework of the project. More information including detailed agenda and pre-registration will be available during May 2016 here.

Furthermore, on 12 October 2016 in Lavrion (Greece), the project will also organise its final conference. The goal of the AMBASSADOR final conference will be to present different outputs that have been developed within the scope of the project (technical session) and to demonstrate their impacts in real conditions on one of the AMBASSADOR test sites in Greek Lavrion (test site visit). On top of that, the work with AMBASSADOR District Energy Management and Information System (DEMIS) will be showcased (demo session). Different business aspects of smart districts, smart grids and smart cities will be discussed following the research, studies and interviews ran during the course of the project (business session). Last but not least the AMBASSADOR team would like to share with its audience as well as invited guests its lessons learnt from this challenging four-year project (final discussion). More information including the conference agenda and registration will be continuously published here.

PI-SCALE Website Launched

PI-SCALE_homepagePI-SCALE (Bringing flexible organic electronics to pilot innovation scale) project website pi-scale.eu was developed in order to increase public awareness of and provide access to flexible OLED technology and the PI-SCALE project. The Home page, Videos and Contacts sections have been operational since mid-February 2016, while all other sections were published at the beginning of this week. You can find there basic information about the project, partners, ambition, and pilot line offering. If you would like to know more about PI-SCALE and the services the pilot line will provide, you can consult the answers to the frequently asked questions, or you can post your questions by using the Contact form. The website will be constantly maintained and updated with the latest information during the entire project duration. Stay tuned for the latest news.

WASCOP Website Launched

WASCOP_logo_color_screen_72DPIWASCOP project website www.wascop.eu is full operational since this week. The aim of the website is to increase public awareness and to disseminate WASCOP project’s results. Website, which will be maintained during the whole course of the project, provides basic information about the project, consortium, dissemination activities as well as proposed testing sites. A relevant part is dedicated to the dissemination of the project results and outputs, including press releases, scientific publications, public deliverables and sister projects for clustering activities. A FAQ section is reserved for questions related to the project. Please visit the webpage and join our active WASCOP community!

AMIRES is hiring

Hiring_smallAMIRES is looking for a Junior Project Manager of European R&D&I projects to reinforce its team in the Czech office in Prague. The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of FP7 / H2020 project(s) in the area of new materials and for the AMIRES marketing activities. You can apply for this position till 13th April 2016. More details about the position are available here.

PI-SCALE catches growing interest

PI_SCALEThe PI-SCALE pilot line has already attracted a widespread interest in the OLED community only a month after the first press release has been published. The idea of an open access flexible OLED pilot line is particularly interesting for companies of all sizes who will have unique access to test and develop their specific applications at an industrial scale and thus achieve the product performance, cost, yield, efficiency and safety requirements that facilitate mass market adoption. If you are interested in discovering your options with flexible OLEDs, please check the project website, and if you would like to learn more about the pilot line, please check these articles in:

CSEM Business day films incl. LASSIE-FP7

photo (4)LASSIE-FP7 was part of CSEM’s First Business Day which was organized on 3 November 2015 at EPFL’s Microcity. Photos of LASSIE-FP7 booth are available in the Gallery section of the project website. CSEM has just finalized several videos which were shot at the event to make discover or re-discover its technologies and demonstrators. Learn more about LASSIE-FP7 project from Rolando Ferrini, LASSIE-FP7 coordinator, who introduces the project and its first conceptual demonstrator in the video titled “Light Management – Large-area solid-state intelligent efficient luminaires (LASSIE)”.

Shaping the future in OLED lighting

PI-SCALE_300DPI_RGBAmbitious ideas have been officially launched on 1 January 2016 and are expected to be realized by a team of 14 partners, including AMIRES, coming from 5 different countries. In the course of 36 months and with 14 million of EU Grant contribution obtained through one of the calls under the Photonics Public Private Partnership (PPP) of HORIZON 2020 Programme, PI-SCALE project intends to establish a world-leading open access pilot line, based in Europe, for companies interested in the manufacture and system-level integration of flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) into products. This will be achieved by bringing together the very best of the existing European infrastructure and know-how on flexible OLEDs from different locations into one pilot line. New and highly competitive OLED products will be introduced in the market, new jobs will be created and public perception of this innovative lighting technology will increase. To learn more, check PI-SCALE press release. More information will be also available soon on the project website. You can learn about the launch of other two advanced pilot lines in photonics field here.

MEDILIGHT at Photonics West

SPIE Photonics WestThis year’s edition of SPIE Photonics West conference in San Francisco was held from 13 to 18 February 2016. Every year over 20,000 people come to SPIE Photonics West to see, learn about, and purchase the latest devices, components, and systems that are enabling, and driving, today’s trends: state-of-the art medical technologies, the Internet of Things, smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, and more. MEDILIGHT project and its results were presented as part of the presentation titled “Wearable light management system for light stimulated healing of large area chronic wounds” on 13 February 2016 given by Rolando Ferrini from CSEM (Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique). The slides are available here.

Cooperation profiles of Swiss companies for H2020 projects

Switzerland_flagAMIRES has participated in the series of industrial interviews with the top management of selected Neuchâtel-based companies (Switzerland) from the field of material production; micro-electronic & component manufacturing and energy consulting and identified their development needs and opportunities in the H2020 funded projects. Each cooperation profile includes short description, main competences, possible strategic projects and suitable H2020 calls for 2016-2017. The cooperation profiles include also direct contact to decision makers. Please download the profiles below:

ARIaT – H2020 Annotated RIA Template

InnovationAs part of Health-2-Market project template for H2020 actions proposal was prepared. The annotated template aims to assist applicants to the Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Innovation Actions (IA) of Horizon 2020 Programme to better understand the requirements of the templates and better write innovation-related issues in the H2020 proposals. It highlights and emphasises the innovation elements that an excellent project application should contain. The ARIaT Template has been structured to guide project formulators in presenting information required especially by the criteria of Excellence (criterion 1) and Impact (criterion 2). The Appendices include an example of a business plan executive summary and an example of work packages addressing dissemination and exploitation of results, preparation of market authorisation and market access (related to health topic). You can download the template here. More information is available here.

Seal of Excellence Initiative

ExcellenceThe Commission launched a new initiative, “Seal of Excellence”, which aims to allow regions to recognise the quality label awarded to promising project proposals submitted under H2020 and promote their access to different funding sources like the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and other national or regional investment programmes. It is given to those projects which succeeded in passing all the selection and award criteria of the H2020 evaluation, but could not be funded under the available Call budget. In its pilot phase, the “Seal of Excellence” will first be given to proposals by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) submitted under the SME instrument of Horizon 2020. The action could then be extended to cover more areas of Horizon 2020. You can find more information on the website of the initiative.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

AMIRES_PF2016The whole AMIRES team would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Let’s the new year is successful one, full of happiness, positive minds and innovative ideas!

Innovation Strategy in R&D projects: a step by step guide

Innovation 5As part of Health-2-Market project a step-by-step guide explaining how to develop and implement an innovation strategy in R&D projects was prepared. It was written by 19 experts across the EU and it is designed to be relevant to everyone wishing to bring research results to market whatever the field of research, with or without previous experience in doing so. It covers the following topics: commercialisation routes, IP protection process, a business plan, a marketing strategy and a financing strategy. It also gives some insights about European legislation, standardisation and certification issues. The guide is available here.

AMBASSADOR concluded third year of its running

AMBASSADOR-300x165AMBASSADOR M36 review meeting took place at the beginning of December 2015 in Lavrion, Greece. The consortium presented intensive work of the last 18 months aiming to develop the solution and use cases defined during its first period. Several practical demonstrations were performed including the work with the District Simulation Platform as well as the District Energy Management and Information System developed within the scope of the project. The Lavrion test site visit concluded the demonstration of the latest AMBASSADOR work. For the last one year of the project, the work will be especially oriented towards the work on three AMBASSADOR test sites (Lavrion, CEA-INES, BedZED) in order to deploy and validate the DEMIS and its effects on the energy / CO2 / costs efficiency. Several dissemination events will be organised including AMBASSADOR summer school and its final conference. More information on AMBASSADOR project is available on its website.

From Lab to market

Innovation 4What can be the real outcome of the EU funded research and innovation in the Societal Challenges areas? Check here some examples of many successful results which are already integrated into commercially viable products, start-ups and services. Some of these products or services are already available in the market in 2015, some will be in the near future. The project received funding from the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) and the Active and Assisted Living Joint Programme (AAL JP).

Work Programmes 2016-2017 published

H2020_logoThe second Horizon 2020 Work Programme covering the years 2016-2017 was published by the European Commission this month. Information on future funding opportunities under the different parts is available on the Participant Portal. The EC will invest almost €16 billion in research and innovation in the next two years. The programme will support a range of cross-cutting initiatives: the modernisation of Europe’s manufacturing industry (€1 billion); technologies and standards for automatic driving (over €100 million); the Internet of Things (€139 million) to address digitalisation of EU industries; Industry 2020 in the Circular Economy (€670 million) to develop strong and sustainable economies; and Smart and Sustainable Cities (€232 million) to better integrate environmental, transport, energy and digital networks in EU’s urban environments. You will find more information here.

LASSIE-FP7 first conceptual demonstrator is out

LASSIE-FP7_demo_1_©LASSIE-FP7 consortium is happy to announce the release of its first conceptual demonstrator. It was firstly showcased on 26 September 2015 at CSEM Open Day event in Muttenz, Switzerland. You can learn more about the demo in the fact sheet which is available for download in Download section of the project website. Don’t miss to check the photos of the demo and LASSIE-FP7 stand at the event in the Gallery section of the project website.

New job opening in AMIRES – deadline postponed

Hiring_smallAMIRES is looking for a Project Manager of European R&D&I projects to reinforce its team in the Czech office in Prague. The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of H2020 projects in flexible electronics and photonics and will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals. You can apply for this position till 2nd October 2015. More details about the position are available here.

What offers EffiBUILDING – video

VideoThe newly created video of the EffiBUILDING database is giving you a unique opportunity to see online how to use the full version of the tool, to filter products by subcategories, technical characteristics or by country, to find contacts for products and prototypes as well as further more detailed information.

How to start using the database? You can take advantage of special offer and subscribe to the database or you can share your product or prototype with us and be part of EffiBUILDING with no costs for 6 months!

Presentation from EuroNanoForum 2015

EuroNanoForum_2015The seventh International Conference on Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, EuroNanoForum, took place from 10 to 12 June 2015 in Riga, Latvia. It was organized as part of the Latvian presidency of the Council of the EU. More information is available on the event’s website here. AMIRES CZ Managing Director, Lenka Bajarová, was invited as a speaker at the event. She gave a talk on „Trends in EU public funding of R&D“. You can have a look at her presentation here.

Presentations from Horizon 2020: We Can Do It!

H2020 We can do itEuresearch organised a national conference on Horizon 2020 titled “Horizon 2020: We Can Do It!” on 16 June 2015 in Bern, Switzerland. In the afternoon parallel thematic session AMIRES CEO Rudolf Fryček gave a talk on experience in coaching of SMEs towards successful collaborative projects financed by the EU. You can check the presentation here. All presentations from the event are available for download here.

Hot start for ULTRAPLACAD

ULTRAPLACAD_logo_FINAL_CUTSummer temperatures welcomed on 6th May 2015 the ULTRAPLACAD partners in the wonderful setting of Villa San Saverio, Catania (Italy) for the kick-off meeting of the project. ULTRAPLACAD is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, dealing with the early diagnosis of cancer by non-invasive, affordable and innovative techniques. You can check the project’s press release here and the preliminary website here.

EffiBUILDING is getting a place in the market

leaflet for websiteEffiBUILDING has already started promoting the most energy efficient products and prototypes. Our product manager is assisting many fairs around Europe in the fields of energy efficiency products for buildings and collecting new products&prototypes for the database. Check what EffiBUILDING can offer you in the new leaflet and the press release.

Don’t wait more and be part of EffiBUILDING!

Database of energy efficient solutions launched

EBlogoWe are extremely happy to inform you that AMIRES has launched EffiBUILDING, a database which contains information about novel materials and products as well as prototypes within the area of energy efficient products & solutions. EffiBUILDING target is to provide an overview of the latest state of the art and latest research results to professionals in design and refurbishment of buildings (e.g. architects, building technology designer, energy managers, producers, suppliers) or anybody interested in selecting and comparing an appropriate product. The database brings the market intelligence of energy efficient products and will serve also as a marketing tool for component producers. With EffiBUILDING you get also the overview about the recent prototypes and contacts to researchers developing them. Therefore it will be easier to share, discover, compare and exploit research and development results more efficiently.

At this first stage the database is specialized in efficient windows and facades systems, collecting data from public sources, fairs/conferences, private businesses, research organizations and universities. Check the current market situation and its trends!

PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCT AND GET FREE ACCESS!

All users who register a new product/prototype (not yet listed in EffiBUILDING) will enjoy FREE ACCESS to the database for one month. Please enter product/prototype details here and you will receive login details by email (details must be complete and will be controlled by product manager).

Everybody else will have an opportunity to choose one of our competitive fares.

PRICES AND TIME LIMITED SPECIAL OFFERS:

To get full access within the database, you can choose one of our competitive prices we currently offer:

  • 3 months access for 249€, 125€ if you buy it before 30th of June 2015.
  • 1 year access for 499€, 249€ if you buy it before 30th of June 2015.

Do not waste your time and click here to be part of EffiBUILDING!

Please do not hesitate to contact EffiBUILDING product manager Pello Azkarate for more information.

MEDILIGHT press release

Press releaseMEDILIGHT (Miniaturized smart system for light stimulation and monitoring of wound healing) consortium released its first press release in order to inform broad public about the launch of the project and its promising objectives. You can find basic information on the concept in there, too. The press release is available here.

AMBASSADOR and TRIBUTE at Impact Workshop

SynergyAMBASSADOR and TRIBUTE teams will actively participate in the 5th Workshop on the Impact of the Energy-efficient Buildings (EeB) PPP that is jointly organised by the European Commission with the support of the Energy Efficient Building Association on 27 and 28 April 2015. The objectives of the Workshop are to address innovation and exploitation issues in running EeB projects and explore potential for cross-project clustering. If you would like to learn more about the mentioned projects and their contribution to EeB you can check their websites: AMBASSADOR and TRIBUTE.

LASSIE-FP7 invited to Euresearch event

Logo-EuresearchEuresearch Basel is organising an event titled “Horizon 2020: From basic research to novel technologies and materials” on 7 July 2015 in Basel, Switzerland to inform local researchers and companies about the EU-funding opportunities for new technologies. The topics of the upcoming ICT and NMP calls within the Industrial Leadership pillar of Horizon 2020 as well as the Future & Emerging technologies (FET) programme will be presented there. LASSIE-FP7 coordinator, Rolando Ferrini from CSEM, was invited to share his experience in writing and running an FP7 project. The event will be held at the University Hospital, Hebelstrasse 20, Basel and the language will be English. Participants from the local research institutions (University, FHNW, CSEM, FMI etc.) and from local companies are expected to be present. The event in organized in collaboration with iNET innovation networks. For registration (free of charge) and further information, click here.

LASSIE-FP7 project in Shanghai

IMG_1197LASSIE-FP7 was present at the 10th anniversary of LASER World of PHOTONICS CHINA, China’s Platform for the Photonics Community, which took place from 17 to 19 March 2015 in Shanghai New International Expo Centre. A total of 715 companies from 20 countries exhibited on an exhibition area of 36,960 square meters. In the three days, 40,291 industry professionals visited the trade fair. For more details you can check the event’s website. A combined roll-up of LASSIE-FP7 project and Swissphotonics (the Swiss national thematic network for photonics) was displaced at the fair. The photos are available in the Gallery section of the project website.

Scoping papers for 2016-2017 H2020 calls

H2020_logoFirst scoping papers for 2016-2017 H2020 calls have been drafted following the recommendations from the H2020 Advisory Groups, Member states, stakeholders or open consultations. Even these scoping papers are working documents only, they are giving a flavour on how the upcoming calls and topics could look like. To learn more, you can check the following link.

MEDILIGHT kicked-off

MEDILIGHT_logoMEDILIGHT project is a Horizon 2020 project in the area of smart system integration focused on a medical device for professional wound care which will use therapeutic effects of visible light. The consortium consists of 7 European partners and it is being coordinated by the Technical University Berlin (TUB). AMIRES is responsible for Project Management and Dissemination. Project started on 1 February 2015 and the kick-off meeting took place on 3 and 4 February 2015 in Berlin, Germany where all partners met to discuss and plan first steps and actions. You can already check the preliminary website with basic information on the project here.

New job opening in AMIRES

HiringAMIRES is looking for a Project Manager of European R&D&I projects to reinforce its team in the Czech office in Prague. The chosen candidate will be responsible for the overall administration and management support of FP7 / H2020 projects in health and / or energy efficiency domain and / or will also actively contribute to the preparation of other project proposals. You can apply for this position till 27th February 2015. More details about the position are available here.

Interview with Rudolf Fryček (in Slovak/Czech)

InterviewIn the issue II/2014 of SCOPE, eNewsletter on the 7th Framework Programme being published by SOVVA (Slovak Organization for Research and Development Activities), you can find an interview with Rudolf Fryček, AMIRES CEO, about his experience from European R&D&I field and trends in this sector. With regard to research projects co-funded by the EU, recommendations on communication with a Project Officer and on smooth project reviews are given. The eNewsletter is available here (only in Slovak/Czech language) and the interview is on page 9 and 10.

Tutorials for Energy Managers

AMBASSADORAMBASSADOR project focused on developing an Autonomous Management System for Building and District Levels organised a Training for energy managers on 28 November 2014. The training was dedicated to topics such as overal energy context, optimization strategies for buildings and districts dimension. The practical demonstration of the District Energy Management and Information System (DEMIS), that is under development within the Framework of the project, was also performed. The feedback from the training will be also used for the preparation of the final project summer school (summer 2016). The presentation from the training is already available and you check it here, photos from the training are available in the Gallery section of the project’s website.

PF 2015

AMIRES_PF 2015As the year 2014 is coming to an end and the year 2015 is on the horizon we would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Let’s the new year is full of interesting opportunities, activities and innovative ideas!

UnivSEM video “Who Does What”

UnivSEM videoUnivSEM on AMIRES YouTube channel here. The first, introductory, video is available here.

Open Access at iONE-FP7

OpenAIRE-Logo1Some of the iONE-FP7 publications are listed in the OpenAire Open Access repository and some of them are even available for free in full text! Despite the Open Access is fully voluntary in FP7, we all hope this will accelerate the progress of research of these perspective technologies, with a strong possibility to restore organ functionality (spinal cord injury in iONE-FP7 case). The link to Cordis-OpenAire is here.

AMBASSADOR team met in CEA-INES site

AMBASSADOR_M24On the occassion of the M24 meeting, the AMBASSADOR team met at the end of November in Chambéry, France (26 – 28 November 2014). During this three-day meeting, AMBASSADOR progress in individual WPs was presented followed by technical discussions in few dedicated workshops. The participants had also the occasion to visit the CEA-INES testing site and see, where some of the project’s demonstrations will take place in the following months. As every 12 months, the General Assembly members also met together to make some important decisions on the future AMBASSADOR progress as well as upcoming meeting (Eibar in May 2015, Brussels in November 2015). AMBASSADOR External Advisory Board members also took part in the meeting (Mr Pedersen from CENERGIA and Mr Normand from the City of Grenoble). The overall project progress was presented to them as well as the identified business cases and first results and outputs. The potential contribution of AMBASSADOR to the development of smart districts and smart cities was stressed several times.

On 28 November 2014 (the last day of the meeting), a training for energy managers organised by the AMBASSADOR team took place. The training was dedicated to topics such as overall energy context, optimization strategies for buildings and districts dimension. The practical demonstration of the District Energy Management and Information System (DEMIS), that is under development within the framework of the project, was also performed. The feedback from the training will be also used for the preparation of the final project summer school (summer 2016). Photos from the training are available on the project’s website in the Gallery section.

LASSIE-FP7 project on Italian TV

SSL workshop with LASSIE-FP7 stand

DSC03505The workshop focused on Large-area Solid State Lighting (SSL) took place on 30 October 2014 in Pantheon premises in Basel and was co-organised by Swissphotonics (the Swiss national thematic network for photonics) and the Swiss National Laboratory for Solid State Lighting (SSSL) together with LASSIE-FP7 project and CSEM (the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology). It was a day full of interesting topics and contributions. Project LASSIE-FP7 was presented by Dr. Rolando Ferrini, project coordinator. EPIC report covering the event is to be found here. The presentations are available here and photos in Gallery section of LASSIE-FP7 website.

UnivSEM introductory video

UnivSEM videoUnivSEM consortium prepared a short video in which the project coordinator, Jaroslav Jiruše from Tescan, a.s., introduces the project, its goal and the whole consortium. You can watch it on the home page of UnivSEM project on www.univsem.eu and on AMIRES YouTube channel here.

AMIRES is looking for a new team member

Hiring_smallAMIRES is looking for a Product Manager to reinforce its team in the Czech office in Prague. The chosen candidate will be completely responsible for preparation, finalization and further business development of an innovative solutions’ database in energy efficient buildings domain.  You can apply for this position till November 21st 2014. More details about the position are available here.

AMIRES YouTube channel

YouTube_logo_standard_whiteYou can now follow us also on YouTube channel. Check the videos about AMBASSADOR and LASSIE-FP7 projects where you can meet the project coordinators and Work Package Leaders or other consortium members. A short movie about the UnivSEM FP7 project is also available on the channel. Enjoy the videos!

LASSIE-FP7 video

LASSIE-FP7_videoLASSIE-FP7 consortium prepared during its M6 meeting in Erlangen an informative video about the project. The project’s vision and building blocks are presented there with inputs from project’s partners. You can watch it on the home page of LASSIE-FP7 project on www.lassie-fp7.eu and on AMIRES YouTube channel here (full version) and here (short version).

AMIRES s.r.o. domicile address

Inbox_iconStarting 5 of August 2014, the AMIRES s.r.o. domicile is at Evropská 115, 160 00 Prague 6 where the company office is located. It means that the legal address at Golfová 938/13, Prague 10 is not valid any more.

H2020 deadlines till 2015 – updates

H2020 deadlines_v3The European Commission adopted on 22 July 2014 a revised Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2014-2015. The parts related to 2015 (topics, dates, budget) have been updated. The revised Work Programme is available on the Participant Portal here. Based on this change we have updated our overview of the H2020 2014-2015 calls deadlines where AMIRES offers support. Please, do not hesitate to contact us to make your proposal preparation easier for you.

 

TRIBUTE clustering

ClusteringTRIBUTE project initiated cooperation with two other European projects that participated in the same FP7 call and were selected to be funded from the FP7 programme. A teleconference with representatives of Energy in Time (Simulation based control for Energy Efficiency operation and maintenance), PERFORMER (Portable, Exhaustive, Reliable, Flexible and Optimized approach to Monitoring and Evaluation of building energy performance) and TRIBUTE projects took place in July 2014. They will meet personally for the first time at a workshop focused on clustering activities among European projects in the field of Energy efficient buildings. The workshop will be organized during the Sustainable Places 2014 conference taking place from 1 to 3 October 2014 in Nice, France.

LASSIE-FP7 website launched

LASSIE-FP7_webLASSIE-FP7 (Large Area Solid State Intelligent Efficient luminaires) project website www.lassie-fp7.eu has been set up in order to increase public awareness of the project, research progress in Solid State Lighting field and to disseminate project’s results. Provisional website with basic information on the project had been operational already from the start of the project, January 2014. The final version of the website was launched this week. It will be actively maintained during the whole course of the project. You can find basic information on the project and consortium there and public deliverables and other materials are available for download. The Frequently Asked Questions section is developed in order to answer possible questions related to LASSIE-FP7 project and its goals and make the replies publicly available on the website.

H2020 deadlines till 2015

H2020 deadlinesAre you confused with all the HORIZON 2020 deadlines? This overview will help you to find your way. It’s the second part of the H2020 2014-2015 calls overview where AMIRES offers support (the first part with the deadlines till June 2014 is available here). It can help you to plan the project proposal preparation and not to miss your deadline. If you would like us to make the proposal writing easier for you, please, do not hesitate to contact us or check our consulting models!

CEITEC: synergism of EU regional and research policies

CEITECA microscope, unique even by world standards, is one of the outcomes of the scientific research at CEITEC (Central European Institute of Technology) BUT (Brno University of Technology), which also serves as an example of how to access European funds. Thanks to well-chosen instruments and technology acquired through the targeted support of the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) for large infrastructures and approved by the Czech government, they have been able to obtain and implement research projects awarded directly by the European Commission. The result of the synergy of national and European grant policy is exemplified by the participation of CEITEC BUT scientists in the FP7 scientific research project UnivSEM. A press release on this topic was issued and is available here. The information was electronically published also in French and is to be found here. You can also check a spot on Brno TV about CEITEC BUT and UnivSEM (in Czech) here.

Projects’ booths at Industrial Technologies 2014

IndTechIndustrial Technologies conference took place from 9 to 11 April 2014 in Athens, Greece in Megaron Conference Centre under the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU. More than 1300 people from over 60 countries participated in the event.

As a part of the conference the IndustryTech 2014 exhibition was held where three projects, which AMIRES participates in, were promoted: AMBASSADOR, TRIBUTE and UnivSEM project. At a joint booth of AMBASSADOR and TRIBUTE projects Schneider Electric and NXP sensors measuring and evaluating temperature, humidity and light were exhibited. The stand was a success as it was chosen to be among 10 finalists for the most innovative exhibitor award. UnivSEM booth presented the stage of TESCAN microscope which is compatible with several analytical tools that can be integrated into it. Projects’ fact sheets and other materials were distributed there.

On 10 April AMIRES organised together with the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) a small apero in front of the booths focused on industrially-driven projects with great impact stressing the importance of Swiss participation in European research projects. Swiss NCP for ICT and NMP, Ms Marion Tobler, gave an introduction speech with up-to-date information on Swiss position towards Horizon2020 programme. Representatives of all three projects briefly introduced their projects: Alfredo Samperio, AMBASSADORS’s coordinator and Programme Manager for Strategy and Technology Department of Schneider Electric; Jaroslav Klíma, CEO of TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING, a.s., a company coordinating UnivSEM project; and Václav Smítka, Project Manager of TRIBUTE project.

Product launch within UnivSEM project

RISE2As part of the UnivSEM project, TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING, a multinational company experienced in charged particle optics and WITec, a distinguished German specialist in Raman and scanning probe microscopy, successfully introduced a correlative microscopy technique which combines electron microscopy with Raman microscopy. The resulting RISE (Raman Imaging and Scanning Electron) Microscopy technique enables for the first time ultra-structural and chemical imaging with one microscope. The press release which was published on the occasion of the product launch of RISE is available here.

TRIBUTE team met in Torino

TorinoOn the occassion of the M6 meeting, the TRIBUTE team met at the beginning of April in Torino, Italy. During this two day meeting, TRIBUTE work progress in individual WPs was discussed including discussions in specific workshops dedicated to modelling and simulation of testing sites, instalation of the sensors and development of the business model. TRIBUTE EAB members also took part in the meeting. During the EAB meeting the overal project progress was presented to the Board as well as the first achievements and results. During the meeting it was also approved that next regular M12 meeting will be organized in Dublin, Ireland in the second half of October 2014.

TRIBUTE webpage launched and first TV spot

logo-tribute-final (2)For the improvement of the public awareness of the project TRIBUTE a dedicated website www.tribute-fp7.eu was created. Content of the webpage, which will be maintained during the whole course of the project, provides basic information on project´s purpose, involved partners as well as proposed testing sites. Significant part is dedicated to the dissemination of the project results and outputs, including press releases, scientific publications and public deliverables. You can watch a TV spot in French shot during the first day of the kick-off meeting in La Rochelle, France. Besides the basic information about the project and the consortium, the video includes interviews with Project Coordinator Emmanuel Onillon (CSEM) and Scientific Coordinator Henri Obara (Schneider Electric) as well as with the representative of the European Commission – Project Officer Claudia Boldrini. The video can be viewed in the section Press releases.

AMBASSADOR’s clustering

AMBASSADOR_RESILIENTFollowing the Nice workshop that took place during the ICT for Sustainable Places 2013 conference, where AMBASSADOR and RESILIENT FP7 projects’ teams met for the first time, the cooperation of both the projects has been continuing this time by organisation of a meeting in Paris in the middle of February. The goal of the meeting was to have two parallel workshops in the morning discussing together topics that are closely related to both the projects – energy optimization and district simulation. In the afternoon a wrap-up session took place in order to summarize the activities from the morning workshops and to plan next steps for the future cooperation. It was agreed that publications on the optimization topic will be exchanged between the teams and as a next step a common paper on different energy optimization approaches on district level will be prepared. For the district simulation an overview of component models will be performed and work on a common use case will be started. The recommendation for the best tool for district simulation for future projects will be also targeted as a final output of the cooperation between the two projects. More information on AMBASSADOR is available here, more information on RESILIENT here.

FP7 project on innovative LED-based modules

LASSIE-FP7_KOM_webLASSIE-FP7 (Large Area Solid State Intelligent Efficient luminaires) is a three-year FP7 project which officially started on 1 January 2014 and develops an innovative LED-based module for professional and architectural lighting. It addresses all the limitations of today´s SSL modules and will offer an alternative to the OLED technology. The kick-off meeting of the project took place on 30 and 31 January 2014 in Basel, Switzerland and was organized by the project’s coordinator, Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM). Project’s partners came together to discuss the first tasks of the project and the first steps to be taken. A consortium of 8 partners represents industrial (Regent Beleuchtungskörper AG, BASF Schweiz AG, Marsica Innovation & Technology S.r.l., AMIRES) and R&D sector (CSEM, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus VTT, Fundacion GAIKER). You can learn more about the project in the first press release (here) which was published after the meeting. You can also check the provisional project’s webpage with the basic information at www.lassie-fp7.eu.

FLUIDGLASS on TV

On 9th January 2014 Swiss Radio and Television broadcasting company SRF broadcast a report about the project FLUIDGLASS as a part of its regular show Einstein. The full video can be found here.

Midterm review of UnivSEM project

UnivSEM_M18 mtgThe midterm review of UnivSEM (Universal Scanning Electron Microscope as a Multi-nano-analytical Tool) project that evaluated the first 18 months of the project took place in Thun, Switzerland from 12 to 13 November 2013. EC Project Officer together with the assigned Project Technical Advisor was present. The first integration of SEM chambers and vacuum-operated CRM (Confocal Raman Microscopy) shows unprecedented results of the same sample spot image, with optical resolution of 360 nm, which is well beyond the foreseen result (500 nm). This part of the tool is now ready to perform several characterization tests, which will lead to optimization of the settings. Consequently, hardware and software integration of all techniques should provide the universal nano-analytical tool for multipurpose use. The expected socio-economic impact of the resulting tool is very high due to having one single tool allowing researchers and quality control employees capabilities, which were recently possible only by several devices. This will be particularly appreciated for forensic, geological and biological applications, but also in developing markets like organic or hybrid (opto-) electronics (e.g. OLEDs, OPVs). You can find more about UnivSEM project and the meeting on www.univsem.eu.

FLUIDGLASS kick-off meeting and successful PR

FLUIDGLASS_IniLiOn 3 and 4 October 2013 FLUIDGLASS kick-off meeting took place in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The meeting organized by University of Lichtenstein was dedicated to the presentation of all partners and also to the introduction of the main parts of the project focused on Solar Thermal Facades with Adjustable Transparency. It was also the first opportunity where the whole consortium came together to start the discussion about the first tasks of the FLUIDGLASS project. Since FLUIDGLASS is the very first project coordinated by one of the Liechtenstein institutions, a lot of attention was attracted among both industrial and general public in Liechtenstein. This was also supported by a strong PR campaign prepared by the University of Liechtenstein. Following this campaign a number of press releases were published in various newspapers and magazines as well as short spot in a local TV station. All of these articles can be found in the section “Press releases” on the project’s new webpage www.fluidglass.eu which was launched in November.

FP7 project on innovative glass façades systems

AMIRES is a proud partner of FLUIDGLASS FP7 project that was launched on September 1st 2013 and will last for four years until August 2017. The project develops a new and innovative concept for multifunctional solar thermal glass façades systems. The FLUIDGLASS approach turns passive glass façades into active transparent solar collectors while controlling the energy flow through the building envelope at the same time. FLUIDGLASS will bring a significant cost advantage compared to existing solutions; it will increase the thermal performance of the whole building resulting in energy savings potential of 50%-70% for retrofitting and 20%-30% for new low energy buildings while the comfort for the user will be significantly improved at the same time. The consortium led by the University of Lichtenstein brings together partners experienced in glass architecture, building simulation and energy management but also in experimental testing, HVAC systems, manufacturing of glazing units and construction of façades. You can learn more about the project on www.fluidglass.eu.

FP7 project on eco-friendly buildings and districts

AMBASSADORAMIRES is a proud partner of FP7 project AMBASSADOR. The purpose of AMBASSADOR project (Autonomous Management System Developed for Building and District levels) is to study, develop and experiment systems and tools that will aim at optimising the energy usage in the perimeter of a district by managing the energy flows, predicting and mastering energy consumption and energy production. The overall goal is to define and experiment a system that optimises the cost of energy in a district, the cost being expressed in Primary Energy, CO₂ or €. The project will investigate energy efficiency both at a building level and at a district level. A number of mechanisms and technical systems will be studied both at buildings and district level for the creation of such a system. The major part of results should be usable for transfer to development teams at the end of the project. A consortium of 15 partners representing both the industrial (e.g. CISCO, ZIGOR, Leclanché, D’Appolonia) and R&D (e.g. CSEM, CEA-INES or NTUA) sector, has been working to reach ambitious AMBASSADOR goals, under the leadership of Schneider Electric Industries. The results will be validated on three testing sites in France, Greece and UK. More information can be found on the webpage of the project (under AMIRES responsibility) ambassador-fp7.eu.