Research*eu results magazine. No 13, June 2012.
Date: 2012-06-25
Institutions: CORDIS, Publications Office of the European Union
Subjects: research, research and development, research project, serial publication

ISSN 1831-9947

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

No 13  June 2012

In this issue:

Special feature: 

Growth through innovation: ‘Green cars’, ‘Energy-efficient 
buildings’ and ‘Factories of the future’
Interviews: Juliusz Żach, Juan Ramón de las Cuevas Jiménez 
and Richard Scaife on projects funded by the EU’s public-private 
partnerships for research (PPPs)

Other highlights: 

There is something healthy in the state of Denmark, page 6
New hope for hydrogen-powered cars, page 13
Going underground for optimal crops and yields, page 19
Future Internet … a thing of beauty and promise, page 25
New method to clean and treat polluted water for extraction 
of chemicals, page 34

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

research eu

R E S U LT S   M AG A Z I N E

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research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

No 12  May 2012

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

No 11  April 2012

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

No 10  March 2012

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In this issue:
Special feature: 

Ecosystems and food security
Interview: Professor Augusto de Guimaraes Medina  
on food and health research

Other highlights: 

Nutrition labelling: not as effective as you might think, page 8
Exploring your transport options, the EU way, page 13
Europeans develop innovative,  
sustainable food packaging product, page 19
A cheap and fully optical solution for ultra-fast internet, page 26
Infant eye movement and cognition, page 33

In this issue:
Special features: 

Interview: The Balkans — a new approach to an entangled history
Through the looking glass: 
search engines, data and the semantic adventure

Other highlights: 

Dr Robot, brain surgeon, page 6
Clean energy? Mother Nature still knows best, page 14
Strengthen education to build social cohesion, page 20
Gigabit wireless data coming to your home, car… or flight, page 27
A noiseless, emission-free car? 
Europeans are on the right track, page 37

In this issue:
Special feature: 
  Knowledge beyond frontiers: cross-border science and innovation

Other highlights: 

Eat fish, build up brainpower, page 6
Loco on logistics, page 14
Trees boost sustainable agriculture, page 21
Broadband, a gig per second for all! page 28
Marrying innovation with old traditions 
for European bread, page 36

European Commission

European Commission

No 9  February 2012

ISSN 1831-9947

No 8  December 2011

ISSN 1831-9947

European Commission

No 7  November 2011

ISSN 1831-9947

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

(cid:79)(cid:3)Biology and medicine 5

(cid:79) Energy and transport 12

(cid:79) Environment and society 18

(cid:79)(cid:3)IT and telecommunications 30

(cid:79) Industrial technologies 37

(cid:79) Events 46

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

(cid:79)(cid:3)Biology and medicine 5

(cid:79) Energy and transport 13

(cid:79) Environment and society 20

(cid:79)(cid:3)IT and telecommunications 28

(cid:79) Industrial technologies 35

(cid:79) Events 42

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

(cid:79)(cid:3)Biology and medicine 5

(cid:79) Energy and transport 14

(cid:79) Environment and society 20

(cid:79)(cid:3)IT and telecommunications 30

(cid:79) Industrial technologies 40

(cid:79) Events 46

Special feature
Archaeology, history and heritage: a civilisation discovered  
in Libya’s desert

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Other highlights
(cid:79) Study shows link between ancestor’s brain and evolution, page 5
(cid:79) Maximum aircraft design, page 12
(cid:79) Slavery: the European context, page 18
(cid:79) Wireless healthcare, page 30
(cid:79) Nanotech fights trypanosomiasis south of the Sahara, page 37

Special feature

Components, systems and engineering

Other highlights

(cid:79) Promising gene therapy for brain disease, page 5

(cid:79) Driving the future of laser fusion energy, page 13

(cid:79)  How does your garden grow?, page 20

(cid:79) Rating crisis communication, page 28

(cid:79) Creativity with coatings, page 35

Special feature
Blue sky research: a funding lifeline
Interview with Professor Tommaso Calarco of AQUTE

Other highlights
(cid:79)  The promise of metabolic engineering, page 5
(cid:79) Flight of fancy, page 14
(cid:79)  Laying the foundations for synthetic biology in Europe, page 20
(cid:79) Virtual business enters the real world, page 30
(cid:79)  Big steps in the nano-world revolutionise new products, page 40

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No 11  October 2011

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research eu

F O C U S   M A G A Z I N E

No 13  May 2012

research eu

F O C U S   M A G A Z I N E

No 12  February 2012

F O C U S

● A strategy for the Danube 4
● The Innovation Union ﬂ agship initiative 6
● Innovation on the Danube 7
● River transport 10
● Environment matters 12 
● Energy links 17 
● Socio-economic research 20 
● RTDI on the Danube 22

Green innovation
solutions

for sustainable

build 
connect
grow

The Danube 
A river of innovation

European Commission

European Commission

European Commission

No 9  December 2010

ISSN 1831-1903

No 9  May 2011

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No 8  September 2010

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F O C U S

● Introduction to RSFF 4
● How does RSFF work? 8
● RSFF progress & fi nance needs 18
● RSFF stories 24
● Other RDI instruments 32
● Key challenges & conclusions 38

F O C U S

● FET overview 5
● Projects in focus 11
● FET community 37
● Publications and info 39

Pilot Flagship 
Initiatives 
pull-out 

F O C U S

● Mobile communications 7
● Micro- and nanoelectronics 10
● Safety critical systems 13
● Digital media 16
● Photonics 19
● Broadband communications 22
● ICT and healthcare 25
● ICT on the roads 28
● Robotics 31
● Information management 34

Risk-Sharing 
Finance Facility 
Innovative loans for 
innovative ideas

Future and Emerging 
Technologies

‘Specials’ icon: ©iStockphoto.com/Tom Nulens
Cover photo: 
© SerrNovik, Margo Sokolovskaya, shutterstock

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

Working together for new green, 
clean technologies

3

EDITORIAL

ISSN 1831-9947

research eu

R E S U L T S   M A G A Z I N E

No 13  June 2012

Industry and the environment are often seen as opposites, but research and new technologies have 
a vital role to play in making European industries cleaner, greener and more competitive. 

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The EU’s Europe 2020 strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy includes initiatives 
aimed at supporting research, encouraging innovation and improving the way public and private 
sectors work together, in order to drive sustainable growth that can deliver a resource-efficient, greener 
and more competitive economy.

In November 2008, the European Commission announced three public-private partnerships (PPPs) to 
develop clean technologies for cars, construction and manufacturing, as part of its European Economic 
Plan. The European Council endorsed this package in December 2008, and three partnerships — 
‘Factories of the Future’, ‘Energy-efficient Buildings’ and ‘Green Cars’ — were launched in 2009.

In this issue:
Special feature: 

Growth through innovation: ‘Green cars’, ‘Energy-efficient 
buildings’ and ‘Factories of the future’
Interviews: Juliusz Żach, Juan Ramón de las Cuevas Jiménez 
and Richard Scaife on projects funded by the EU’s public-private 
partnerships for research (PPPs)

Other highlights: 

There is something healthy in the state of Denmark, page 6
New hope for hydrogen-powered cars, page 13
Going underground for optimal crops and yields, page 19
Future Internet … a thing of beauty and promise, page 25
New method to clean and treat polluted water for extraction of 
chemicals, page 34

In 2011, a group of experts made a first interim assessment of the three running research PPPs. The PPPs have all been successful in engaging 
top industrial companies, SMEs and research organisations within Europe, increasing significantly the large industry and SME participation, 
suggesting that they are seen as relevant to the needs of industrial companies while also focusing on pertinent research issues.

This issue of research*eu results magazine focuses on some of the projects supported via the three PPPs, as well as relevant results from some of 
the completed EU research in these industrial sectors.

In the regular ‘energy and transport’ section, starting on page 11, we have interviews with two projects, BEEM-UP and FC-DISTRICT, which 
have been supported by, and cooperate with, the PPP on ‘Energy-efficient Buildings’. In addition, there is an interview with the REFORM 
project, funded by the PPP on ‘Factories of the Future’, in the ‘industrial technologies’ section, on page 33.

The rest of the ‘energy and transport’ and ‘industrial technologies’ sections showcase results from EU-funded research in the fields of green cars 
and fuels, energy-efficient buildings and future manufacturing technologies.

 Our regular ‘biology and medicine’ section’s top story on page 6 looks at the Eatwell project, which is investigating a variety of European policies 
aimed at reducing obesity, and the steps people will take to become healthy. The results of this study come at a time when healthy eating and 
increasing rates of obesity are becoming a major concern for people the world over.

The ‘environment and society’ section opens on page 19 with an article on researchers from the University of Nottingham in the United 
Kingdom who have designed an innovative technique to study the underground world of plants. The results of this research will lead to improved 
breeding techniques for crop varieties, as well as better yields.

The ‘IT and telecommunications’ section opens on page 25 with a survey of the research going into creating the future Internet of services, things 
and infrastructure, which will include everything from smart appliances that talk to each other to clothes that monitor our health, from cars that 
cannot crash to mobile technologies and cloud platforms that run our businesses.

The issue ends, as usual, with a list of events and upcoming conferences.

We look forward to receiving your feedback on this issue and on the research*eu publications in general. Send questions or suggestions to:  
cordis-helpdesk@publications.europa.eu

The editorial team

Want more information on the contents of this issue? 
For online versions or information about the contributors in this issue 

of research*eu results magazine:

- Technology Marketplace: http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace

- Research Information Centre: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre

Watch this space!

Coming up in issue 14 of research*eu results magazine — a special dossier on ‘Creative 
and talented: nurturing Europe’s next generation of scientists and building an inclusive, 
innovative society for the future’.

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TA BLE  OF CONTE NT S

BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

6

There is something healthy in the state of Denmark ................................................................................6

Cure for the ‘broken’ heart ........................................................................................................................................7

Making competences more accessible ..............................................................................................................7

Organ regeneration in the elderly ........................................................................................................................8

A grid-based ‘Google’ to ﬁ ght neurological disease ...................................................................................9

Nanosensors for studying neuronal activity ................................................................................................ 10

ENERGY AND TRANSPORT 

11

Interview: the EU’s ‘Energy-eﬃ  cient builings’ initiative ..................................................................................................11

New hope for hydrogen-powered cars ............................................................................................................ 13

Optimised ‘ultracaps’ for tomorrow’s electric cars ................................................................................... 13

One step closer to hydrogen cars ...................................................................................................................... 14

Hydrogen-rich methanol for fuel cells ............................................................................................................ 14

Cars of the future ....................................................................................................................................................... 15

New hybrid vehicles without batteries ............................................................................................................ 16

Clearing the air for next-generation diesel engines ................................................................................ 16

Smart glazing for energy savings ...................................................................................................................... 17

Next-generation solar systems for buildings .............................................................................................. 18

Energy economy eyes gas cylinders ................................................................................................................ 18

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY 

19

Going underground for optimal crops and yields ...................................................................................... 19

Consolidating eﬀ orts for environmental protection ................................................................................. 20

Agriculture adjusts to climate change ............................................................................................................ 20

Helping small businesses to go green ............................................................................................................ 21

Boosting fresh water production ........................................................................................................................ 21

Europe’s identity through philosophy .............................................................................................................. 22

A Bronze Age identity for Europe ....................................................................................................................... 23

Encouraging debate that will shape the future ......................................................................................... 23

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

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TA BLE OF CONTENTS

IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 

25

Future Internet … a thing of beauty and promise .................................................................................... 25

Satellites zoom in on the new Europe ............................................................................................................. 27

New frontier: Chips transfer data at light speed ....................................................................................... 28

Advancing computer-aided design .................................................................................................................... 29

Safer, more active and independent: 

the proven beneﬁ ts of ‘Ambient assisted-living’ technology ............................................................. 29

Phase-sensitive optical data transmission: a new frontier ................................................................. 30

Enhanced metals separation for electronics recycling .......................................................................... 32

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES 

33

 Interview: the EU’s initiatives on ‘Factories of the Future’ ................................................................... 33

New method to clean and treat polluted water for extraction of chemicals ............................ 34

Enhancing Europe’s mechatronics paradigm...............................................................................................35

Improved industrial robots are more versatile ........................................................................................... 36

Better coordination for micro- and nano-manufacturing .................................................................... 36

Painting goes high-tech ........................................................................................................................................... 37

Making smaller better with nano-manufacturing  ................................................................................... 37

Mimicking marine organisms to design novel materials ...................................................................... 38

New cost-eﬀ ective, eco-friendly steel packaging cans ......................................................................... 38

Enhancing separation membrane selectivity .............................................................................................. 39

EVENTS 

40

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BIOLOGY A ND  ME DI C IN E

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

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There is something healthy in the 

state of Denmark

The people of Denmark are not only concerned about what they eat, but they are willing to pay more tax to eat healthier and make 
more informed eating choices. The findings are an outcome of the EU-funded Eatwell project, which has received EUR 2.5 million 
under the ‘Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology’ (KBBE) Theme of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

Eatwell1 is looking into a variety of European 
policies  aimed  at  reducing  obesity  and  the 
lengths people will go to become healthy. The 
results  of  this  study  come  at  a  time  when 
healthy  eating  and  increasing  rates  of  obe-
sity are becoming a major concern for people 
the world over. Despite this concern, however, 
government  policies  and  actions  have  rarely 
been evaluated. 

Data  from  the  World  Health  Organization 
(WHO)  show  that  obesity  is  responsible  for 
10 %  to  13 %  of  deaths  and  2 %  to  8 %  of 
health costs in Europe alone. In the case of the 
United  Kingdom,  it  is  believed  that  the  over-
consumption of salt, sugar and saturated fats, 
combined with an under consumption of fruit 
and  vegetables,  are  responsible  for  70 000 
premature deaths.

These  startling  ﬁ gures  have  led  many  EU 
Member  States  to  design  and  implement  a 
ra(cid:5)  of policies aimed at encouraging healthier 

eating habits through the promotion of fruits 
and  vegetables,  and  at  discouraging  adver-
tising certain foods to children. Other actions 
undertaken  have  included  nutrition  labelling, 
engaging  with  the  food  industry  to  improve 
the  composition  of  food  products  that  are 
manufactured,  as  well  as  regulating  public 
sector canteens to ensure healthy food oﬀ er-
ings.  While  all  these  eﬀ orts  are  encouraging, 
what  has  been  lacking  for  many  of  these 
policy actions is a proper evaluation done in a 
systematic manner.

The  Eatwell  project  is  investigating  these 
policies  over  36  months  and  is  set  to  end  in 
October 2012. In particular, it aims at review-
ing  the  policy  actions  undertaken  and  at 
identifying  gaps,  success  and  failure  factors 
for  these  campaigns.  Its  ﬁ nal  objective  is  to 
provide EU Member States policymakers with 
best-practice  guidelines,  and  with  valuable 
insights from private sector and communica-
tion  agencies  to  develop  appropriate  policy 

interventions that will encourage healthy eat-
ing across Europe.

At  a  recent  workshop  to  discuss  the  Eatwell 
it  was  revealed  that  consumers 
results, 
in  Denmark  were  both  more  willing  to  eat 
healthier and pay more to do so. 'Danes have 
the  most  positive  attitude  towards  economic 
interventions  within  the  nutritional  area,  and 
are  also  willing  to  pay  more  to  eat  more 
healthily,'  said  Jessica  Aschemann-Witzel 
from  Aarhus  University,  Business  and  Social 
Sciences in Denmark, a doctoral student who 
worked on the project.

The Eatwell project partners evaluated more 
than  3 000  consumers  from  ﬁ ve  European 
countries,  asking  them  whether  they  were 
willing  to  accept  ‘national  economic  inter-
ventions  to  promote  healthy  eating  habits’. 
Close to 36 % of Danes responded they were 
prepared to pay more tax in return for pol-
icies  to  promote  consumption  of  healthier 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

BIOLO GY AND  MEDICINE

7

food  and  more  information  on  what  con-
stitutes  healthy  food  (only  16 %  called  for 
a  tax  reduction).  When  the  researchers 
turned  to  the  other  countries  represented 
in the study, the answer to the same ques-
tion  plummeted  to  30 %  or  less.  For  some 
speciﬁ c  measures,  like  increasing  taxes  to 
subsidise the price of healthy foods, the gap 
is  even  larger,  with  almost  42 %  of  Danes 
being  supportive,  compared  to  an  average 
below 29 % in other countries.

One reason for such a large diﬀ erence is that 
the  Danes  have  greater  trust  in  their  public 
institutions, the Eatwell partners found. ‘Danes 
o(cid:5) en have more faith in the public authorities 
and are used to paying high taxes, and there-
fore they are not as dismissive to changes in 
these areas as other populations,’ commented 
Jessica Aschemann-Witzel.

The Eatwell consortium is focusing its eﬀ orts 
in  reviewing  the  policy  actions  of  Belgium, 

Denmark, 
Kingdom.

Italy,  Poland  and 

the  United 

1 

 ‘Interventions to promote healthy eating habits: 
evaluation and recommendations’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme Cooperation under 
the theme ‘Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology’ 
(KBBE).
Promoted through the Research Information Centre.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre > search > 24753

Cure for the ‘broken’ heart

EU-funded  heart  experts  have  come  together  to  study  the 
mechanisms  of  cardiac  development  and  regeneration 
seeking cell replacement sources. 

development  and 
regeneration 
aiming  to  identify  sources  for  cell 
replacement therapy.

will  pave  the  way  for  the  ex  vivo 
development of cardiomyocytes for 
transplantation.

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Myocardial  infarction  constitutes 
a  major  health  issue  in  Europe. 
Currently, 
treatment 
the  only 
for  severe  heart  failure  is  heart 
transplantation.  Emerging  sci-
entiﬁ c  evidence  indicates  that 
cardiomyocytes  can  divide  post-
natally  opening  up  a  window  for 

the  development  of  regenerative 
treatments for cardiac diseases.

Cell  therapy  requires  an  in-depth 
understanding  of  how  a  tissue 
develops, is maintained and regen-
erates.  The  European  Cardiocell1 
investigating  heart 
initiative 

is 

To  monitor  in  vivo  proliferation  of 
cardiomyocytes,  project  partners 
have developed a pre-clinical model 
system and screened the ability of 
various  compounds  to  induce  en-
dogenous cell division in the heart.

The  consortium  explored  diﬀ erent 
types  of  pluripotent  cell  sources 
including  embryonic  stem  cells 
(ESC)  and  reprogrammed  somatic 
cells — known as induced pluripo-
tent  stem  cells  (iPS)  —  to  induce 
diﬀ erentiation  into  the  cardiomyo-
cyte lineage.

Research  on  heart  development 
identiﬁ ed  a  common  ancestor  cell 
for  both  skeletal  and  cardiac  mus-
cle. Combined with key factors that 
regulate  the  process  of  cardiac 
muscle regeneration, this discovery 

Overall,  the  Cardiocell  project  has 
already generated novel insight into 
heart  development  and  regener-
ation.  Researchers  expect  that  the 
study’s  key  ﬁ ndings  will  be  imple-
mented to derive cardiomyocytes ex 
vivo which could be utilised in trans-
plantation procedures. The applica-
tion of cell replacement therapy will 
signiﬁ cantly improve the outcome of 
patients with myocardial infarction.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Lunds Universitet, in Lund, Sweden.

1 

 ‘Development of cardiomyocyte 
replacement strategy for the clinic’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
Cooperation under the theme ‘Health’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8448

Making competences more accessible

An  EU-funded  initiative  has  developed  a  prototype  for  better 
accessing  and  analysing  life-science  research  projects  and 
researcher competences. This stands to improve use of funds 
and enhance collaborative efforts. 

Although  research  projects  are 
producing  a  steady  stream  of 
results  and  advances,  which 
are  also  disseminated, 
the 
competences  of  those  behind 
it  all  need  to  be  made  more 
accessible.  For  grants  offices, 
project  coordinators,  research-
ers  and  even  the  European 
Commission,  such  meaningful 

information is key to setting up 
and  benefitting  from  cutting-
edge  research  projects.  Also, 
information  needs  to  be  pres-
ented  in  a  way  that  meets  the 
specific  needs  of  each  target 
group. Previous efforts to meet 
these  challenges  often  suc-
cumbed  to  difficulties  in 
keeping information up to 

>

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8

BIOLOGY A ND  ME DI C IN E

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

date and quality assured, or to 
the burden of long-term costs.

The  LifeCompetence1  project 
set  out  to  deliver  state-of-
the-art  competence  manage-
ment  tools  and  processes  that 
address  these  issues,  thereby 
providing  access  to  the  com-
petences in ongoing and future 
projects  in  the  ‘Life  sciences, 
genomics 
biotechnol-
and 
ogy  for  health’  (LSH)  priority. 
Project  partners  aimed  to  pro-
vide  a  means  of  leveraging 
investments  by 
EC  research 
increasing 
improving 

and 

transparency  in  the  research 
collaboration  process  between 
academia and industry.

Efforts  focused  on  delivering 
an  Internet-based  competence 
platform  that  allows  users  to 
researchers,  organ-
identify 
isations  and  research  projects 
with  particular  competences. 
Such a tool will also enable the 
EC to respond to policy-related 
questions and help administra-
tion on both sides of the project 
to  better  view  their  compe-
tences  and  ongoing  activities. 
In turn, this will facilitate better 

research  collaborations  and 
proactive marketing at an inter-
national  level,  and  strengthen 
EU research on the whole.

industry 

especially  beneficial  for  the 
EC, 
representatives, 
and  university  and  regional 
managers.

LifeCompetence  initially  deliv-
ered  a  prototype  for  conduct-
ing searches and analyses, with 
feedback  from  user 
testing 
being  used  to  update  the  data 
and  functionality  of  the  next 
release.  The  project's  vision 
for  the  final  product  was  for 
it  to  be  the  prime  source  of 
information  about  life  science 
projects  and  research  compe-
tences in Europe. This will prove 

The  project  was  coordinated 
by  the  Karolinksa  Institutet  in 
Stockholm, Sweden.

1 

 ‘Life science competence in Europe’.

Funded under the FP6 specific programme 
‘Life sciences and health’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8324

Organ regeneration in the elderly

A  European  initiative  is  investigating  the  developmental 
processes of organ repair and how normal organ development 
dysfunctions during ageing. 

Organ  development  and  re-
generation  are  multi-factorial 
processes  of  tissue  renewal, 
restoration  and  growth.  In  the 
elderly,  normal  repair  dys-
functions  giving  way  to  pro-
gressive  ﬁ brosis  and  organ 
failure.  Despite  the  severity 
of  the  problem,  the  mech-
anisms connecting ageing and 
organ  repair  remain  poorly 
understood.

The objective of the EU-funded 
Resolve1  project  is  to  under-
stand  the  mechanisms  which 
shi(cid:5)   primary  organ 
repair 
towards 
ﬁ broproliferative 
wound  healing  as  a  result  of 
age-related  loss  of  regulatory 
control.

By combining multidisciplinary 
expertise,  project  partners 
have modelled diﬀ erent forms 
of  wound  healing  and  human 
diseases  to 
investigate  the 
mechanisms  underlying  organ 
regeneration.  A  pre-clinical 
model  of  pulmonary  repair 
has also been used to demon-
strate increased ﬁ brosis due to 
advanced age.

The  ﬁ ndings  of  the  Resolve 
project  will  enhance 
cur-
rent  knowledge  on  the  mech-
anism  of  ageing  and  create 

treatment  strategies  to  pre-
vent  aberrant  wound  healing. 
This  is  expected  to  improve 
the  quality  of  life  of  elderly 
people.

The project was coordinated by 
the  Medizinische  Universität 
Wien, in Vienna, Austria.

1 

 ‘Resolve chronic inflammation 
and achieve healthy aging by 
understanding non-regenerative 
repair’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
Cooperation under the theme ‘Health’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8447

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

BIOLO GY AND  MEDICINE

9

A grid-based ‘Google’ to fight neurological disease

Grid  computing,  long  used  by  physicists  and  astronomers 
to crunch masses of data quickly and efficiently, is making 
the  leap  into  the  world  of  biomedicine.  Supported  by  EU-
funding, researchers have networked hundreds of computers 
to  help  find  treatments  for  neurological  diseases  such  as 
Alzheimer’s.  They  are  calling  their  system  the  ‘Google  for 
brain imaging’.

Through  the  Neugrid1  project, 
the  pan-European  grid  comput-
ing  infrastructure  has  opened 
up  new  channels  of  research 
into  degenerative  neurological 
disorders  and  other  illnesses, 
while  also  holding  the  promise 
of  quicker  and  more  accurate 
clinical  diagnoses  of  individual 
patients.

The  infrastructure,  set  up  with 
the  support  of  EUR  2.8  million 
in  funding  from  the  European 
Commission,  was  developed 
over  three  years  by  researchers 
in  seven  countries.  Their  aim, 
primarily,  was  to  give  neurosci-
entists the ability to quickly and 
eﬃ  ciently  analyse 
‘Magnetic 
resonance  imaging’  (MRI)  scans 
of  the  brains  of  patients  suﬀ er-
ing from Alzheimer’s disease. But 
their work has also helped open 
the door to the use of grid com-
puting  for  research  into  other 
neurological disorders, and many 
other areas of medicine.

launched 

to 
‘Neugrid  was 
address  a  very 
real  need. 
Neurology  departments  in  most 
hospitals  do  not  have  quick  and 
easy access to sophisticated MRI 
analysis  resources.  They  would 
have to send researchers to other 
labs  every  time  they  needed  to 
process  a  scan.  So  we  thought, 
why  not  bring  the  resources 
to  the  researchers  rather  than 
sending  the  researchers  to  the 
resources?’  explains  Giovanni 
Frisoni,  a  neurologist  and  the 
deputy scientiﬁ c director of IRCCS 
Fatebenefratelli, 
Italian 
National  Centre  for  Alzheimer's 
and Mental Diseases, in Brescia.

the 

Five years’ work in two 
weeks
The  Neugrid  team,  led  by  David 
Manset  from  MaatG  in  France 
and Richard McClatchey from the 
University of the West of England 
in  Bristol,  laid  the  foundations 

for the grid infrastructure, start-
ing with ﬁ ve distributed nodes of 
100 cores (CPUs) each, intercon-
nected with grid middleware and 
accessible  via  the  internet  with 
an  easy-to-use  web  browser 
interface. To test the infrastruc-
ture,  the  team  used  datasets 
of  images  from  the  Alzheimer’s 
Disease  Neuroimaging  Initiative 
in the United States, the largest 
public database of MRI scans of 
patients with Alzheimer's disease 
and  a  lesser  condition  termed 
'Mild cognitive impairment'.

‘In Neugrid we have been able to 
complete  the  largest  computa-
tional  challenge  ever  attempted 
in  neuroscience:  we  extracted 
6,500 MRI scans of patients with 
diﬀ erent  degrees  of  cognitive 
impairment  and  analysed  them 
in  two  weeks,’  Dr  Frisoni,  the 
lead  researcher  on  the  project, 
says, ‘on an ordinary computer it 
would have taken ﬁ ve years!’

Though 
disease 
Alzheimer’s 
aﬀ ects  about  half  of  all  people 
aged  85  and  older,  its  causes 
and  progression  remain  poorly 
understood.  Worldwide  more 
than  35  million  people  suﬀ er 
from  Alzheimer’s,  a  ﬁ gure  that 
is  projected  to  rise  to  over  115 
million  by  2050  as  the  world’s 
population ages.

recent 

recalling 

Patients  with  early  symptoms 
have  diﬃ  culty 
the 
names  of  people  and  places, 
remembering 
events 
and  solving  simple  maths  prob-
lems.  As  the  brain  degenerates, 
in  advanced  stages 
patients 
of  the  disease  lose  mental  and 
physical  functions  and  require 
round-the-clock care.

The  analysis  of  MRI  scans  con-
ducted  as  part  of  the  Neugrid 
project  should  help  research-
ers  gain 
insights 
important 
into  some  of  the  big  questions 

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surrounding the disease, such as 
which areas of the brain deterio-
rate ﬁ rst, what changes occur in 
the brain that can be identiﬁ ed as 
biomarkers  for  the  disease  and 
what sort of drugs might work to 
slow or prevent progression.

Neugrid  built  on  research  con-
ducted  by  two  prior  EU-funded 
projects:  Mammogrid,  which  set 
up  a  grid  infrastructure  to  ana-
lyse  mammography  data,  and 
sought 
AddNeuroMed,  which 
biomarkers  for  Alzheimer's.  The 
team  are  now  continuing  their 
work  in  a  series  of  follow-up 
projects.

An expanded grid and a 
new paradigm
Neugrid  for  You  (N4U),  a  direct 
continuation  of  Neugrid,  will 
build  upon  the  grid  infrastruc-
ture,  integrating  it  with  ‘High 
performance  computing’  (HPC) 
and  cloud  computing  resources. 

Using EUR 3.5 million in European 
Commission  funding,  it  will  also 
expand  the  user  services,  algo-
rithm  pipelines  and  datasets  to 
establish a virtual laboratory for 
neuroscientists.

‘In  Neugrid  we  built  the  grid 
infrastructure,  addressing  tech-
nical  challenges  such  as  the 
interoperability  of  core  comput-
ing  resources  and  ensuring  the 
scalability of the architecture. In 
N4U  we  will  focus  on  the  user-
facing side of the infrastructure, 
particularly 
the  services  and 
tools  available  to  researchers,’ 
Dr  Frisoni  says.  ‘We  want  to  try 
to  make  using  the  infrastruc-
ture  for  research  as  simple  and 
easy  as  possible,’  he  continues, 
‘the learning curve should not be 
much more diﬃ  cult than learning 
to use an iPhone!’

N4U  will  also  expand  the 
infrastructure 
grid 

from  >

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the  initial  ﬁ ve  computing  clus-
ters  through  connections  with 
CPU  nodes  at  new  sites,  includ-
ing  2,500  CPUs  recently  added 
in  Paris  in  collaboration  with 
the  French  Alternative  Energies 
and  Atomic  Energy  Commission 
(CEA),  and  in  partnership  with 
‘Enabling  grids  for  e-science 
Biomed VO’, a biomedical virtual 
organisation.

linking 

Another  follow-up  initiative,  out-
GRID,  will  federate  the  Neugrid 
infrastructure, 
it  with 
similar  grid  computing  resources 
set  up  in  the  United  States  by 
the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging 
at  the  University  of  California, 
Los  Angeles,  and  the  CBRAIN 
brain  imaging  research  platform 
developed  by  McGill  University 

in  Montreal,  Canada.  A  work-
shop  was  recently  held  at  the 
International  Telecommunication 
Union,  an  agency  of  the  United 
Nations, to foster this eﬀ ort.

Dr  Frisoni  is  also  the  scientiﬁ c 
coordinator  of  the  DECIDE  pro-
ject, which will work on develop-
ing  clinical  diagnostic  tools  for 
doctors  built  upon  the  Neugrid 
grid infrastructure.

‘There are a couple of important 
diﬀ erences  between  using  brain 
imaging  datasets  for  research 
and  for  diagnosis,’  he  explains. 
‘Researchers 
compare  many 
images to many others, whereas 
doctors are interested in compar-
ing images from a single patient 
against a wider set of data to help 

diagnose  a  disease.  On  top  of 
that,  datasets  used  by  research-
ers  are  anonymous,  whereas 
images from a single patient are 
not  and  protecting  patient  data 
becomes an issue.’

The  DECIDE  project  will  address 
these  questions  in  order  to  use 
the  grid  infrastructure  to  help 
doctors treat patients.

Though  the  main  focus  of  all 
these  new  projects  is  on  using 
grid  computing  for  neuroscience, 
Dr.  Frisoni  emphasises  that  the 
same  infrastructure,  architecture 
and technology could be used to 
enable new research — and new, 
more eﬃ  cient diagnostic tools — 
in other ﬁ elds of medicine.

‘We  are  helping  to  lay  the  foun-
dations  for  a  new  paradigm  in 
grid-enabled  medical  research,’ 
he says.

Neugrid  was  coordinated  by  the 
National  Centre  for  Alzheimer’s 
and  Mental  Diseases,  Brescia, 
Italy.

1 

 ‘A grid-based e-infrastructure for 
data archiving/communication and 
computationally intensive applications 
in the medical sciences'.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
Cooperation under the theme ‘Information 
and communication technologies’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8319

Nanosensors for studying neuronal activity

The nervous system uses a complex interaction of electrical and 
chemical signalling to perform its various functions. EU-funded 
researchers  developed  novel  nanotechnology  for  monitoring 
electrical and chemical indicators of cell activity. 

Cell membranes separate internal 
and  external  ﬂ uids  creating  elec-
trical and chemical gradients that 
drive  signalling  processes.  One  of 
the  major  neurotransmitters,  or 
chemicals  responsible  for  trans-
mitting  nervous  system  informa-
tion  between  cells,  is  glutamate. 
Binding  of  glutamate 
to  cell 
membranes  can  induce  changes 
in  membrane  voltage  (potential) 
indicating neuronal activity.

develop 

Researchers  supported  by  fund-
ing  of  the  VSNS1  project  set  out 
to 
voltage-sensitive 
nanotransducers  (VSNs)  for  long-
term  monitoring  of  neuronal 
membrane  potential  to  overcome 
diﬃ  culties  inherent  in  using  trad-
itional 
dyes. 
voltage-sensitive 
The  technologies  could  be  key  in 
developing  treatments  for  neu-
rodegenerative  diseases  such  as 
Alzheimer’s.

Plasmon-resonant  nanoparticles 
(NPs)  are  metallic  NPs  that  scat-
ter light with remarkable eﬃ  ciency 
due to collective resonance (oscil-
lation)  of  the  metal’s  conduction 
electrons.  A  range  of  electrically 

tuneable Plasmon-resonant nano-
particles/nanorods  (NP/NRs)  act-
ing  as  voltage  nanosensors  were 
developed together with protocols 
for membrane binding. In addition, 
the team developed a method for 
binding  and  sensing  the  neuro-
transmitter  glutamate  as  an  indi-
cator of neuronal activity.

Single  NP  spectroscopy  enabled 
insight into fundamental processes 
in  membrane-
linking  changes 
resonance 
bound  NP  plasmon 
(NPPR)  with  measurements  of 
membrane  potential.  Using  sim-
ultaneous  control  of  neuronal 
membrane  potential  and  optical 
imaging,  the  researchers  studied 
VSNs bound to membranes in cul-
tured neurons and in cortical tissue 
slices.

Finally, a setup for dark-ﬁ eld micro-
scopy  complemented  by  thermal 
lensing  microscopy  (TLM)  should 
be particularly useful for studying 
changes  in  intensity,  wavelength 
and phase of scattered light from 
neuron-bound  NP/NRs  in  prepara-
tions such as tissue slices that pro-
duce signiﬁ cant scatter.

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Results  of  the  VSNS  project  have 
great potential for use in studying 
neurodegenerative  disease  pro-
cesses  and  also  open  the  door  to 
a  number  of  new  applications  in 
biosensing and optoelectronics.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the  Universitat  Politècnica  de 
Catalunya, in Barcelona, Spain.

1 

 ‘Notch signaling in development and 
pathology’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
People
(Marie-Curie actions).
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8475

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

ENER GY A ND TRANSPORT

11

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 Interview: the EU’s ‘Energy-efficient 
buildings’ initiative

The public-private partnership (PPP) for ‘European energy-efficient buildings’  (EeB) aims ‘to promote green technologies and 
the development of energy-efficient systems and materials in new and renovated buildings with a view to reducing radically 
their energy consumption and CO2 emissions.’

The  research  programme  is  ﬁ nanced  jointly 
by  industry  and  the  European  Commission 
under  the  Seventh  Framework  Programme 
for  Research  (FP7)  and  proceeds  through 
coordinated  calls  for  research  proposals. 
It  is  one  of  the  three  PPPs  the  European 
Commission  announced  in  November  2008 
—  intended  to  develop  clean  technologies 
for  cars,  construction  and  manufacturing 
— and endorsed by the European Council in 
December 2008.

Energy-efficiency for competitive 
industry
Construction accounts for more than 10 % of 
the EU's GDP and employs 32 million people, 
whether  in  large,  medium  or  small  enter-
prises.  The  energy  consumption  of  houses 
and buildings, taking into account the whole 
life-cycle, is responsible for 40 % of total EU 
energy  consumption  and  is  the  main  con-
tributor  to  greenhouse  gas  (GHG)  emissions 
(about 36 % of the EU’s total CO2 emissions). 
Reducing energy consumption over buildings’ 
total life-cycle is therefore an eﬀ ective action 
against climate change and will also contrib-
ute  to  decreasing  the  EU’s  dependence  on 
energy imports.

The  PPP’s  focus  is  on  energy-eﬃ  cient  pro-
cesses,  products  and  services  in  order  to 
reach  the  EU’s  climate  change  targets  for 
2020 and 2050 and contribute to improving 
the  EU’s  security  of  energy  supply.  Funding 
and  coordinating  research  on  key  tech-
nologies  in  order  to  develop  a  competitive 
industry  in  the  construction  sector  will  help 
transform  these  challenges  into  a  business 
opportunity. 

FC-DISTRICT1,  one  of  the  projects  funded 
by  the  PPP  on  ‘Energy-efficient  buildings’, 
aims to optimise and implement an innova-
tive energy production and distribution con-
cept  for  sustainable  and  energy-efficient 
refurbished districts, or new energy-auton-
omous  areas,  by  exploiting  decentralised 
co-generation,  as  well  as  optimised  build-
ing  and  district  heat  storage  and  distribu-
tion networks. 

The BEEM-UP2 project, also funded by the PPP, 
will  demonstrate  the  economic,  social  and 
technical  feasibility  of  retroﬁ tting  initiatives 
for  drastically  reducing  the  energy  consump-
tion  in  existing  buildings,  and  lay  the  ground 
for market uptake. 

Research*eu  magazine  asked  Juliusz  Żach  of 
Mostostal  Warszawa  in  Poland  —  coordin-
ator  of  the  FC-DISTRICT  project  —  and  Juan 
Ramón  de  las  Cuevas  Jiménez  of  ACCIONA 
Infraestructuras in Spain — coordinator of the 
BEEM-UP  project  —  to  tell  us  how  work  has 
been going.

Research*eu magazine: What are the 
main themes and objectives of your 
projects? 
FC-DISTRICT  is  a  large-scale  project  com-
prising  a  number  of  diﬀ erent  technologies  to 
increase  the  energy-eﬃ  ciency  of  whole  dis-
tricts.  We  are  working  on  the  adaptation  of 
‘Solid-oxide  fuel  cell’  (SOFC)  technology  for 
stationary  conditions,  in  order  to  function  as 
dispersed  cogeneration  facilities  and  provide 
energy to groups of buildings. To complement 
these  energy  sources,  and  assure  balanced 
heat and energy production, the project is also 
developing improved designs for district heat-
ing pipes using modern insulation materials. 

Other research topics include an ‘External ther-
mal  insulation  composite  system’  (ETICS)  for 
retroﬁ tting and energy storage in build-
ing  elements,  and  biogas  generation 

>

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12

ENERGY AND  TRAN S PO RT

using  food  waste  disposers,  an  intelligent 
waste settler and ﬁ ltering tanks that will max-
imise production in anaerobic digesters.

The  FC-DISTRICT  concept  also 
includes 
dynamic control and wireless communications. 
When introduced at the district scale, together 
these  technologies  should  reduce  primary 
energy use by 60 %. 

BEEM-UP:  The  main  objective  of  BEEM-UP  is 
to develop and demonstrate the cost-eﬀ ective 
and  high-performance  renovation  of  existing 
multi-family  residential  buildings,  in  order  to 
save up to 75 % of their energy consumption. 

Research*eu magazine: What is new 
or innovative about the projects and 
the way they address these issues?
FC-District:  In  replying  to  the  ﬁ rst  call  for 
project  proposals  under  the  PPP,  we  pro-
posed integrating the results from four previ-
ous  European  research  projects  into  a  single 
solution. 

BEEM-UP:  We  have  assembled  expert  part-
ners from the ﬁ elds of energy, building engin-
eering  and  sociology  in  order  to  achieve  our 
ambitious goals. The project will demonstrate 
its  innovative  insulation  solutions,  innovative 
tenant-involvement strategies and new meth-
odologies for refurbishment strategies in three 
buildings in diﬀ erent locations across Europe. 

Research*eu magazine: What first 
drew you to research in this area?
FC-District:  Mostostal  Warszawa  is  a  large 
construction  company  and,  when  we  started 
our  research  in  2005,  the  area  of  energy-
eﬃ  ciency was not our ﬁ rst, natural choice. We 
have  noticed  developments  in  the  European 
construction market — some trigged by legal 
factors,  such  as  the  EU  Directive  on  ‘Energy 
performance  of  buildings’  —  and  their  inﬂ u-
ence on our clients’ expectations.

Juliusz Zach, © FC-DISTRICT Project

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

been ﬁ nished, and its performance monitored. 
A district-scale demo site has been equipped 
with  hybrid  wireless  communication  system, 
and  this  has  passed  ﬁ eld  tests  with  positive 
results. 

Juan Ramon de las Cuevas Jimenez, 
© BEEM-UP Project

BEEM-UP: We are still evaluating the diﬀ erent 
strategies  being  followed  in  three  test  build-
ings,  and  it  will  not  be  until  the  end  of  the 
project  that  we  will  have  real  data  from  our 
monitoring systems. However, the simulations 
and  other  calculations  by  our  experts  antici-
pate  high  saving  percentages  in  the  demo 
sites.

Research*eu magazine: What are 
the next steps of the project, or next 
topics for your research?
FC-District:  The  FC-DISTRICT  project  is  now 
entering an important phase. We are about to 
begin construction works at the district-scale 
demo site in Poland. Presentation of the new 
ETICS solution in one of the buildings will be 
done  in  June,  but  the  main  demonstration  is 
to  be  performed  next  year.  The  FC-DISTRICT 
concept demo will show how three SOFC units 
can cooperate while located in three diﬀ erent 
buildings.

BEEM-UP: As in the title of the project itself, 
‘Building Energy-Eﬃ  ciency for Massive market 
Uptake’,  our  next  steps  will  be  focused  on  a 
strong dissemination campaign across Europe. 
We believe in the methodology we have devel-
oped to choose the best combination of meas-
ures to ensure cost-eﬀ ectiveness, and we look 
forward to showing it to stakeholders.

1 

2  

 ‘New μ-CHP network technologies for energy efficient 
and sustainable districts’.
‘Building Energy-Efficiency for Massive market Uptake’.

For further information:
See FC-DISTRICT project website: www.fc-district.eu 
Funded under the FP7 specific programme ‘Cooperation’ 
under the theme ‘Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials 
and new production technologies’.
See BEEM-UP project website: http://www.beem-up.eu/ 
Funded under the FP7 specific programme ‘Cooperation’ 
under the theme ‘Energy’.

BEEM-UP:  The  BEEM-UP  project’s  goals  are 
in line with the Europe 2020 strategy. We are 
focused  on  the  integration  of  new  technol-
ogies  and  methodologies  into  existing  build-
ing stock. Our next steps will relate to larger 
scales, such as districts, and in the near future 
the approaches will focus on whole cities.

Research*eu magazine: What are the 
advantages of participating in an EU 
public-private partnership? 
FC-District:  The  ﬁ rst  advantage,  and  one  of 
the  sources  for  our  success,  is  the  network 
of  contacts.  In  this  case,  the  Energy  Eﬃ  cient 
Buildings  Association,  being  the  private  part 
of the PPP, played an important role in bring-
ing the consortium together. The rule that the 
funded  research  projects  should  be  led  by 
industrial partners is also positive.

BEEM-UP: It is clear for us that working at the 
EU  level,  instead  of  only  the  national  level, 
will ensure the results of the project will bring 
beneﬁ ts at a European level. The multinational 
project team will also bring knowledge to the 
project  in  a  way  that  would  be  diﬃ  cult  for  a 
national project.

Research*eu magazine: What are 
some of the difficulties you have 
encountered?
FC-District: I think we face the same problems 
as other projects. As always, it is challenging 
to  ensure  seamless  communication,  combine 
results  produced  by  diﬀ erent  partners  and 
meet strict deadlines.

BEEM-UP:  We  participated  in  a  round  table 
at  a  workshop  organised  by  the  European 
Commission in Brussels in February 2012. We 
agree with one of the main issues raised there 
— data and knowledge communication ﬂ ows 
between diﬀ erent projects.

Research*eu magazine: How do you 
go about solving them?
FC-District:  This  is  our  work  as  coordinator. 
We continue to clarify and adjust small issues.  
Luckily,  there  have  been  no  major  technical 
problems so far.  

BEEM-UP: We try to participate in other work-
shops or forums, and distribute the results of 
our project to other interested parties. The role 
of  the  Commission  is  also  relevant  in  main-
taining contacts and supporting dissemination.

Research*eu magazine: What are the 
concrete results from the research 
so far?
FC-District:  The  project  has  been  running  for 
21 months now and we have produced several 
prototypes,  such  as  district  heating  pipes,  a 
food-waste collection tank and various periph-
eral  elements  of  the  SOFC  unit.  One  patent 
application has been submitted and an ETICS 
installation at a mock-up house in Greece has 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

ENER GY A ND TRANSPORT

13

New hope for hydrogen-powered cars

Hydrogen has huge potential for the world’s energy needs, but several technical challenges still remain. EU-funded researchers have 
advanced the use of a radical new material as an excellent candidate for hydrogen storage in mobile applications.  

of  gasoline.  In  addition,  high-pres-
sure  compression  of  the  gas  still 
falls  short  of  transport  requirements 
due  to  volume,  safety  and  energy 
considerations.

Researchers  on  the  Hycones1  pro-
ject  puriﬁ ed  carbon  cones  (CCs),  a 
new form of carbon now produced in 
industrial quantities, with funding pro-
vided by the EU.

Intensive modelling has led to charac-
terisation of the fundamentals associ-
ated with hydrogen storage using this 
puriﬁ ed material. The CCs are able to 
store  hydrogen  eﬃ  ciently,  eﬀ ectively 
and  inexpensively.  Most  importantly, 
experimentally 
the 
veriﬁ ed  the  ability  of  CCs  to  release 
hydrogen at near room temperature, 
thus  conﬁ rming 
technology’s 
potential for use in hydrogen storage 
for transport applications.

investigators 

the 

The outcomes of the Hycones project 
have  received  international  atten-
tion. The researchers developed links 

for  cooperation  with  European  and 
international  projects  and  hydrogen 
storage programmes, including those 
within the US Department of Energy.

The results should have a signiﬁ cant 
impact  on  the  design  and  produc-
tion  of  hydrogen  cars  in  the  future, 
decreasing  our  dependence  on  fossil 
fuels and protecting the environment. 
In  addition,  a  European  edge  in  the 
hydrogen car market could have sig-
niﬁ cant  impact  on  the  European  job 
market.

The  project  was  coordinated  by  the 
National Centre for Scientiﬁ c Research 
“Demokritos” in Greece.

1 

 ‘Hydrogen storage in carbon cones’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, 
knowledge-based multifunctional 
materials and new production processes 
and devices’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7509

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Consumption  of  carbon-based  fos-
sil  fuels  continues  to  rise  and  these 
energy sources are becoming increas-
ingly depleted. In addition, their burn-
ing  releases  billions  of  tonnes  of 
carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmos-
phere, contributing to global warming.

Given that transportation contributes 
greatly  to  CO2  levels  and  hydrogen 
has  become  an  attractive  energy 
source,  hydrogen’s  major  use  seems 

to  be  for  road  transport.  However, 
hydrogen  storage  requirements  for 
transportation are much more diﬃ  cult 
to satisfy than are those for stationary 
purposes, such as providing electricity 
to homes and factories.

One of the greatest stumbling blocks 
is  that,  at  the  environmental  tem-
perature required for use in automo-
biles,  hydrogen  contains  much  less 
energy  than  an  equivalent  volume 

Optimised ‘ultracaps’ for tomorrow’s electric cars

EU-funded  researchers  developed  control  technology  for 
a  new  generation  of  capacitors  that  could  spur  their 
widespread use in electric vehicles. This promises important 
benefits for the European economy and the environment. 

Until recently, even the best capaci-
tors  were  no  match  for  batteries 
in  terms  of  the  amount  of  energy 
stored and their usefulness in appli-
cations  such  as  hybrid  or  fuel-cell 
cars was limited. Thankfully, a new 
generation of capacitors, ‘ultracaps’, 
has  enhanced  energy  storage  and 
broadened the range of applications 
for capacitors.

Now,  in  addition  to  providing 
backup  power  for  microcomput-
ers  and  cell  phones,  ultracaps 
have  found  a  home  in  some 
mass  transit  vehicles  and  indus-
trial machines. Perhaps the most 
exciting  potential  for  ultracaps 
lies in their use in electric cars.

The  Hyheels1  project  was  devel-
oped to optimise an ultracap energy 
storage  and  delivery  system  with 
respect 
thermal  behaviour, 
weight  and  cost  for  use  in  hybrid 
and fuel cell vehicles.

to 

In  order  to  be  useful  in  electric 
cars,  several  capacitors  must  work 
together to supply the required total 
voltage. As a result, the functioning 
must  be  carefully  controlled  and 
modulated  such  that  the  capacitor 
charge is balanced to prevent volt-
age dri(cid:5) .

Hyheels  researchers  developed  a 
new cell stack technology together 
with a controller to ensure reliable 

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i

operation  of  the  module  for  all 
current  and  future  automotive 
applications, 
thus  overcoming 
the  voltage  dri(cid:5)   issues  of  cur-
rent  systems.  In  addition,  they 
developed  novel  simulation  mod-
els to facilitate the design of ult-
racap modules for various vehicle 

conﬁ gurations. The operation was 
tested and validated on passenger 
cars and heavy duty vehicles dem-
onstrating minimisation of voltage 
variation and power losses.

In  a 
(LCA) 

‘life-cycle  analysis’ 
ultracaps 

scored  >

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14

ENERGY AND  TRAN S PO RT

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

better  than  all  assessed  bat-
teries  with  respect  to  environ-
mental  impact  primarily  due  to 
low  weight  and  high  materials 
recyclability.

Hyheels has signiﬁ cantly advanced 
for 
the 

technology 

required 

widespread application of ultracaps 
in  electric  vehicles.  Commercial 
implementation  of  the  concepts 
has  the  potential  to  position  the 
European economy in a leadership 
role  in  the  electric  vehicle  mar-
ket.  Such  advances  are  poised  to 
revolutionise  individual  and  mass 

transport,  with  important  beneﬁ ts 
for  consumers,  industry  and  the 
planet.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Continental  Automotive  GmbH  in 
Germany.

1 

‘Hybrid high-energy electrical storage’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Sustainable development, global change 
and ecosystems’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8221

One step closer to hydrogen cars

For eco-friendly vehicles to run on hydrogen, they require the 
appropriate infrastructure and procedures. An EU project has 
worked to standardise these across Europe in order to make 
hydrogen cars a more viable transport option. 

As  vehicles  move  towards  more 
eco-friendly fuels such as hydro-
gen,  there  is  a  need  to  stand-
ardise  regulations  for  ‘Hydrogen 
(HRS). 
refuelling 
However,  permit-related 
issues 
have long delayed the growth of 
fuelling stations and introduction 
of hydrogen vehicles.

stations’ 

EU-funded 

The 
HyApproval1 
project  developed  a  guide  for 
authorities  to  approve  hydrogen 
refuelling  stations  and  over-
come  obstacles  for  exploitation. 
In  addition  to  the  handbook,  the 
project  worked  on  refuelling  sta-
tion  guidelines  and  international 
standards.

The project team began by deﬁ n-
ing  three  types  and  sizes  of 
HRS  for  certiﬁ cation  in  European 

countries,  with  a  scope  including 
safety  equipment  and  regula-
tions. It collected all the required 
information  to  create  the  hand-
incorporating  considera-
book, 
tions  by  relevant  authorities  in 
various  European  countries.  In 
addition, 
information 
from  China,  Japan  and  the  USA 
was collected.

relevant 

The  handbook  covered  safety 
issues  for  HRS  design,  construc-
tion and operation, supplemented 
by risk assessment workshops and 
accident  scenario  simulations  to 
develop best practices in the ﬁ eld.

reports 

HyApproval  also  produced  tech-
nical 
including  vehi-
cle  receptacle  geometry,  data 
exchange  between  the  vehicle 
and HRS, refuelling processes and 

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safety during refuelling. Moreover, 
a  manual  for  drivers  was  devel-
oped  and  met  with  international 
success. Raising public awareness 
about  HRS  and  dissemination  of 
the  handbook  were  also  part  of 
the project’s mandate.

The handbook that ﬁ nally emerged 
from  the  project  features  two 
parts: ‘Guidelines for design, oper-
ation and maintenance of an HRS’ 
and  the  ‘Permitting  process’.  This 
is an important ﬁ rst step towards 
the  establishment  of  common 
European  policy  and  a  basis  for 

national  authorities 
similar permitting processes.

to  adopt 

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
L-B-Systemtechnik  GmbH,  based 
in Germany.

1 

 ‘Handbook for approval of hydrogen 
refuelling stations’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Sustainable development, global change 
and ecosystems’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7132

Hydrogen-rich methanol for fuel cells

Fuel  cells  based  on  the  use  of  hydrogen  have  gained 
widespread  interest  as  the  best  clean  energy  alternative  to 
fossil fuels, particularly for compact portable devices such as 
cars,  medical  equipment,  ‘Auxiliary  power  units’  (APUs)  and 
security  cameras.  In  particular,  ‘Proton  exchange  membrane’ 
(PEM)  fuel  cells,  first  used  for  the  NASA  Gemini  programme 
in  the  1960s,  are  currently  being  developed  for  many  such 
applications.

PEM  fuel  cells  are  structured 
something  like  the  locks  that 
allow  boats  to  pass  along  a 
waterway  with  diﬀ erent  levels, 
where there is a barrier between 
the two bodies of water (low and 

high)  and  a  bridge  over  the  top. 
Hydrogen comes into the lock (the 
anode)  and  is  split  into  protons 
(positive hydrogen ions) and elec-
trons.  The  protons  pass  through 
the  lock  (an  electrolyte  solution 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

ENER GY A ND TRANSPORT

15

with  a  membrane)  to  the  other 
side  (the  cathode)  where  they 
combine  with  oxygen  to  produce 
water  and  heat.  Both  reactions 
require  catalysts.  The  electrons 
go  over  the  bridge  (an  electrical 
circuit)  to  produce  electricity  to 
power  devices.  To  produce  ad-
equate power, numerous cells are 
combined in a so-called ‘stack’.

Many  PEM  fuel  cells  currently 
use  pure  hydrogen  as  the  input 
or fuel. However, the use of pure 
hydrogen  has  posed  numerous 
storage  and  processing  chal-
lenges  that  have  inhibited  its 
widespread use.

EU  researchers  working  on  the 
Morepower1 project developed new 
materials  and  methods  enabling 
the use of hydrogen-rich and read-
ily  available  methanol  and,  to  a 
lesser  extent,  ethanol  as  a  fuel 
source.

Speciﬁ cally, the investigators devel-
oped  new  proton  exchange  mem-
branes  demonstrating  superior 
performance  and  properties  com-
pared to Naﬁ on membranes. They 
optimised  the  anode  and  cath-
ode  reactions  and  demonstrated 
enhanced  catalytic  activity.  The 
researchers  carried  out  extensive 
experimentation  and  modelling 

to  produce  a  novel  ‘Membrane-
electrode  assembly’  (MEA)  design 
for eﬃ  cient operation at low tem-
peratures  with  realistic  ﬂ ows  and 
pressures.  Finally,  they  built  two 
single  cell  test  stacks  producing 
350 Watts of power operating with 
a  1  Molar  methanol  solution  at 
60° Celsius.

The  opportunities  for  exploitation 
of  methanol  in  hydrogen-based 
fuels  cells  are  exciting.  Methanol 
is  a  stable,  widely  produced  bio-
degradable  liquid  at  room  tem-
perature  and  it  contains  more 
hydrogen than any other liquid fuel. 
It is well positioned to spur Europe’s 

hydrogen-based  fuel-cell  market 
to new heights and the Morepower 
project added fuel to its ﬁ re.

The project was coordinated by the 
GKSS Forschungszentrum GmbH in 
Germany.

1 

 ‘Compact direct (m)ethanol fuel cell 
for portable application’

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Sustainable development, global change 
and ecosystems’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7906

Cars of the future

A  full  study  of  current  and  future  battery  technologies  will 
help  identify  the  way  forward  for  electric-powered  vehicles. 
Manufacturers, suppliers, consumers and the environment all 
stand to gain from such an initiative. 

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It  has  long  been  a  dream  to  cre-
ate  non-polluting  electric  vehicles 
based on super-eﬃ  cient batteries. 
The EU-funded SUBAT1 project in-
vestigated  the  battery  market  to 
help  boost  sustainable  transport 
in the future for the EU.

Three  European  universities  and 
four  stakeholder  organisations 
came  together  to  assess  current 
and  future  battery  technologies 
worldwide.  The  consortium  did 
not involve any supplier or manu-
facturer  of  batteries  in  order  to 
guarantee the project’s neutrality. 
It closely assessed energy, power, 
life  cycle,  costs, 
temperature, 
charging, maintenance, safety and 
eﬃ  ciency  of  battery  systems,  as 
well  as  recyclability,  energy  eﬃ  -
ciency and commercial viability.

SUBAT  analysed  all  batteries  in 
the  context  of  battery-electric 
and  hybrid  vehicles.  It  considered 
necessary  peripheral  systems  as 
well  as  the  battery  management 
system, which plays an important 
role  in  battery  performance.  The 
project  team  also  identiﬁ ed  the 
best so(cid:5) ware to analyse the life-
cycle of diﬀ erent batteries.

In  the  ﬁ rst  stage  of  the  project, 
SUBAT compiled a comprehensive 
technical overview of battery tech-
nology that could prove very useful 
to stakeholders. It then conducted 
a  full  environmental  assessment 
of industrial battery systems tak-
ing  the  nickel-cadmium  battery 

as a benchmark. The project team 
then conducted a cost assessment 
for  the  industry  and  consumers, 
analysing  factors  that  raise  bat-
tery  costs  for  users.  They  also 
compared  the  European  vs.  non-
European markets in battery sales 
and trade balance.

On  the  green  front,  SUBAT  ana-
lysed  emissions  of  potentially 
harmful substances and resources 
consumed,  enabling  better  com-
parisons  between  systems  and 
batteries.  At  the  end,  the  project 
produced  an  overall  assessment 
of  the  battery  technologies.  It 
ranked  environmental,  technical 
and  economic  parameters  in  an 
objective  way  considering  diﬀ er-
ent  perspectives  with  regard  to 
consumers,  manufacturers  and 
the  political  environment.  These 
studies will be of use to all manu-
facturers,  suppliers  and  consum-
ers, helping them identify the best 
road forward and bringing Europe 
a  step  closer  to  energy-eﬃ  cient, 
eco-friendly electric cars.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) 
in Belgium.

1 

 ‘Sustainable batteries’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Research for policy support’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7517

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16

ENERGY AND  TRAN S PO RT

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

New hybrid vehicles without batteries

Hybrid  electric  vehicles  have  become  the  bridge  between 
conventional  transport  vehicles  and  the  hydrogen-powered 
fuel-cell  vehicles  of  the  future.  EU-funded  researchers  have 
developed  innovative  designs  which  replace  batteries  with 
supercapacitors  and  intelligent  components  that  could  have 
significant benefits in terms of weight, efficiency and cost for 
tomorrow’s hybrid vehicles. 

Hybrid electric vehicles typically use 
a combustion engine as a primary 
energy  source  for  cruising  and  a 
secondary  electric  power  storage 
system  for  handling  short-term 
energy  demands  such  as  those 
related to acceleration and braking.

Batteries  used  for  energy  stor-
age  are  typically  heavy,  expensive 
and maintenance intensive. On the 
other  hand,  supercapacitors  are 
lightweight,  high-power  energy 
storage  devices  with  long  oper-
ational  lifetimes.  Recent  eﬀ orts 
have focused on using supercapac-
itors together with batteries.

Researchers  working  on 
the 
Intellicon1  project  sought  to  elim-
inate the need for an energy stor-
age battery entirely, by employing a 
fuel-cell power plant together with 
a supercapacitor. The former would 
provide continuous average (cruis-
ing)  power  via  an  ‘intelligent’     DC/
DC converter while the latter would 
provide  on-board  energy  storage 

and  immediate  power  on  demand 
for acceleration and braking.

innovations 
design 
Important 
included  isolation  of  the  fuel-cell 
output from the main DC bus and 
traction system enabling independ-
ent  optimisation  of  both  and  thus 
enhanced vehicle performance and 
energy eﬃ  ciency.

In addition, using an intelligent DC/
DC converter could enhance safety 
and  reliability  by  monitoring  and 
responding to changes in levels of 
contaminants,  hydrogen  and  air 
pressure and temperatures, among 
others.  Furthermore,  the  device 
should  stabilise  supercapacitor 
voltage  during  acceleration  and 
deceleration  to  maintain  optimal 
power ﬂ ow from the fuel cell.

the 

Finally, 
Intellicon  system 
should  signiﬁ cantly  reduce  main-
tenance  costs  and  weight  (lead-
ing  to  reductions  in  fuel  costs) 
tremendously  enhancing 
while 

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eﬃ  ciency,  by  using  proactive 
energy management, and improv-
ing the operational life of the fuel 
cells  due  to  protection  against 
variable loads.

Although  the  concept  was  origin-
ally  conceived  for  vehicles  used 
in  materials  handling,  airports, 
factories and consumers, it is also 
expected  to  be  advantageous  in 
larger  applications  such  as  light 
rail systems.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Hiltech Developments Ltd, based in 
the United Kingdom.

1 

 ‘Intelligent DC/DC converter for fuel 
cell road vehicles’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘SME activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8440

Clearing the air for next-generation diesel engines

A  new  generation  of  diesel  engines  promises  greater  fuel 
efficiency  and  lower  emissions.  But  the  emissions  they  do 
produce still need to be treated before they are released into 
the atmosphere.

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charge-compres-
‘Homogeneous 
sion  ignition’  (HCCI)  engines  have 
been  around  for  a  long  time. 
However, despite their superior fuel 
eﬃ  ciency  and  their  cleaner  com-
bustion  of  fuels  compared  with 
conventional motors, HCCI engines 
have not been widely used due to 
a variety of factors. These include 
a relatively small power range and 
the  possibility  of  damage  to  the 
engine due to high peak pressures 
inside the cylinders.

The major hurdle that has stood in 
the  way  of  widespread  commer-
cialisation of HCCI engines is diﬃ  -
culty in controlling the auto-ignition 
event  required  to  get  the  motor 

running.  However,  a  variety  of 
methods  have  been  developed  to 
induce the necessary conditions for 
auto-ignition  and  to  enable  HCCI 
engines  to  increase  their  power 
range, thereby paving the way for 
greater commercialisation.

Although  HCCI  engines  emit  far 
fewer  pollutants  than  traditional 
spark ignition motors, they still do 
emit  relatively  high  levels  of  car-
bon  monoxide  (CO)  and  hydrocar-
bons.  With  the  increasing  viability 
of these engines comes a pressing 
need to reduce these emissions.

The EU-funded Pagode1 project set 
out  to  provide  a  comprehensive, 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

ENER GY A ND TRANSPORT

17

system-oriented  view  of  viable 
a(cid:5) er-treatment  processes  for  the 
next  generation  of  HCCI  diesel 
engines.  One  avenue  the  project 
explored was the use of an oxidis-
ing  catalyst  in  a  next-generation 
catalytic converter.

Pagode  investigated  the  dynam-
ics  of  low-temperature  oxidation 
of  CO  and  hydrocarbon  emissions 
in order to gather reliable data for 
further  system  deﬁ nition  and  to 
supply boundary conditions for the 
simulation tools.

The  research  partners  also  in-
vestigated  and  benchmarked  the 
performance  of  newly  developed 
catalytic  technologies  in  order  to 
determine  the  best  catalyst  com-
ponents  and  preparation  routes. 
The  newly  developed  technology 
exhibited signiﬁ cant improvements 
compared with standard diesel oxi-
dation catalysts.

Pagode also experimented with the 
incorporation of plasma treatment 
technology into the diesel exhaust 
results  had  been 
line.  Earlier 

disappointing  in  terms  of  energy 
eﬃ  ciency  and  cost  of  materials, 
but initial results from the project’s 
attempts  to  inject  ozone  suggest 
that  this  is  one  promising  way  of 
addressing these two challenges.

The  project  also  synthesised  its 
ﬁ ndings and tested them out on the 
HCCI  engine  with  promising  out-
comes.  Pagode’s  results  will  help 
the automotive industry to develop 
aﬀ ordable and innovative technical 
solutions for the a(cid:5) er-treatment of 
emissions in HCCI engines.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Peugeot  Citroën  Automobiles  SA, 
based in France. 

1 

 ‘Post-treatment for the next 
generation of diesel engines’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Sustainable development, global change 
and ecosystems’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7503

Smart glazing for energy savings

Window  glazing  can  help  heat  buildings  in  winter  but  may 
sometimes  cause  overheating.  New 
intelligent  glazing 
technology  has  emerged  to  overcome  the  weaknesses  of 
traditional window glazing. 

Glass  buildings  and  windows 
across Europe have been built or 
retroﬁ tted  with  thermochromic 
glazing,  a  transparent  layer  that 
helps  heat  interior  spaces  intel-
ligently. However, the same glaz-
ing can overheat these spaces in 
warmer  periods,  which  pushes 

up  the  energy  needs  of  a  build-
ing by up to 30 %. This represents 
around 40 % of total energy con-
sumption  in  Europe,  a  signiﬁ cant 
amount that must be reduced.

EU-funded 

The 
Termoglaze1 
project  developed  a  durable, 

cost-eﬀ ective  and  energy-eﬃ  -
cient 
glazing 
thermochromic 
technology  for  diﬀ erent  climate 
conditions.  The  new  technology 
is  based  on  a  principle  known 
as  ‘Atmospheric-pressure  chem-
ical-vapour  deposition’  (APCVD), 
allowing the glazing to respond to 
pressure and temperature.

APCVD 
demonstrated  many 
advantages  over  existing  glaz-
ing,  most  notably  high  shad-
ing  and  high  heat  gain  at  lower 

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temperatures,  as  well  as  low 
shading  and  low  heat  gain  at 
higher  temperatures. 
Improved 
visibility  and  transparency  were 
also achieved.

In  addition,  glazing  applications 
featuring  a  thermochromic  pig-
ment  applied  to  polycarbonate 
—  to  reduce  energy  consump-
tion  —  were  developed  for  use 
in  greenhouses.  These  diﬀ erent 
varieties  of  glazing  have  been 
designed  for  quicker  production 
processes  and  signiﬁ cant  cost-
eﬀ ectiveness, providing enhanced 
solutions at better prices.

The  long-term  results  are  set  to 
bring  important  energy  savings 
and 
increased  competitiveness 
in Europe with respect to glazing 
technology.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Labor Srl, based in Italy.

1 

 ‘Production of thermochromic glazings 
for energy saving applications’.

Funded under the FP6 programme ‘SME 
activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7076

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ENERGY AND  TRAN S PO RT

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

Next-generation solar systems for buildings

Technology to produce heat as well as electricity simultaneously 
from  sunlight  has  recently  reached  an  appropriate  level  of 
maturity and could help buildings reduce their carbon footprint. 

In the search for major consumers 
of energy, one needs look no fur-
ther than the buildings we inhabit, 
be they residences or workplaces. 
Looking  to  a  more  sustainable 

future, it makes sense to produce 
the energy as close to home, so to 
speak,  as  possible.  This  is  where 
renewable  energy  sources  (RES) 
can have a positive impact.

The  EU-funded  Multisolar1  pro-
ject examined the potential of in-
corporating  solar  panels  into  the 
structural  elements  of  buildings. 
The  aim  was  to  cover  not  only 
electricity needs, but also require-
ments for hot water and heat.

installed 

The ﬁ rst challenge entailed mak-
ing  sure  that  the  size  of  the 
system 
is  adequate 
to  satisfy  the  building’s  energy 
needs.  For  this  reason,  accurate 
estimates of the building’s annual 
electricity, hot water and heating 
needs must be obtained. The abil-
ity of the Multisolar collectors to 
match these needs must also be 
determined,  thus  special  equip-
ment  was  developed  to  enable 
simultaneous  measurement  of 
various outputs.

Several  existing  buildings  were 
then  selected  as  case  stud-
ies  where  the  Multisolar  collec-
tors  and  sensors  were  installed. 

Analysis  of  the  data  collected 
helped the Multisolar team deﬁ ne 
the  system’s  components. 
It 
should  also  be  noted  that  archi-
tects  will  have  the  choice  of  in-
corporating 
the  special  solar 
collectors into the roof as well as 
into the buildings’ facade.

So while buildings may be energy 
hogs,  there  is  hope  that  in  the 
not  so  distant  future  they  may 
have  the  capacity  to  become 
autonomous.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Millenium Electric TOU Inc, based 
in Israel.

1 

 ‘Development of an integrated solar 
system for buildings’.

Funded under the FP6 programme ‘SME 
activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8169

Energy economy eyes gas cylinders

Home  cooking  and  heating  rely  on  gas  cylinders  in  much  of 
Europe. More efficient filling and less leakage can help realise 
important savings and keep the cylinders secure.

Liquid gas cylinders form an im-
portant  part  of  energy  needs  in 
European households, particularly 
for cooking and heating. As these 
are ﬂ ammable gasses, the safety 

of  these  cylinders  is  of  utmost 
importance.  Another  key  consid-
eration  is  cost-eﬃ  ciency  through 
accurate ﬁ lling.

The  EU-funded  TARE-IT1  project 
worked  to  address  these  issues. 
The  project  developed  eﬀ ec-
tive  ultrasonic  scanning  equip-
ment  for  ‘Liqueﬁ ed  petroleum 
gas’  (LPG),  butane  and  propane 
reﬁ lling  centres  and  industries 
to  detect  corrosion  leaks  during 
ﬁ lling.  Team  members  overcame 
the technical challenges of using 
ultrasonic  sensors  to  automatic-
ally detect residual weight during 
re-ﬁ lling  through  novel  so(cid:5) ware 
and systems.

The system could oﬀ er the over 
7,500  ﬁ lling  and  test  stations 
with  an  alternative  technology 
to identify ‘tare’ (unused amount 
in each cylinder). This will tackle 
leak  detection,  help  reduce  the 
EUR 1.2 million in waste among 
SMEs and enhance safety.

In  all,  the  novel  non-contact, 
non-destructive 
testing  hybrid 
laser  and  air  ultrasonic  testing 
system can be applied in 30 sec-
onds to verify leakages, pressure 

and  cylinder  capacity  used.  It 
will  represent  a  powerful  tool  in 
saving  energy,  improving  deliv-
ery  and  increasing  safety.  Lastly, 
the  emerging  knowledge  and 
research  is  considered  important 
for learning about defects in steel 
and composite pressure cylinders, 
corrosion and cracks.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Norgaard  Teknik  A/S,  based  in 
Denmark.

1 

 ‘A novel tare identification and 
corrosion detection system to improve 
filling accuracy, productivity and safety 
for SME LPG, butane & propane gas 
vendors’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘SME activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7108

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

19

ENVIRONM ENT AND SOCIETY

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Going underground 
for optimal crops and yields

Researchers from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom have designed an innovative technique to study the 
underground world of plants. Presented in the journal Plant Physiology, the results of this study will lead to improved breeding 
techniques for crop varieties, as well as better yields.

The novel approach is based on the same X-ray 
technology used in hospital ‘Computed tomogra-
phy’ (CT) scans. It integrates new image analysis 
so(cid:5) ware that can automatically distinguish the 
roots of plants from other soil-based materials.

The  researchers,  from  the  Centre  for  Plant 
Integrative Biology (CPIB), tested this approach 
on the roots of maize, wheat and tomato. They 
studied  the  architecture,  what  experts  refer  to 
as the shape and branching pattern, of roots in 
soil by using X-ray micro-computed tomography 
(micro-CT). The team then entered the informa-
tion  into  the  new  RooTrak  so(cid:5) ware,  which  en-
abled  them  to  diﬀ erentiate  between  roots  and 
other soil elements.

‘This technique is a hugely important advance,’ 
says Dr Sacha Mooney, an expert in soil physics 
at the School of Biosciences. ‘The application of 
X-ray  CT  for  visualising  roots  has  been  limited 
because we simply couldn’t see a large portion 
of  the  root  structure.  RooTrak  has  enabled  us 
to overcome this and has opened up the use of 
the  technology  for  exploring  the  key  questions 
regarding  how  we  can  manipulate  plants  and 
soils for improving our food security.’

The  innovative  so(cid:5) ware  works  by  obtaining  a 
stack  of  virtual  slices  through  the  root-bearing 
soil. According to the researchers, RooTrak treats 
each  slice  as  a  movie  frame.  The  slice’s  static 
roots are treated as moving objects that can be 
tracked. So the so(cid:5) ware can tell the diﬀ erence 
between root and water or organic elements in 
the soil, doing away with any glitches resulting 
from  other  techniques.  This  latest  technique 
oﬀ ers a three-dimensional (3D) detailed and ac-
curate root architecture.

‘Thinking  of  micro-CT  data  as  a  sequence  of 
images allows us to solve the problems caused 
by  variations  in  the  appearance  of  plant  roots 
and  the  similarity  of  some  roots  to  the  sur-
rounding soil,’ says Tony Pridmore, head of data 
at  CPIB  and  an  expert  in  tracking  and  analysis 
so(cid:5) ware. ‘This is important because we can now 
extract descriptions of root architecture quickly 
and objectively.’

Adds CPIB’s Professor Malcolm Bennet, an expert 
in root biology: ‘Root architecture critically inﬂ u-
ences nutrient and water uptake. A key impedi-
ment to genetic analysis of root architecture in 
crops grown in soil has been the ability to image 

live  roots.  Recent  advances  in  micro-CT  and 
RooTrak so(cid:5) ware at Nottingham now make this 
possible.’

The Nottingham team has clinched a European 
Research  Council  (ERC)  Advanced  Investigator 
Grant,  for  a  project  called  FUTUREROOTS1, 
worth  EUR  3.5  million  under  the  EU’s  Seventh 
Framework Programme (FP7). They will use this 
so(cid:5) ware  along  with  an  innovative  micro-CT-
based imaging approach to image the roots of 
wheat,  and  choose  new  varieties  with  optimal 
water and nutrient uptake eﬃ  ciencies.

The new project is coordinated by the Centre for 
Plant Integrative Biology in the United Kingdom, 
supported by experts from Australia, Europe and 
Mexico.

1 

 ‘Redesigning root architecture for improved crop 
performance’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme Ideas by the 
European research Council (ERC).
Promoted through the Research Information Centre.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre > search > 24134

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

ENVIRONME NT AN D  SO CI E TY

Consolidating efforts for environmental protection

An  EU-funded  initiative  conducted  multidisciplinary  and 
comprehensive  ecosystem  studies  of  the  Syr  Darya  River 
Basin  and  affected  areas.  Project  outcomes  highlighted 
severe problems and promoted the benefits of eco-education 
to improve conditions.

Irrigation  practices  in  the  former 
USSR,  combined  with  inadequate 
agricultural  policy  and  widespread 
use  of  pesticides,  have  led  to 
chemical contamination and weak-
ened soil fertility. This has resulted 
in reduced crop yields and has also 
aﬀ ected  biodiversity  and  human 
health.  Although  various  organ-
isations  investigate  and  monitor 
the  Syr  Darya  River  Basin,  a  lack 
of coordination and funds does not 
bode well for any hope of improv-
ing conditions.

The  Syr  Darya1  project  was 
designed  to  consolidate  important 
information  and  cooperation 
in 
investigations  of  the  river  basin. 
Project  partners  proposed  that 
scientiﬁ c  activities  aimed  at  the 
protection  and  sustainable  man-
agement  of  various  habitat  types 

must be coordinated for any posi-
tive outcomes.

Eﬀ orts  in  this  direction  included 
studies of various areas around the 
basin. Among others, these focused 
on  animal  life,  geology,  hydrology 
and population. They also took into 
account  levels  of  local  awareness 
relating  to  matters  of  environ-
mental sustainability.

located 

Four  study  areas 
in 
Kazakhstan,  each  characterised 
by diﬀ erent natural conditions and 
various  anthropogenic  pressures, 
were determined at a project work-
shop.  Studies  identiﬁ ed  the  main 
threatening  factors:  these  include 
reduction  of  the  runoﬀ   volume  of 
rivers  leading  to  a  deﬁ cit  in  fresh 
irrigation  water,  and  reduction  of 
arable land areas due to soil-cover 

degradation. It was discovered that 
local soils and agricultural products 
are also starting to show signs of 
contamination by heavy metals.

system  for  all  age  groups  should 
incorporate  new  teaching  methods 
from  various  countries  and  their 
adaption to national eco-conditions.

included 

necessarily 

Syr  Darya  partners  highlighted 
that  ‘Ecological  education’  (EE)  in 
tested  regions  and  in  Kazakhstan 
continue. 
must 
Recommendations 
inte-
grating  EE  into  folk  pedagogies, 
across-the-board schools and higher 
education, as well as engaging non-
governmental organisations (NGOs), 
governmental  structures  and  inter-
national  cooperation.  The  project 
also  determined  that  a  united  EE 

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Warsaw University in Poland.

1 

 ‘Co-ordination of scientific activities 
towards elaboration of common 
strategy for environmental protection 
in Syr Darya River Basin, in Uzbekistan 
and Kazakhstan’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘International cooperation’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8328

Agriculture adjusts to climate change

New  findings  and  recommendations  that  enable  the 
agricultural  sector  to  mitigate  climate  change  will  support 
Europe in its long-term goals and help keep the economy in 
top shape.

Agriculture in Europe, which is a vital 
part  of  putting  food  on  the  table 
for the continent’s citizens, is under 
threat from global warming. The EU 
has acknowledged the urgent need 
to  address  the  eﬀ ects  of  climate 
change on agriculture.

The EU-funded project Adagio1 stud-
ied solutions to address the eﬀ ects 
of  climate  changes  on  agriculture. 
It examined large European regions 
(Mediterranean,  Central  Europe, 
Eastern  Europe)  and  categor-
ised  them  according  to  the  needs 
required.  The  project  then  inte-
grated  climate  change  precautions 
into  the  EU’s  Common  Agricultural 
Policy (CAP) and rural development 
initiatives.

research 

Adagio  surveyed 
farmers  and 
stakeholders  on  the  ground  and 
combined  existing 
to 
identify potential risks and develop 
eﬀ ective  methods.  It  found  that 
farmers  resisted  applying  simple 
recommended  measures  to  com-
bat climate change. The project also 
revealed  major  diﬀ erences  in  agri-
culture production to help it outline 
new regional strategies and policies.

A(cid:5) er  its  analysis,  Adagio  found 
that  optimising  sowing  and  trans-
planting time, as well as selecting 
alternative  species  and  varieties, 
represented the most ideal strategy 
for  the  Mediterranean.  Improved 
irrigation and water use were also 
advocated.

With respect to Central Europe, the 
eﬃ  cient  use  of  agricultural,  soil 
and water resources, in addition to 
changes  in  crops,  sowing  patterns 
and livestock practices were recom-
mended.  The  solutions  for  Eastern 
Europe considered the region’s tran-
sition  to  the  free-market  economy 
and  incorporated  socio-economic 
issues,  giving  way  to  viable  new 
mitigation strategies.

recommenda-
Adagio  produced 
tions for management practices on 
local,  regional  and  national  levels, 
in  addition  to  an  in-depth  outline 
of  risks  and  vulnerabilities  for  dif-
ferent countries. If properly applied, 
these results will lead to more eﬃ  -
cient agriculture, a more sustainable 
economy and a better fed Europe.

The project was coordinated by the 
University  of  Natural  Resources 
and  Applied  Life  Sciences,  Vienna, 
Austria.

1 

 ‘Adaptation of agriculture in European 
regions at environmental risk under 
climate change’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Research for policy support’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8333

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

21

ENVIRONM ENT AND SOCIETY

Helping small businesses to go green

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often struggle to comply with legislation and international standards because of 
their limited resources. The Ecodis project was therefore set up to help SMEs develop environmental management practices and 
achieve international standards such as ISO 14001.

X-Mat  system  was  produced  that 
allowed businesses to monitor and 
manage their manufacturing pro-
cesses  and  materials.  The  X-Pro 
module  was  developed  for  con-
ducting  life-cycle  analyses,  while 
the X-Rec was used to assess and 
determine  diﬀ erent  end-of-life 
scenarios.  These  systems  helped 
manufacturers to design products 
that can be reused and recycled.

Ecodis1 also helped to ‘green’ the 
supply chain through the transfer-
ence  of  data  and  the  traceability 
of  information  along  the  supply 
chain.  The  X-Change  module  en-
abled SMEs to monitor the envir-
onmental status of their suppliers 
thereby  demonstrating  to  cus-
tomers  that  they  have  followed 
eco-design  principles.  A  roadmap 
was  also  developed  for  imple-
menting  an  eco-design  approach 
in the company that resulted in a 
‘Product-oriented  environmental 
management system’ (POEMS).

Success of the project has helped 
European  SMEs  meet  their  en-
vironmental  commitments  and 
demonstrate 
compliance 
their 
in  achieving  international  stand-
ards.  These  enabled  companies 
to  be  more  environment-friendly 
and  eﬃ  cient  by  reviewing  and 
improving  their  production  pro-
cesses,  thus  also  allowing  them 
to  better  compete  in  the  global 
marketplace.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Ecodesign  Interactive  Systems  in 
Paris, France.

1 

 ‘Ecodesign interactive systems’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘SME activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8371

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The  EU-funded  initiative  brought 
together 
industry  associations 
and groupings (IAGs) from across 
Europe  to  help  SMEs  make  their 
production  processes  more  envi-
ronment-friendly.  The  companies 
were involved in plastic conversion, 
mechanical  processing,  electrical 
goods  and  electronics  manu-
facturing,  and  automotive  parts 

production. Project partners devel-
oped  an  innovative  ‘eco-design’ 
platform  that  enabled  companies 
to meet the requirements of their 
customers and legislators.

A  tool  kit  for  design  teams  was 
created  that  could  be  operated 
through 
installed  so(cid:5) ware  or 
over  the  Internet.  An  interactive 

Boosting fresh water production

A  project  focused  on  the  feasibility  of  using  existing  plants 
for water production discovered this is possible with minimal 
costs.  Results  have  the  potential  to  widely  impact  the 
renewable energy sources approach in low-tech countries. 

The  Aqua  solis1  project  set  out  to 
demonstrate  that  the  technology 
of  trough-type  solar  concentra-
tion plants is mature enough to be 
applied in relatively low-technology 
countries.  The  idea  was  to  ﬁ nd 
applications of the Sixth Framework 
Programme-funded REACT2 project, 
beyond heat and refrigeration.

The focus of the project was not the 
technical feasibility of the proposed 
applications,  but  the  quantitative 
assessment  of  their  potential  eco-
nomic  and  environmental  beneﬁ ts 
as  compared  to  existing  solutions. 
Thus, the aim of this Speciﬁ c Support 
Action (SSA) was to perform a com-
plete  feasibility  study  in  order  to 

investigate  the  possible  applica-
tions of the REACT system in certain 
areas. The main possibilities consid-
ered by the project related to clean 
water production by processes such 
as  solar  distillation,  atmospheric 
condensation and waste processing.

Aqua  solis  discovered  that  the 
technology used in such plants can 
be  used  to  generate  fresh  water 
without additional costs for equip-
ment. Also, this could be realised at 
times when there is an availability 
of excess energy that would other-
wise be lost. Project partners con-
ducted simulations of the proposed 
technologies,  paying  special 
attention to the generality of 

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ENVIRONME NT AN D  SO CI E TY

the system being investigated, with 
less regard for in-depth accuracy.

Study  results  showed  that  fresh 
water  obtained  from  atmospheric 
humidity or from desalination using 
solar  concentrating  plants  can  be 
used  to  store  solar  energy  and 
transform  it  into  a  useful  product. 
The  Aqua  solis  approach  showed 
it  was  possible  to  use  small-size 
plants for small communities where 
fresh  water  is  a  by-product  of  a 
multipurpose approach.

Future  testing  with  real  multi-
generative  plants  is  necessary 
to verify the economic gains that 
the  Aqua  solis  study  indicated 
are possible. Further work is also 
needed  to  better  understand  the 
economic  and  technical  implica-
tions  of  producing  fresh  water 
from  solar  concentrating  plants. 
Furthermore, Aqua solis proposed 
that  careful  assessments  be 
conducted  regarding  the  safety 
of  distilled  water  for  human 
consumption.

Overall, project outcomes indicated 
that the diﬀ usion of plants that can 
produce water as an additional eco-
nomic  output  to  heating  and  cool-
ing  may  be  regarded  as  a  boost 
for renewable energy. This has the 
potential  to  kick-start  the  diﬀ usion 
of  solar  energy  in  Mediterranean 
countries.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the  Consorzio 
Interuniversitario 
Nezionale per le Scienza Tecnologia 
dei Materiali, in Florence, Italy.

1 

2  

 ‘Innovative applications of solar trough 
concentration for quality fresh water 
production and waste water treatment 
by solar distillation’.
 ‘Self-sufficient renewable energy air-
conditioning system for Mediterranean 
countries’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘International cooperation’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8329

Europe’s identity through philosophy

A  20th  century  Spanish  philosopher  who  has  drawn  on 
contemporary German philosophy and Classical Greek philosophy 
can help us understand the roots of a true European identity.

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José Ortega y Gasset, 1883-1955, 
was  a  great  20th  century  Spanish 
liberal philosopher who, along with 
Nietzsche,  espoused  perspectiv-
ism,  a  vision  related  to  European 
thought  ﬁ rst  pioneered  by  Leibniz. 
The  EU-funded  Ogplie1  project 
examined  Europe’s  cultural  reality 
and  consciousness  of  life  through 
local customs. It looked at notions 
of  culture  and  cultural  conscious-
ness through a combination of phi-
losophy and Spanish studies yet in 
the context of European studies.

The  project  aimed  to  highlight  the 
philosopher’s  work  as  a  pioneer  in 
European  integration.  It  examined 
how  he  combined  Mediterranean 
and  German  thinking  traditions  as 
well as his own integrative philoso-
phy of life, his concept of historical 
reason  and  his  overall  notion  of 
Europe.

Ortega  y  Gasset  saw  European 
identity as a system of convictions, 
beliefs and common values result-
ing  in  European  collective  habits, 
public  opinion,  law  and  balance  of 
power.  Beliefs  and  common  hab-
its  were  the  most  important  of 
these. He ﬁ rmly believed in a com-
mon  European  identity,  universal-
ity  of  reason,  inalienable  dignity 
and  uniqueness  of  each  human 
individual.

Furthermore, he saw that while we 
were  conscious  of  our  ideas,  we 
lived  in  our  beliefs  making  use  of 
them  unconsciously,  and  that  the 
notion  of  Europe  was  a  belief  in 
which  we  lived.  It  was  the  reality 
in  which  we  existed  and  projected 
our lives.

Interestingly,  Ortega  y  Gasset  jus-
tiﬁ ed  many  of  his  beliefs  through 
Greek thought, advocating that dis-
covery  of  reason  as  an  independ-
ent  reality  and  system  gave  birth 
to science, technology and philoso-
phy. He saw man as diﬀ erent from 
other living creatures in that he had 
privileged access to the rationality 
which  inhabited  the  world,  a  cos-
mos ordered according to principles 
of  reason.  With  this,  the  philoso-
pher  concluded  that  Socrates’  dis-
covery of reason was the discovery 
of  Europe,  a  theory  which  today 
could illuminate the European iden-
tity from an exciting new angle.

The project was coordinated by the 
Agencia  Estatal  Consejo  Superioir 
de  Investigaciones  Cientiﬁ cas  in 
Madrid, Spain.

1 

 ‘Ortega y Gasset’s philosophy of life 
and his idea of Europe’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
People (Marie-Curie actions).
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8484

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

23

ENVIRONM ENT AND SOCIETY

A Bronze Age identity for Europe

The dynamics of migration and cultural influences in the Bronze Age may hide more interaction among European peoples than 
meets the eye. A European team of young researchers investigates.

land  and  sea.  These  migrations 
inﬂ uenced  local  cultures  signiﬁ -
cantly, sowing the seeds of social 
change  in  new  regions  of  the 
continent.

The  ongoing  project  is  expected 
to  reﬁ ne  our  knowledge  about 
the  Bronze  Age  and  its  cultural 
dynamics,  adding  a  new  twist 
to  shared  European  history  and 
interaction. The disciplines of his-
tory,  science,  archaeology  and 
others stand to progress in novel 
ways  given  the  project’s  exciting 
revelations.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Institute  of  Anthropology 
the 
Archaeology  and  Linguistics  at 
Aarhus University in Denmark.

Europe in the Bronze Age, between 
3000  BC  and  500  BC,  boasted 
enigmatic exchanges, unexpected 
migrations,  transfer  of  intriguing 
artwork and discovery of strange 
tools.  The  EU-funded  Forging 
Identities1 project looked at inter-
cultural  mobility  of  peoples  in 
the Bronze Age and their cultural 
links to the new metal.

Supported by research in archae-
ology,  metallurgy,  biochemistry 
and  bone  studies,  the  project 
investigated  how  movement  of 
culture  impacted  social  life  dur-
ing  this  epoch  and  how  com-
mon  identities  emerged.  Forging 
Identities  also  aimed  at  creating 
a network that would enhance the 
career prospects of young schol-
ars  through  an  interdisciplinary 
training  strategy,  strengthening 
European  identity  at  the  same 
time.

Identities 

Forging 
conducted 
summer  schools  in  Hungary  and 
Romania  in  addition  to  holding 
several  science  training  courses 
related  to  the  Bronze  Age.  Its 
results have so far brought forth 
conclusions 
many 
on  peoples  and  cultures  of  that 
time. For example, they revealed 
that  although  materials,  ideas 
and  people  tended  to  migrate 
over short distances, some made 
it  over  much  larger  distances  by 

interesting 

1 

 ‘Forging identities: the mobility of 
culture in Bronze Age Europe’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
People (Marie-Curie actions).
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8471

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Encouraging debate that will shape the future

An EU-funded initiative worked to raise awareness of issues of convergence technologies in 
the social sciences and humanities. The vision was to mobilise European research capacities 
in this regard.

Relations,  synergies  or  fusions 
between broad ﬁ elds of research 
and development (R&D), such as 
biotechnology  and  the  life  sci-
ences,  nanoscience  and  nano-
‘Information  and 
technology, 
communication 
technologies’ 
(ICT), cognitive science and neu-
rotechnologies,  are  at  the  core 

of the ‘Converging technologies’ 
(CT) concept.

Discussions 
fast-paced 
of 
developments  in  these  areas, 
including  robotics  and  artiﬁ cial 
intelligence  (AI),  are  critical  to 
examining  the  future 
impact 
of  all  science  and  engineering. 

Given  Europe’s  path  toward  a 
knowledge-based  society,  the 
relevant  research  community 
must  be  prepared  to  face  and 
address  a  wide  range  of  per-
tinent issues and questions.

The  Speciﬁ c  Support  Action 
(SSA),  Contecs1,  was  set  up  to 

facilitate  the  establishment  of 
a  research  agenda  with  regard 
to  CT.  Project  partners  thus  set 
out to address the roles that the 
‘Social sciences and humanities’ 
(SSH) could play in the phenom-
enon  of  technological  conver-
gence as well as their potential 
inﬂ uence in its shaping. An inte-
grated  and  systemic  approach 
was  also  used  to  explore  the 
ever important societal and eth-
ical  implications  of  devel-
opments in the ﬁ eld of CT 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

ENVIRONME NT AN D  SO CI E TY

and  ways  in  which  SSH  could 
best address them. 

Europe has adopted a demand-
driven  approach  that  includes 
interdisciplinary 
cooperation, 
whereby CT are seen to respond 
to societal demands and needs. 
This aims to extend the focus on 
‘human  enhancement’,  which  is 
seen  to  have  largely  inﬂ uenced 
the  CT  discourse  and  sparked 
debates across a broad range of 
related topics.

Contecs  studied  the  historical 
and  institutional  origins  of  CT 
and focused on visions of trans-
humanism, viewed as a powerful 
instrument in the shaping of this 
convergence. As such, the study 

highlighted  that  decisions  as 
to  which  SSH  approaches  are 
appropriate  for  arriving  at  a 
better  understanding  of  CT  are 
themselves shaped by the onto-
logical politics. For example, the 
political  construction  of  ‘nano-
convergence’  in  one  particular 
country may point to the major 
role  played  by  funding  institu-
tions  in  setting  the  relevant 
agenda  or  even  determining  its 
goals and content.

Members  of  the  Contecs  team 
also  noted  that  methods  of 
textual  analysis  can  be  used 
to  understand  the  role  of  onto-
logical  politics  in  contemporary 
discussions and debates that do 
not explicitly attend to visions of 

CT.  That  is,  rather  than  contrib-
uting  to  policy  debates  on  CT, 
they  formulate  questions  and 
concerns  about  what  CT  might 
be,  the  work  being  carried  out 
and  by  whom,  and  to  which  or-
ganisations  or  agencies  actors 
are accountable.

All  are  vital  to  progressing  dis-
course on CT and are the means 
by  which  scientists,  academics 
and  policy-makers,  among  oth-
ers,  learn  how  to  speak  about 
the phenomenon. Project eﬀ orts 
therefore  highlight  the  import-
in 
ance  of  such  discussions 
contributing  to  a  better  under-
standing of CT.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the 
Fraunhoﬀ er-Gesellscha(cid:5)  
zur Förderung der Angewandten 
Forshung in Munich, Germany.

1 

 ‘Converging technologies and their 
impact on social sciences and 
humanities’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Citizens and governance in a knowledge-
based society’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8368

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

25

IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

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Future Internet … 
a thing of beauty and promise

The Internet world we live in today shows that we already depend on information technology for many fundamental aspects 
of our lives. We socialise, do banking, gamble, and book everything from holidays to hair appointments, all online. EU-funded 
research is helping to build a Future Internet that will take these transformations further.

‘Growth in the future will depend more and more 
on  harnessing  information  technology,’  noted 
European  Commission  President  José  Manuel 
Barroso in his recent State of the Union speech, 
in which he emphasised the need for ‘a digital 
single market, which will beneﬁ t each and every 
European by around EUR 1500 per year.’

bringing  together  the  relevant  policy,  legal  and 
regulatory frameworks and mechanisms to sup-
port the Digital Agenda for Europe — Europe’s 
eﬀ orts  to  create  an  online  ‘Digital  single  mar-
ket’ spanning seamlessly across all 27 Member 
States,  and,  more  broadly,  an  inclusive  know-
ledge society. 

The Internet of tomorrow, and the web of tomor-
row, will need to be even more powerful, more 
connected,  more  intuitive  and  more  a  part  of 
our everyday lives, at home, at work and on the 
move. This Internet of services, things and infra-
structure,  will  include  everything  from  smart 
appliances that talk to each other to clothes that 
monitor  our  health,  from  cars  that  can't  crash 
to  mobile  technologies  and  cloud  platforms 
that  run  our  businesses.  The  Internet  will  truly 
become the all-pervasive nervous system of the 
planet. 

The future, now! 
This is the mantra of the Commission's ‘Future 
Internet  public-private  partnership’ 
(FI-PPP) 
which is working to deliver a ‘shared vision for 
harmonised  European-scale  technology  plat-
forms  and  their  implementation’.  This  means 

The FI-WARE1 project, the core platform for the 
FI-PPP, is working to boost the EU’s global com-
petitiveness by introducing an innovative infra-
structure  for  cost-eﬀ ective  e-services  creation 
and delivery, with the necessary quality of ser-
vice guarantees. The key deliverables will be an 
open architecture and a reference implementa-
tion for a new service infrastructure, building on 
the reusable building blocks developed in earlier 
research projects. This infrastructure should sup-
port emerging Future Internet services and show 
quantiﬁ able  improvements  in  the  productivity, 
reliability and cost of service development and 
delivery.  Use-cases  will  include  the  ‘environ-
mental  services’,  ‘public  safety’  and  ‘logistics’ 
sectors. 

FI-PPP  supports  eight  such  ‘use-case’  projects 
which follow an industry-driven approach to the 

R&D lifecycle. For example the Finseny use-case 
is taking a holistic view of the energy sector, from 
de-centralised generation to storage to demand, 
with the aim of developing smarter energy solu-
tions and infrastructure to meet Europe’s needs 
in 2020 and beyond. The project aims to identify 
the ICT requirements of ‘Smart energy systems’, 
leading  to  the  deﬁ nition  of  new  solutions  and 
standards, veriﬁ ed in large-scale pan-European 
smart energy trials. Project results should con-
tribute to the emergence of sustainable 'smart 
energy  infrastructure',  based  on  new  products 
and  services,  enabling  new  functionality  while 
reducing costs and relieving the environment. 

Another  use-case,  the  FI-PPP  Instant  Mobility2 
project, has created a concept for a virtual ‘trans-
port and mobility Internet’, a platform for services 
that  supports  radically  new  types  of  connected 
applications for diﬀ erent kinds of travellers. They 
will receive personalised and real-time solutions 
to help reach their destination according to cur-
rent  personal  preferences  and  constraints,  real-
time traﬃ  c status and public transport availability 
along the journey. Local authorities, public trans-
port  operators  and  professional  drivers 
should  all  beneﬁ t  from  the  project’s  open 

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IT AND TELECOMMUN I CATI ON S

information platform, enabling new ways of opti-
mising  urban  traﬃ  c  while  enhancing  the  safety 
and privacy of travellers and promoting car shar-
ing and car-pooling. 

Working together 
Apart  from  FI-PPP,  the  EU  also  supports  hun-
dreds of other research and technology-oriented 
collaborative projects, particularly in the domains 
of  ‘Pervasive  and  trusted  network  and  service 
infrastructures’,  under  the  Seventh  Framework 
Programme (FP7) for ICT research. Projects focus 
on a range of subjects from fundamental long-
term research to more applied R&D, in domains 
such  as  Future  Internet  architecture,  networks, 
media, search, services, applications, and more. 

Take  for  example  the  IoT-A3  ‘European  light-
house’  integrated  project,  which  is  bringing 
new  meaning  to  the  ‘Internet  of  Things’  (IoT). 
The  idea  of  a  ‘globally  interconnected  contin-
uum  of  devices,  objects  and  things’  draws  on 
advances  in  sensor  technology  and  ubiquitous 
use  of  ‘Radio  frequency  identiﬁ cation’  (RFID) 
tags in everything from shopping bags to ship-
ping crates. But with this mass of ‘talking’ things 
the  Internet  of  yesterday  is  struggling  to  keep 
up, its foundations are creaking as the quantities 
of traﬃ  c and devices increase. IoT-A (where ‘A’ 
stands  for  architecture)  is  building  and  testing 
designs for a better, stronger and more secure 
foundation for the Future Internet to handle the 
growing needs of this Internet of things. 

iCORE4 meanwhile plans to put IoT into a ‘cogni-
tive framework’ to ensure users and stakehold-
ers  (owners  of  the  ‘things’  or  objects  and  the 
means  of  communication)  can  reap  its  bene-
ﬁ ts. According to the project team, the cognitive 
framework will include three levels of function-
ality:  virtual  objects  (representations  of  real 
things like sensors and devices which shield the 
user from the underlying technologies), compos-
ite virtual objects (combinations of interoperable 
virtual  objects  and  associated  services)  for 
delivering  tailored  services,  and  building  blocks 
reﬂ ecting the user/stakeholder perspective. 

One application being considered for these vir-
tual  objects  and  composites  is  the  ‘smart  city’, 
where  information  about  a  city  (on  entertain-
ment,  traﬃ  c,  public  services  and  utilities)  is 
packaged,  personalised  and  composed  on  the 
ﬂ y  in  readily  usable  formats  and  media.  Other 
application domains for iCORE’s cognitive frame-
work  could  be  ‘smart  meeting’,  ‘smart  home’ 
and  ‘smart  business’  which  oﬀ er  value-added 
services  through,  for  example,  self-conﬁ guring 
networks  and  objects,  and  better  interactivity 
among users. 

open-source  (OS)  technology  with  open-source 
governance. And we need to speed up the stand-
ardisation  process  of  such  open  environments, 
giving  multiple  parties  the  chance  to  innovate 
collaboratively  with  their  competitors,  but  in  a 
clean  ‘sand-boxed’  domain  that  minimises  the 
commercial risk to the participants. 

But  there  is  no  simple  ﬁ x.  The  Webinos  team 
oﬀ ers some valuable insight in two key reports 
which present the industry landscape, and spe-
ciﬁ c  recommendations.  The  general  thrust  of 
Webinos'  vision  is  that  we  need  to  provide  the 
web  with  ‘Application  programming  interfaces’ 
(APIs - so(cid:5) ware modules with generic function-
ality available for use by anybody) which can run 
in  any  environment  on  any  platform.  Webinos 
sees itself as a communal asset oﬀ ering paths 
to implement these universal APIs. 

‘We need to be able to share stuﬀ  socially and 
securely,’ suggests Nick Allott of Webinos. APIs 
are the ‘stuﬀ ’ in this simple equation; the ability 
of one device to use another device’s capability 
(‘share’),  and  the  need  for  people  (‘socially’)  to 
do this with conﬁ dence (‘securely’) in a standard-
ised way. We also need ‘true network innovation 
and optimised network behaviour’, he says. We 
need to give consumers control over their data 
while  at  the  time  setting  up  open  commercial 
ecosystems. And all this needs to be ubiquitous 
and interoperable. Mobile devices are important, 
stresses  Mr  Allott,  but  ‘PCs  count,  cars  count 
and TVs are important too.’ It all needs to work 
everywhere. 

And building networks 
EU-funded  projects  are  also  deeply  involved 
on the network side of the Future Internet. The 
SAIL project, for example, is working on what it 
calls ‘scalable and adaptive internet solutions’ 
but its chief focus is on developing technologies 
for the networks of the future, as well as the 
techniques  to  streamline  the  transition  from 
today’s  networks  to  future  concepts  that  can 
evolve. 

As  an  industry-led  consortium  of  operators, 
vendors  and  research  institutions,  the  innova-
tive tools developed will, according to Ericsson’s 
Thomas Edwall, coordinator of the SAIL6 project, 
‘ensure  broad  acceptance  within  industry,  and 
enhance the possibilities for standardisation of 
solutions fostering the networks of the future’. 
SAIL  leverages  state-of-the-art  architectures 
and  technologies  in  developing  prototypes 
which it plans to test-drive in six scenarios and 
21  use-cases  built  round  three  major  dimen-
sions  in  future  networks:  video,  mobility  and 
ﬂ ash crowds. 

From the Internet of Things, we venture to the 
Internet of innovation. Composing future Internet 
services on the ﬂ y turns users into service devel-
opers,  blurring  the  separation  between  actors. 
According  to  the  Webinos5  project,  we  need 
an  open  innovation  community  for  web  and 

As  another  example,  the  4WARD7  project  is 
developing  networks  and  networked  applica-
tions faster and easier, and has brought a fresh, 
‘clean-slate’  approach  to  the  Future  Internet. 
Today’s  lack  of  adequate  ways  to  design, 
optimise  and  interoperate  new  networks  has 

led  to  an  architecture  that  is  sub-optimal  for 
many  applications,  and  which  cannot  support 
further  innovations.  4WARD  overcomes  this 
impasse through a set of radical architectural 
approaches.  It  aims  to  improve  the  design  of 
interoperable  and  complementary  network 
architectures, enabling the co-existence of mul-
tiple  networks  on  common  platforms  through 
virtualisation  of  networking  resources,  and 
enhancing  the  utility  of  networks  by  making 
them self-managing. These innovations should 
improve communication end-to-end, from ﬁ bre 
backbones to wireless and sensor networks. 

Meanwhile,  the  COAST8  project  is  building  a 
content-centric  network  architecture  meeting 
the  demands  of  the  Future  Internet,  in  par-
ticular  for  network-wide  service  level  agree-
ments. In this case, users specify which content 
they need and the COAST framework ﬁ nds and 
delivers  the  most  relevant  data  in  a  fast  and 
user-friendly way. 

The user also has pride of place in the COMET9 
project which is working on a ‘content mediator 
architecture  for  content-aware  networks’.  This 
is  important  groundwork  for  the  ever-growing 
quantities  of  user-generated  content  on  the 
Internet.  Finding  content  today  usually  means 
dedicated  searches  on  well-known  interme-
diaries,  like  online  photo  and  video  platforms 
or  social  networks.  COMET  is  keen  to  unlock 
Internet  search  in  readiness  for  the  Future 
Internet.  It  will  introduce  a  uniﬁ ed  approach 
which  includes  a  global  naming  scheme  and 
tools to optimise both content source selection 
and  distribution-mapping  the  content  to  the 
appropriate  resources  based  on  transmission 
requirements,  user  preferences  and  the  net-
work state. 

What all the above Future Internet projects and 
initiatives illustrate is that the EU takes its com-
mitments to the Digital Agenda very seriously. 
Though  many  of  them  face  huge  challenges, 
dealing with legacy systems and practices and 
the fast-changing Internet landscape, the size 
of the task only ampliﬁ es the measure of the 
achievement  when  EU-funded  research  deliv-
ers the goods. 

‘In  this  economic  climate,  politicians  are 
forced  to  make  radical  decisions,’  according 
to  Zoran  Stancic,  Deputy  Director  General  at 
the  European  Commission’s  DG  Information 
Society and Media. ‘But that decision should be 
to invest in the future.’ And what better place 
to start than the Future Internet, he suggested. 

The  proposed  EUR  80  billion  budget  for 
the  EU’s  next  research  funding  framework 
programme,  Horizon  2020,  already  shows 
Europe’s commitment to research and innov-
ation as pillars of the Europe 2020 strategy of 
‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’. The 
Commission has proposed that the ICT funding 
under this new research programme should be 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

27

IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

increased  by  46 %  in  comparison  to  the  cur-
rent  framework  programme  FP7.  The  EU’s 
Digital  Agenda  has  also  ensured  that  almost 
EUR 9.2 billion will be available for building up 
the  broadband  infrastructure  needed  for  the 
Future Internet through the Connecting Europe 
Facility (CEF). 

These were some of the take-home messages 
oﬀ ered by Mr Stancic and others at the recent 
Future Internet Assembly ( FIA) held in Poznan 
under the auspices of the Polish EU Presidency. 
FIA  is  a  collaboration  of  EU-funded  pro-
jects  which  recognise  the  need  to  strengthen 
Europe’s  contribution  to  the  Future  Internet 

to  maintain  its  competitiveness  in  the  global 
marketplace. 

As  services  and  applications  become  context 
aware,  they  will  also  be  able  to  deliver  more 
localised value to users. The Future Internet may 
therefore  have  the  eﬀ ect  of  bringing  services 
back ‘on shore’ to European and local economies. 

‘We  must  innovate,’  Mr  Barroso  has  said. 
‘Modern  industrial  policy  is  about  investing  in 
research and innovation.’

When  it  comes  to  the  Future  Internet,  we  are 
already starting to see the results.

1 
2 
3 
4 

5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

 ‘Future Internet Core Platform’.
‘Instant Mobility for Passengers and Goods’.
‘Internet of Things Architecture’.
 ‘Internet Connected Objects for Reconfigurable 
Ecosystems’.
‘Secure WebOS Application Delivery Environment’.
‘Scalable & Adaptive Internet soLutions’.
‘Architecture and design for the future Internet’.
‘COntent Aware Searching, retrieval and sTreaming’.
 ‘COntent Mediator architecture for content-aware 
nETworks’.

All projects mentioned in this article are funded under the 
FP7 specific programme Cooperation under the theme 
‘Information and communication technologies’. 
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > search > offers > 7990

Satellites zoom in on the new Europe

Poland and other young EU States are warming up to satellite-based technology that could see ‘Global positioning system’ 
(GPS) and other satellite applications buoy their high-tech sector.

Europe’s advanced satellite navi-
gation  system,  Galileo,  has  en-
abled  European  businesses  to 
employ  state-of-the-art 
tech-
nology  for  diﬀ erent  applications 
based  on  GPS  and  other  satel-
lite  navigation 
features.  The 
EU-funded  Galileoapp1  project 
sought  to  bring  Galileo  applica-
tions to more Member States.

helped 

Galileoapp 
advance 
research  in  Galileo-based  appli-
cations  and  bring  them  closer 

to  the  market.  It  also  helped 
articulate national policy to facili-
tate  use  of  these  services.  The 
project  established  the  Galileo 
Information  Point  at  the  Space 
Research  Centre  of  the  Polish 
Academy  of  Sciences  located  in 
Poland’s capital, Warsaw.

The Information Point brought the 
diﬀ erent players from Poland and 
beyond  together,  helping  exploit 
Polish  potential  within  Europe’s 
satellite 
navigation 
‘Global 

system’  (GNSS)  community. 
It 
promoted the Galileo programme 
in the country, provided informa-
tion  on  it  to  stakeholders  and 
raised  public  awareness  on  the 
technology’s beneﬁ ts.

In  2004  and  2005,  Galileo  Point 
organised  many  conferences  in 
Poland  on  satellite  navigation 
and 
the  satellite-based  aug-
mentation  system  EGNOS,  with 
emphasis on small and medium-
sized  enterprises  (SMEs)  in  the 

ﬁ eld.  It  also  organised  events  in 
the  Czech  Republic  and  Latvia 
to  strengthen  cooperation  in  the 
ﬁ eld and replicate the success in 
Poland.  The  events  provided  im-
portant  networking  opportunities 
in  the  sector  of  satellite  naviga-
tion  and  created  positive  media 
hype around the subject.

Dissemination  of  the  project’s 
eﬀ orts  was  realised  through  the 
project website and the develop-
ment  of  a  database  containing 
Polish  and  foreign  institutions  to 
network in the GNSS ﬁ eld. Lastly, 
Galileo  Point  also  published  a 
book on the subject titled ‘A pos-
itioning system Galileo: strategic, 
scientiﬁ c  and  technical  stakes’. 
These  eﬀ orts  will  help  enable 
Poland  and  other  new  Member 
States  tap  into  satellite  navi-
gation  and  reap  the  economic 
rewards.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the  Polish  Academy  of  Sciences, 
based in Warsaw, Poland.

1 

 ‘Support for development and 
utilisation of Galileo applications in 
Poland and other accession countries’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Aeronautics and space’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8435

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IT AND TELECOMMUN I CATI ON S

New frontier: Chips transfer data at light speed 

The computer industry is nearing a crisis: microchips get smaller and faster but they struggle 
to transfer data at sufficient speeds. Electrons flowing through standard chip connections are 
just too slow. Now EU-funded researchers have shown how chips with built-in lasers which 
use multiple wavelengths of light could in the future transmit data at terabit speeds.

Lasers  are  great  for  transmitting 
information. Every time you use the 
Internet  or  make  a  telephone  call 
data, in the form of light pulses or 
photons,  travels  hundreds  of  kilo-
metres through the optical ﬁ bre net-
works that crisscross the continent. 

But  the  insides  of  computers  still 
stick  to  old  fashioned  electronics. 
Microprocessors  do  their  calcula-
tions with electrons, and they trans-
fer  data  within  and  between  chips 
using electrons too. 

‘Electronics  is  fast  approaching  a 
crunch  point,’  explains  Dries  Van 
Thourhout from the Department on 
Information  Technology  at  Ghent 
University,  an  associated  lab  of 
imec,  in  Belgium.  ‘Up  to  now  we 
have  been  trying  to  increase  the 
speed  of  transistors,  but  that  per-
formance  has  stopped  increasing 
now, it is just a question of packing 
more into a smaller space. But the 
biggest  hindrance  to  performance 
is  the  speed  of  the  connections 
between chips and devices. We call 
it the “interconnectivity bottleneck”.’

Imagine  a  sweet  factory  which 
makes  thousands  of  sweets  per 
second, but the plant can only bag 
the sweets and dispatch them to the 
shops at a rate of a few hundred per 
second. Unless you slow down pro-
duction you will end up with sweets 
piling  up,  rolling  over  the  ﬂ oor  and 
clogging the system. 

Van Thourhout) instead of electrons. 
But  the  speed  of  light  is  not  why 
optical interconnects are better. The 
real  trick  is  that  light  can  be  ‘mul-
tiplexed’;  basically  you  can  send 
photons  of  diﬀ erent  wavelengths 
through  your  interconnect  at  the 
same time. Use three wavelengths 
and you eﬀ ectively triple the speed 
of data transmission. 

Divide and conquer 
With this in mind the Wadimos1 pro-
ject set out to develop a demonstra-
tion  chip  with  multiplexing  optical 
interconnects.  The  chip  was  based 
on  technology  developed  in  a  pre-
decessor  project  (PICMOS2)  which 
created the ﬁ rst ever microchip with 
integrated microlaser light sources, 
thanks  to  a  unique  bonding  ‘glue’ 
developed by the PICMOS partners. 

‘The  PICMOS  project  was  a  great 
success.  We  showed  that  optical 
interconnects  could  be  manufac-
tured  and  that  they  would  work,’ 
says  Mr  Van  Thourhout.  ‘But  it  is 
one thing to make and demonstrate 
something in the lab. You won’t get 
chips like these into the mainstream 
or  solve  that  interconnectivity  bot-
tleneck unless you can manufacture 
them at the industrial scale, making 
millions  of  them.  PICMOS  demon-
strated the principle of optical inter-
connects.  Wadimos  is  proving  that 
multiplexing is possible and that the 
chips  can  be  made  in  a  standard 
CMOS fabrication plant.’

The  powerful  microprocessors  in 
computers  today  use  vast  quan-
tities  of  data  and  perform  millions 
of calculations per second. You need 
to  transfer  this  data  around  your 
computer (or your mobile phone for 
that  matter).  But  the  connections 
cannot keep up; they simply cannot 
shi(cid:5)  electrons fast enough. The only 
way  to  cope  is  to  slow  down  data 
production. 

Europe’s  largest  chip  manufacturer 
STMicroelectronics  has  worked  in 
collaboration  with  universities  and 
research  institutions  from  France 
and  Italy  and  a  Dutch  SME  which 
specialises  in  lithography  (etching) 
for electronic components. Together 
these  partners  have  extended  the 
results  of  PICMOS  and  adapted 
them  to  more  commercial  manu-
facturing processes. 

This  is  where  light  comes  in:  you 
can  use  lasers  to  send  photons 
down  silicon  ‘wires’  (light  at  infra-
red  wavelengths  travels  remark-
ably  well  through  silicon,  says  Mr 

One of the biggest challenges was 
to  replace  the  gold  connections 
on  the  microlasers  in  the  PICMOS 
prototype. ‘You can’t have gold in a 
chip  fabrication  plant,’  explains  Mr 

Van Thourhout. ‘Gold is a contami-
nant,  so  partner  CEA-LETI  devel-
oped  a  process  that  would  mean 
the  integrated  lasers  mounted  on 
the chips could be connected using 
metals  commonly  used  in  chip 
manufacturing  such  as  aluminium, 
titanium and titanium nitride.’

Belgian  project  partner  imec  has 
also  worked  to  optimise  the  pas-
sive  router  structures  in  silicon 
and  investigated  the  feasibility  for 
their  industrial  production.  Other 
project  partners  have  contributed 
their  expertise:  the  Lyon  Institute 
of  Nanotechnology  (INL)  in  France 
demonstrated a new type of ‘micro-
source’ for which you can control the 
output wavelength. INL also worked 
with STMicroelectronics to develop a 
way to simulate the optical network 
on  a  chip.  Finally  the  University  of 
Trento,  Italy,  designed  and  demon-
strated a new type of silicon router 
which  could  be  used  to  ‘switch’ 
photons  down  particular  optical 
pathways. 

these 

Bringing 
developments 
together,  the  Wadimos  team  has 
produced  a  network  of  eight  fully 
interconnected  silicon  blocks.  The 
researchers  have  demonstrated 
successful  multiplexing 
across 
these connections and the feasibility 
of optical ﬁ ltering to direct and con-
trol the passage of photons through 
the  silicon  interconnects  and  their 
subsequent detection. 

There  is  still  plenty  of  research  to 
do, however, especially to keep the 
lasers working in the high tempera-
ture environment of a chip’s surface. 
Mr  Van  Thourhout  says  that  they 
will need to ﬁ nd new materials that 
can cope with the heat. 

‘Nevertheless,  we  are  very  hopeful 
that  this  approach  will  prove  very 
successful  in  the  long  term,’  he 
asserts. ‘We are taking an explora-
tory  approach.’  He  explains  that 
other  research  groups,  especially 
those  in  the  US,  have  developed 
optical  interconnects  that  use  an 
‘oﬀ   chip’  laser  source;  the  laser 

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beam is split and redirected for each 
interconnect. 

‘These chips are more advanced and 
will  soon  be  used  in  supercomput-
ers,’  says  Mr  Van  Thourhout,  ‘and 
may  eventually  trickle  down  to 
mainstream  computing,  but  in  the 
long run it will be more eﬃ  cient to 
have  chips  with  integrated  laser 
sources.’ 

‘We  expect  the  Wadimos  intercon-
nects  to  allow  computer  process-
ing  power  to  continue  to  increase 
and  overcome  the  data  transmis-
sion bottleneck. Our goal is to make 
optical  interconnects  a  standard 
technology  that  will  support  the 
development of yet more powerful, 
smaller microprocessors capable of 
transferring  data  at  rates  of  100 
terabits per second.’ 

The Wadimos project received EUR 
2.3 million (of a total EUR 3.2 mil-
lion  project  budget)  in  research 
funding  under  the  EU’s  Seventh 
Framework  Programme  (FP7),  ICT 
(Next-Generation  Nanoelectronics 
Components 
Electronics 
and 
Integration) programme. 

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
imec, based in Ghent, Belgium.

1 

2 

 ‘Wavelength Division Multiplexed 
Photonic Layer on CMOS’.
 ‘Photonic Interconnect Layer on CMOS 
by Waferscale Integration’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
Cooperation under the theme ‘Information 
and communication technologies’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8361

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Advancing computer-aided design 

A  European  training  network  aims  to  upgrade  existing 
computer-aided  design  (CAD)  capabilities  by  devising  new 
algorithms  for  more  advanced  representation  of  surfaces 
and three-dimensional (3D) shapes.   

CAD  constitutes  an  integral  part 
of  the  design  and  development 
process of many products. Current 
technology  is  based  on  classical 
computational  geometry. 
and 
However, with the advent of infor-
mation technology (IT) processing, 

complex  geometrical  models  can 
be easily digitised, posing a chal-
lenge for existing CAD.

To  advance  performance  of 
CAD  systems,  the  EU  is  fund-
ing  researchers  under  the  SAGA1 

training  network.  The  main  aim 
is  to  advance  the  mathematical 
foundations  of  CAD  technology 
and oﬀ er the opportunity to learn 
geometric  modelling  both  from 
the industrial and the fundamen-
tal mathematics perspectives.

The  network  is  addressing  the 
issue  of  implicit  representation 
of shapes in CAD and focusing on 
geometric  computing  and  alge-
braic  tools.  The  aim  is  to  com-
bine real algebraic geometry and 
spline  surface  representation  in 
CAD so that it can be extended to 
the  theory  of  multivariate  alge-
braic  splines.  Partners  are  in  the 
process  of  developing  diﬀ erent 
techniques  for  dealing  with  and 
manipulating  procedural  curves 
and surfaces by using evaluation 
schemes.

Another  focus  of  the  project 
involves  the  algebraic  geometry 
for  CAD  applications.  To  meet 
the  challenges  of  representing 
various  surfaces  and  3D  vol-
umes,  as  well  as  isogeometric 

representations,  scientists  have 
adopted  exact  representations 
rather  than  approximate  solu-
tions.  They  have  also  addressed 
practical industrial problems such 
as  accurate  modelling  of  the 
structures  of  wood.  Algorithms 
have been devised to allow com-
puter-aided  manufacturing  and 
analysis of wooden products.

SAGA training is preparing young 
scientists  to  master  the  chal-
lenges  of  combining  CAD  and 
algebraic  geometry.  The  project 
results  are  expected  to  improve 
existing CAD technology and fur-
ther broaden its applications.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the  Sti(cid:5) elsen  Sintef,  based  in 
Oslo, Norway.

1 

 ‘Shapes, geometry and algebra’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
People (Marie-Curie actions).
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8473

Safer, more active and independent: 
the proven benefits of ‘Ambient assisted-living’ technology 

Loneliness from being disconnected from friends and family, fears about health and safety and worries about security are 
some of the many burdens of old age. EU-funded researchers are proving how technology can alleviate the problems.   

‘When I am less worried, I do not 
think about the fact that I'm alone’: 
the words of an older Swedish per-
son  who  participated  in  a  recent 
trial  of  European  technology  that 
supports active ageing.

Like  the  person  quoted  above  — 
who, according to carers, now talks 
about 
‘Ambient  assisted-living’ 
(AAL)  technology  ‘a  lot’  —  doz-
ens of older people across Europe 
have  recently  experienced  ﬁ rst-
hand  the  beneﬁ ts  of  ICT  applica-
tions  that  can  make  them  feel 
safer  and  more  secure,  monitor 
their health and help them stay in 
touch with family and friends. 

As part of the EU-funded Monami1 
project,  more  than  80  elderly 

people  living  alone  and  in  care 
homes  in  Spain,  Slovakia  and 
Sweden  tested  a  wide  range  of 
AAL applications. 

‘The user feels much better — he 
went  to  the  patio  to  plant  ﬂ ow-
ers  because  he  feels  safer  with 
the panic button… he is willing to 
engage  in  more  activities  due  to 
Monami,’ noted one carer involved 
in the Slovakian trial. 

‘It aﬀ ects her everyday life in terms 
of conﬁ dence and security. The user 
suﬀ ers from episodes of dizziness 
and now, with the Monami system, 
is  much  more  conﬁ dent  and  feels 
safer…  (more  conﬁ dent  especially 
in  regards  to  not  feeling 
alone),’ observed another. 

>

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30

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

IT AND TELECOMMUN I CATI ON S

The  trialled  services  use  sensors, 
actuators  and  smart  so(cid:5) ware 
as  part  of  an  ambient  intelli-
gent  environment  that  commu-
nicates  with  users  and  carers  via 
alarms, TVs, computers or mobile 
devices. The services were run on 
Monami’s  innovative  open  so(cid:5) -
ware platform, which allows bun-
dles  of  applications  to  be  easily 
installed and tailored to individual 
users’  needs,  overcoming 
the 
interoperability, customisation and 
scalability  issues  that  have  o(cid:5) en 
hampered the roll-out of AAL sys-
tems to date. 

such 

as 
With 
applications 
DoorSure,  WindowSure 
and 
DoorVue  older  trial  users  of  the 
Monami  system  were  automat-
ically alerted if their door or win-
dows were le(cid:5)  unlocked and they 
could check via a camera who was 
ringing the bell. With AppSure they 
were  reminded  if  they  had  le(cid:5)  
the  kettle  or  cooker  on.  And  with 
PresenceVUE  and  SUREZone  car-
ers  were  alerted  in  the  event  of 
an accident, a health problem or if 
something  in  the  home  appeared 
to be amiss. 

‘Europe’s  population  in  general  is 
getting  older,  and  one  side-eﬀ ect 
of that is that increasing numbers 
of  older  people  are  living  alone. 
They  don’t  have  their  families 
close  by  and  they  need  to  ﬁ nd 
ways  to  cope:  they  might  forget 
to  take  their  medicine,  turn  oﬀ  
the stove or suﬀ er an accident at 
home. They are in a risk zone that 
can be addressed by ICT,’ explains 
the  Monami 
Theresa  Skehan, 

project  manager  at  the  Swedish 
Institute  of  Assistive  Technology 
(SIAT). ‘Applications such as those 
deployed  in  the  Monami  trials 
give older people the support they 
need;  they  can  deal  with  safety 
issues  and  make  them  more 
comfortable.’

Safer... and more 
independent 
Indeed,  applications  focused  on 
increasing  safety  and  security 
were identiﬁ ed as the most bene-
ﬁ cial features of the Monami sys-
tem  by  the  vast  majority  of  trial 
users,  particularly  at  test  sites 
where  older  people  were 
liv-
ing  at  home  alone  rather  than  in 
assisted-living facilities. 

The  system  not  only  made  users 
‘feel’  safer,  it  also  made  them 
safer.  In  one  incident,  also  in 
Slovakia,  Monami’s  SMOKESure 
ﬁ re alarm service enabled the son 
of  an  elderly  trial  user  to  awake 
his  father  a(cid:5) er  he  had  fallen 
asleep while making tea, prevent-
ing a ﬁ re. 

Martin  Knapp,  the  director  of 
the  Personal  Social  Services 
Research  Unit  of  the  London 
School  of  Economics,  coordin-
ated  the  Monami  trials,  which 
involved  87  users:  31  at  a  care 
home  in  Spain,  25  people  living 
by themselves in Slovakia and 31 
in  Sweden,  who  were  also  living 
alone.  Users  ﬁ lled  in  question-
naires  about  how  they  thought 
the  technology  might  help  them 
before the start of the trials and 
were then reassessed a(cid:5) er using 

the  Monami  applications  for  two 
or three months. 

Knapp  notes  that  besides  the 
direct  beneﬁ ts  of  the  technology, 
such  as  making  older  people  feel 
safer and more secure, there were 
also many less tangible ones. 

‘Most  of  the  people  involved  in 
the  trials  had  not  had  much  ex-
posure  to  computers  or  smart 
phones  before  —  for  many  of 
them  it  was  a  real  revelation,’ 
Knapp  says.  'Though  in  some 
cases there was resistance to the 
technology  at  ﬁ rst,  a(cid:5) er  a  while, 
many  people  started  using  not 
only the Monami applications but 
became  interested  in  using  the 
devices  for  other  purposes  such 
as going on the Internet or com-
municating with family. One man 
in Sweden was really happy when 
he found he could receive photos 
on his phone of his grandchildren 
who  live  in  another  part  of  the 
country.’

In Slovakia, for example, one carer 
reported that an older woman she 
was taking care of ‘learnt how to 
use Skype, and now uses it regu-
larly and independently. She didn’t 
even have an interest before.’

It  also  gave  users  something 
new  to  focus  on  and  become 
involved  with:  ‘The  user  is  occu-
pied with the technology and not 
so  oriented  towards  his  health 
problems.  They  can  talk  about 
something  else  since  Monami 
was  installed,’  another  Slovakian 
carer noted. 

For  their  part,  carers  were  also 
highly  appreciative  of  the  bene-
ﬁ ts  of  the  technology,  noting, 
among  other  things,  that  it  gives 
them  greater  peace  of  mind  that 
the  people  they  are  looking  a(cid:5) er 
are ok and that they can be more 
than 
active  and 
before. 

independent 

‘The carer feels freer when she is 
not taking care of the user. She is 
less  worried  and  more  relaxed,’ 
evaluators  of  the  Slovakian  trial 
noted. They added: ‘One care staﬀ  
would  recommend  the  MonAMI 
system “to all elderly — everyone 
over 70 should have the possibility 
to have such a system”.’

Since  the  project  ended  in  May 
2011,  the  Monami  partners  have 
gone  on  to  form  part  of  the  AAL 
Open Association ( AALOA), an alli-
ance of more than 40 AAL-focused 
European research projects set up 
to help create an open market for 
AAL technologies. 

Source: 

Theresa 
Information 
Institute  of 
Skehan,  Swedish 
Assistive  Technology 
(SIAT),  & 
Martin  Knapp,  director  of  the 
Personal Social Services Research 
Unit  of  the  London  School  of 
Economics

1 

 ‘Mainstreaming on ambient 
intelligence’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
Cooperation under the theme ‘Information 
and communication technologies’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7989

Phase-sensitive optical data transmission: a new frontier 

Fibre-optic cables are becoming the backbone of the Internet, from the main trunk lines between cities, countries and continents 
to the network of cables running from telephone central offices to individual homes and mobile phone base stations. A pioneering 
approach to data transmission, supported by EU funding, promises to increase the capacity, range and efficiency of fibre-optic 
networks.    

Traditionally,  commercial  ﬁ bre-optic 
communications  have 
relied  on 
encoding  the  data  in  the  amplitude 
of a light beam (varying the intensity 
of  the  light  to  transmit  information). 
Placing devices called ‘Erbium-doped 
ﬁ bre  ampliﬁ ers’  at  intervals  along 
the  ﬁ bre  to  periodically  boost  signal 
strength overcomes propagation loss, 

but provides a relatively ineﬃ  cient use 
of ﬁ bre potential. 

Using  the  phase,  rather  than  ampli-
tude, of a light beam to encode data 
can  potentially  oﬀ er  exponential 
increase  in  the  information  carrying 
capacity.  But  the  extent  of  the  im-
provement possible is limited: due to 

noise added during optical ampliﬁ ca-
tion and cross-talk between the diﬀ er-
ent  wavelength  channels  caused  by 
non-linear optical interactions. 

‘Fibre-optic  cable  has  huge  data 
carrying  capability  and  commercial 
systems still have orders of magnitude 
excess capacity, but in recent years we 

have started to hit the practical limits 
in  laboratory  research  using  existing 
transmission techniques and conven-
tional  optical  ampliﬁ er  technology,’ 
explains  Professor  David  Richardson, 
Deputy Director of the Optoelectronics 
Research  Centre 
the 
University  of  Southampton  in  the 
United Kingdom. 

(ORC)  of 

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31

IT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

‘Phase-sensitive  ampliﬁ cation’  (PSA) 
was  identiﬁ ed  theoretically  as  long 
ago  as  the  1960s  as  a  potential 
means  to  amplify  optical  signals 
without  adding  noise.  More  recently 
it  was  demonstrated  that  it  oﬀ ered 
a means to remove phase noise (and 
to  a  lesser  extent  amplitude  noise) 
from optical signals degraded during 
transmission — a function known as 
‘optical regeneration.’

Realising that improvements in optical 
component technology meant that a 
practical PSA might now be possible, 
a  team  of  researchers  from  eight 
partner organisations in seven coun-
tries  launched  the  Phasors1  project. 
Supported by EUR 2.7 million in fund-
ing  from  the  European  Commission, 
their work has helped phase-sensitive 
ﬁ bre  ampliﬁ ers  make  the  leap  from 
theoretical  curiosities  to  practical 
devices. 

Cutting noise and channel 
cross-talk 
‘We knew that PSA should allow very 
low noise ampliﬁ cation as well as the 
removal of phase noise within optical 
communication  systems,  but  there 
were  big  technological  challenges 
ahead of us,’ Prof Richardson, the sci-
entiﬁ c  coordinator  of  Phasors,  says. 
‘We successfully showed that PSA is 
possible,  in  a  practical  setting,  and 
demonstrated  many  of  its  beneﬁ cial 
noise reduction properties along with 
the associated enhancements in net-
work performance.’

Focusing  on  developing  the  technol-
ogy for 40 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) 
broadband core networks, the Phasors 
team demonstrated two main devices 
—  a  phase  sensitive  ampliﬁ er  and 
an  optical  regenerator  for  phase-
encoded  signals  —  that  showed 
dramatic  reductions  in  transmission 
system noise. 

Phase  noise  —  rapid,  short-term, 
random  ﬂ uctuations  in  the  phase  of 
a signal — is caused by a variety of 
processes,  including  quantum  noise 
added  in  the  ampliﬁ cation  process, 
and signals on diﬀ erent wavelengths 
interacting  with  each  other  in  the 
same  transmission  ﬁ bre.  It  degrades 
signal  ﬁ delity  and  impedes  network 
performance. 

Unlike  traditional  ampliﬁ ers  which 
are  phase-insensitive,  the  Phasors 
ampliﬁ er  is  phase-sensitive  and  was 
shown  to  reduce  the  noise  ﬁ gure  to 
just above 1 dB. That compares with 

traditional erbium-doped ﬁ bre ampli-
ﬁ ers which have a noise ﬁ gure of at 
least 3 dB, and typically closer to 5 dB. 

‘Achieving noiseless optical ampliﬁ ca-
tion  is  the  ultimate  dream  in  optical 
ampliﬁ er  research,’  Prof  Richardson 
notes.  ‘The  Phasors  ampliﬁ ers  cer-
tainly represent a major step in that 
direction.’

The Phasors optical regeneration sub-
system  eliminates  interference  for 
high-speed 
binary-phase-encoded 
signals.  Whereas  previous  signal 
regeneration  devices  convert  the 
optical signal into an electronic signal, 
slowing  data  transmission  rates,  the 
Phasors  device  directly  reduces  both 
phase-noise  and  amplitude-noise 
build-up, all within the optical domain. 

The  project  also  demonstrated  the 
possibility of scaling the basic regen-
eration approach to allow the regener-
ation of signals with far higher levels 
of  phase  encoding  than  just  binary, 
for example showing regeneration of 
‘Quadrature  (four-level)  phase-shi(cid:5)  
keying’ (QPSK) for the ﬁ rst time. 

‘When we started Phasors we set out 
to show what is and isn’t possible with 
all-optical  signal  processing  and  the 
ampliﬁ cation  of  phase-encoded  sig-
nals. These devices demonstrate that 
the  technology  does  work,  not  just 
in  theory  but  in  practice,  and  enable 
some very useful and enabling func-
tionality,’ Prof Richardson explains. 

From research to 
commercial applications 
With many researchers in Europe, the 
United States and elsewhere following 
up the work of the Phasors team, the 
researchers’ achievements, in the long 
term,  promise  to  enable  signiﬁ cant 
improvements in the speed, capacity, 
range  and  eﬃ  ciency  of  ﬁ bre-optic 
networks.  In  addition,  the  technol-
ogy  has  important  applications  in  a 
range of other ﬁ elds such as optical 
test  and  measurement,  sensing,  and 
metrology. 

Members  of  the  Phasors  consortium 
are  developing  commercial  devices 
and technologies on the back of the 
signiﬁ cant advances made within the 
project.  Components,  including  spe-
cialty optical ﬁ bres and high perform-
ance  lasers,  are  already  generating 
signiﬁ cant  sales.  Swedish  partner 
EXFO, a global telecom test and ser-
vice assurance solutions provider, has 
developed  and  is  selling  a  test  and 

k
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measurement  device  for  character-
ising  complex  phase  and  amplitude 
encoded signals based on their work 
within the project. 

‘Although the Phasors project is now 
over,  its  impact  is  certain  to  be  felt 
for a long time into the future,’ Prof 
Richardson  explains.  ‘High  perform-
ance  components  and  measurement 
systems  are  already  on  the  market 
and  research  interest  in  the  area  of 
PSA  technology  in  telecommunica-
tions and adjacent application areas is 
increasing. In Europe alone there are a 
number of nationally funded projects 
continuing on from our research, and 
there are several other major projects 
starting around the world.’

‘Phasors has also generated a lot of 
interest  academically,’  he  continues. 
‘A  signiﬁ cant  number  of  high  proﬁ le 
papers2, 3 have been published in lead-
ing scientiﬁ c journals such as “Nature 
Photonics”, and we’ve presented pres-
tigious  papers  at  major  international 
conferences,  including  most  recently 
at  the  European  Conference  on 
Optical Communications (ECOC 2011) 

held 
in  Geneva  Switzerland  and 
the  Optical  Fiber  Communications 
Conference (OFC 2012) in the United 
States where a substantial number of 
papers were presented on phase sen-
sitive optical signal processing.’

The  project  was  coordinated  by  the 
Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) 
at  the  University  of  Southampton  in 
the United Kingdom.

1 

2 

3 

 ‘Phase Sensitive Amplifier Systems 
and Optical Regenerators and their 
applications’.
 ‘All-optical phase and amplitude 
regenerator for next-generation 
telecommunications systems’, Nature 
Photonics 4, 690–695, 2010.
 ‘Multilevel quantization of optical 
phase in a novel coherent parametric 
mixer architecture’, Nature Photonics 
5, 748–752, 2011.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
Cooperation under the theme ‘Information 
and communication technologies’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8486

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

IT AND TELECOMMUN I CATI ON S

Enhanced metals separation for electronics recycling

Electrical equipment includes a huge range of products from 
simple hair dryers to complex computers and mobile phones. 
EU-funded  researchers  applied  advanced  spectral  methods 
to enhance effective separation and recyclation of equipment 
with  important  benefits  for  business,  consumers  and  the 
environment.

All objects reﬂ ect, absorb or emit 
electromagnetic  (EM)  radiation 
based  on  their  speciﬁ c  compos-
itions.  Multi-  and  hyper-spectral 
imagers  evaluate  the  spectral 
‘ﬁ ngerprint’ of materials enabling 
identiﬁ cation  of 
components. 
European  researchers  set  out 
to  employ  spectral  technology 
for  the  separation  of  metals  in 
‘Waste  from  electric  and  elec-
tronic equipment’ (WEEE).

Non-ferrous  metals  such  as  alu-
minium,  copper  and  lead  account 
for  approximately  13 %  of  total 
WEEE  weight.  Current  recycling 
technology  produces  waste  frac-
tions of small size that still contain 
signiﬁ cant  quantities  of  non-fer-
rous  metals  and  stainless  steel, 
decreasing the value of the scrap 
and thus the price at which it can 
be sold by the recycling small and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The  EU-funded  Sormen1  project 
focused on overcoming shortcom-
ings  of  current  separation  tech-
nology  that  is  primarily  manual 
and  thus  labour  and  time  inten-
sive as well as incapable of pro-
ducing pure recycled materials.

Researchers  developed  a  clas-
for  use 
siﬁ cation  algorithm, 
with  multi-  and  hyper-spectral 
analysis,  capable  of  perfectly 
separating  metals  in  a  sample. 
Such classiﬁ cation was previously 
unattainable  manually  for  metal 

pieces of similar shape, size and 
colour  in  the  visible  spectrum, 
such as is the case with alumin-
ium and stainless steel.

The  algorithm  was 
integrated 
with  a  camera,  an  illumination 
module,  a  feeder-transportation-
separation module and a control-
ler  producing  a  fully  automated 
system for separation of non-fer-
rous  metals  from  WEEE,  as  well 
as  the  capability  of  separating 
aluminium  from  stainless  steel 
previously  impossible  with  con-
ventional methods.

Sormen  project  researchers  thus 
delivered an automated system for 
separation of metals in WEEE. The 
system  has  the  potential  to  sig-
niﬁ cantly increase the competitive-
ness  of  European  recycling  SMEs 
via  reduction  in  processing  and 
labour  time  as  well  as  enhance-
ment in purity of ﬁ nal product, en-
abling  resale  at  a  higher  price.  In 
addition,  commercialisation  of  the 

method  could  help  reduce  costs 
associated  with  destruction,  dis-
posal and land ﬁ lling, and contrib-
ute  to  sustainability  of  the  huge 
worldwide  electric  and  electronic 
components sector.

The project was coordinated by the 
Fundacion  Robotiker  in  Zamudio, 
Spain.

1 

 ‘Innovative separation method non-
Ferrous metal waste from electric and 
electronic equipment WEEE based on 
multi and hyper spectral Identification’.

Funded under the FP6 programme ‘SME 
activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8436

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

33

INDUSTRIA L TECH NOLOGIES

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 Interview: the EU’s initiatives on 
‘Factories of the Future’

The public-private partnership (PPP) for ‘Factories of the Future’ (FoF) aims ‘to help EU manufacturing enterprises, in particular SMEs, 
to adapt to global competitive pressures by improving the technological base of EU manufacturing across a broad range of sectors.’

The  research  programme  is  ﬁ nanced  jointly 
by  industry  and  the  European  Commission 
under the Seventh Framework Programme for 
Research  (FP7)  and  issues  coordinated  calls 
for  research  proposals  every  July.  It  is  one 
of  the  three  PPPs  the  European  Commission 
announced in November 2008 — intended to 
develop clean technologies for cars, construc-
tion  and  manufacturing  —  endorsed  by  the 
European Council in December 2008.

The REFORM1 project, funded by the ‘Factories 
of  the  Future’  PPP,  is  developing  cleaner  and 
more  resource-eﬃ  cient  manufacturing  pro-
cesses for composite components — for use in 
diﬀ erent  industrial  sectors,  such  as  transport, 
energy  and  construction.  The  project  focuses 
on ‘Fibre-reinforced polymer’ (FRP) composites, 
which can reduce weight and allow for innova-
tive designs that have a lighter energy footprint 
over the course of the service-life of products 
they are used in. 

In order to move to a total life-cycle approach, 
one  that  includes  the  manufacturing  process 
and  the  product’s  end-of-life  reuse,  recycling 
or  disposal,  REFORM  is  working  to  improve 
the  manufacturing  of  FRP  components.  The 
team  are  developing  environmentally-friendly 
process  technologies  for  forming,  machining 

(including cutting and trimming), assembly and 
recycling, as well methods for integrating these 
technologies into the eco-factory of the future.

ensure that it meets industrial needs and pro-
duces practical results.  

In  order  to  learn  more,  research*eu  magazine 
asked  Richard  Scaife,  project  manager  for 
REFORM  at  the  University  of  Sheﬃ  eld  in  the 
United Kingdom, to explain.

What are the main themes and 
objectives of the REFORM project? 
The main theme of REFORM is green production 
of composites components.  We are looking at 
every phase of the manufacturing process and 
trying to reduce the environmental impact.  This 
means that the project has a very wide range 
and focuses on issues from lay-up and curing 
to  cutting,  assembly  and  handling,  as  well  as 
recycling and later re-use of the recycled ﬁ bres.  
Our aim is to contribute to the EU Ecolabel for 
composites production.

What is new or innovative about the 
project and the way it is addressing 
these issues?
REFORM  takes  into  account  the  whole  life-
cycle of composites production.  We are using 
real industrial parts from a number of sectors 
—  aerospace,  automotive,  civil  engineering 
and  maritime  —  to  focus  the  research  and 

We are not just looking at measuring the cur-
rent  environmental  impact,  but  in  improving 
every part of the process and creating a busi-
ness case for producers to show the beneﬁ ts 
of  environmentally-friendly  production.  The 
interesting thing about REFORM is that it con-
siders the whole life-cycle of single parts, so 
we  will  measure  the  impact  of  every  aspect 
of the process chain and try to reduce it.  This 
will ensure that improvements in one area of 
the  chain  don’t  lead  to  higher  impacts  up  or 
downstream.

What first drew you to research in 
this area?
The  pressure  on  everyone  to  reduce  energy 
use,  particularly  in  the  transport  sector,  is 
pushing  the  use  of  composites,  which  are 
increasingly  being  used  in  many  applications 
due to their high strength to weight ratio.  This 
allows  them  to  replace  metal  alloys  in  many 
areas,  where  low-weight  high-strength  prod-
ucts are needed.  

Currently  the  manufacturing  process  is  not 
very green and there is an issue with re-
cycling and reclaiming ﬁ bres.  These are 

>

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

INDUSTRIAL  TE CHN O LO GI E S

usually  chopped  up  during  the  recovery  pro-
cess, which means they can’t be used for large 
parts  —  such  as  those  in  civil  engineering 
applications — which require long, virgin ﬁ bres 
to ensure part quality.  It’s an exciting area in 
which to work, which is going to become a lot 
more important in the near future.

What are the advantages of 
participating in an EU PPP? 
The  partnership  has  given  the  end-users  the 
opportunity to be involved in the project, which 
brings valuable information to the consortium.  
It  also  allows  us  to  work  with  experts  in  the 
ﬁ eld from across Europe and gives us a wider 
base through which to disseminate our results.  

By their nature, PPPs are very close to market, 
which is an advantage for us as it means that 
the beneﬁ ts from the project will very quickly 
be  seen  in  industry.    The  PPP  also  gives  us 
access  to  a  number  of  dissemination  chan-
nels  and  to  EU  support,  such  as  links  to  the 
standardisation bodies — which are very help-
ful  when  trying  to  create  new  best-practice 
guidelines.

Richard Scaife, © REFORM Project

What are some of the difficulties 
you have encountered?
We  are  a  very  young  project,  as  we  only 
started six months ago, so we haven’t encoun-
tered  any  real  diﬃ  culties.  A  large  challenge 
is  to  choose  representative  case-study  parts 
that will present a real research problem, and 
allow a broad scope for research.  

As  with  any  project,  it  can  be  hard  to  get 
accurate  data  where  there  are  issues  of 
commercial  conﬁ dentiality,  or  where  the  en-
vironmental  impact  will  vary  with  the  part 
made and parameters used, so it’s important 
to  measure  impacts  ourselves,  rather  than 
relying on aggregate data from machine tool 
manufacturers.  

Problems  can  also  arise  when  considering 
what  to  measure,  so  it’s  important  to  work 
closely with other projects to ensure compati-
bility and correlation of results.

How do you go about solving them?
The case study parts will be carefully chosen 
to  make  sure  they  represent  real  challenges 
for  the  researchers,  and  that  improvements 
can be made along the manufacturing chain.  
Partners  will  measure  the  current  impact 
of  production,  in  order  to  provide  a  baseline 
against which REFORM beneﬁ ts can be quanti-
ﬁ ed at the end of the project.  We have also 
made links to other projects to make sure that 
the  methodologies  used  in  the  project  meet 
all existing standards and are compatible with 
their results.

Are there any results from the 
research so far?
As we have only just started, we do not have 
many results yet.  We have carried out some 
preliminary  experiments  on  cutting  of  com-
posites  and  have  a  paper  out  at  the  2012 
‘International  conference  on  water  jetting’  in 
Ottowa, Canada in September. 

We have also developed some models for the 
water-jet cutting of straight cuts which predict 
the taper, jet lag and cutting quality, based on 
the  ‘machinability’  of  the  material,  the  thick-
ness of the part and other process parameters.   

We  have  already  produced  a  dra(cid:5)   handbook 
of appropriate joining and assembly methods, 
which will be reﬁ ned in the next stages of the 
project.  We are also investigating easy solu-
tions  for  projecting  instructions  during  hand 
-layup, which can be implemented in the short 
term by partner companies.

What are the next steps of the 
project, or next topics for your 
research?
The  next  steps  in  our  work  are  to  carry  out 
‘Gap  analysis’  on  one  of  the  case  studies  so 
we can see where it would be best to focus our 
eﬀ orts.  This  will  allow  us  to  fully  investigate 
the  most  appropriate  technologies  for  laying 
up, machining, joining and recycling composite 
parts.  

We  are  also  liaising  with  the  EU  on  the  best 
way of contributing to the Ecolabel, and inves-
tigating promising recycling methodologies.

1 

 ‘Resource-Efficient Factory Of Recyclable Manufacturing 
composite components’.

For further information:
For more on the project, please consult the REFORM project 
website: 
http://www.shef.ac.uk/ 
For more on the EU Ecolabel, please see: http://ec.europa.eu/
environment/ecolabel/ 

New method to clean and treat polluted water for extraction 
of chemicals

Scientists in Poland have discovered an easy way to clean and 
treat polluted water for the extraction of valuable chemicals, 
such as those used in drug production. There is no need for 
the  use  of  plants  or  factories;  only  the  Sun  and  a  ‘magic’ 
powder are required.

Researchers  from  the  Institute 
of  Physical  Chemistry  of  the 
Polish  Academy  of  Sciences 
(IPC  PAS)  in  Warsaw  say  this 
almost  alchemical 
transform-
is  made  possible  by 
ation 

photocatalysts.  The  study,  pres-
ented  in  the  journal  Bioresource 
Technology,  was  funded  in  part 
by  the  PHOTOBIO23JC1    project, 
which  is  backed  with  a  Marie-
Curie  International  Reintegration 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

35

INDUSTRIA L TECH NOLOGIES

grant  worth  EUR  100 000  under 
the  EU’s  Seventh  Framework 
Programme (FP7).

There  are  areas  of  our  planet 
where water is highly polluted by 
organic chemicals from industrial 
waste. Thanks to the work carried 
out by the Polish team, we know 
that the biomass can be success-
fully  transformed  into  chemicals 
and fuel. Photocatalysts facilitate 
the  transformation  of  polluted 
water  into  clean  water.  Another 
advantage 
is  that  specialised 
facilities  are  not  needed,  as  the 
transformation occurs under con-
ditions that are commonly found 
in nature.

Typically,  catalysts  support  or 
reactions, 
accelerate  chemical 
and  recover  once  the  reaction  is 
ﬁ nished. Catalysts are o(cid:5) en acti-
vated  only  at  high  temperatures 
and pressures.

‘Photocatalysts studied by us dif-
fer  in  many  respects  from  trad-
itional  catalysts,’  says  Dr  Juan 

Carlos  Colmenares  from  the  IPC 
PAS. ‘They are activated by light, 
and the temperature has no sig-
niﬁ cant eﬀ ect here.’

several  hours,  I  get  clean  water 
plus  chemicals 
that  can  be 
used  to  make  useful  things,  for 
instance drugs.’

With support from the photocata-
lysts, the key reactions studied by 
the project occur with exposure to 
the  sun’s  rays,  at  temperatures 
of around 30° Celsius and in nor-
mal atmospheric pressure. These 
conditions,  say  the  researchers, 
occur  naturally  in  many  equato-
rial countries all year round.

The  photocatalysts  are  solids 
based  on  titanium  dioxide,  TiO2. 
The  catalysed  reaction  occurs 
in 
liquids  containing  organic 
pollutants.  Once  the  reaction  is 
completed,  the  catalyst  can  be 
isolated  almost  without  losses 
and used again, according to the 
team.

‘My  work  somewhat  resembles 
alchemy,’  Dr  Colmenares  com-
ments.  ‘I  take  a  “magic”  pow-
der,  pour  it  into  polluted  water, 
stir  and  expose  to  the  Sun.  A(cid:5) er 

Since  the  1960s,  researchers 
around  the  world  have  been 
investigating  the  photochemical 
degradation  of  pollutants,  o(cid:5) en 
using 
(UV) 
intense  ultraviolet 
irradiation.

The  work  conducted  by  the  IPC 
PAS  team  targeted  a  reaction 
that  can  occur  without  the  use 
of  specialised  equipment.  They 
also  targeted  processes  for  the 
degradation of biomass that stop 
at  a  precisely  deﬁ ned  stage.  The 
researchers  generated  carbox-
ylic  acids  through  titania-based 
photocatalysis.  These  acids  then 
have  uses  for  the  pharmaceut-
ical  and  food  industries,  among 
others.

Says  Dr  Colmenares:  ‘In  labora-
tory  conditions,  the  reactions  of 
the  biomass  with  participation 
of  photocatalysts  are  already 

promising.  In  this  year  we  are 
going to attempt the ﬁ rst tests in 
the  pilot  biochemical  photoreac-
tors at the University of Cordoba, 
Spain.  The  reactions  will  occur 
there  in  liquids  with  volumes 
measured in tens of litres.’

the 

The  project  was  coordinated 
by 
Institute  of  Physical 
Chemistry of the Polish Academy 
of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Poland.

1 

 ‘Synthesis of novel nanostructured 
metal-supported photocatalysts: 
characterization and promising 
applications in the production of high 
value chemicals from lignocellulosic 
biomass’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
‘People’ (Marie-Curie actions).
Promoted through the Research 
Information Centre.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre > 
search > 24013

Enhancing Europe’s mechatronics paradigm 

Mechatronics  combines  mechanical,  electronic,  computer, 
software, control, and systems design engineering to design and 
manufacture  useful  products.  The  approach  combines  various 
engineering disciplines so as to improve functionality.

research 

The Eumecha-pro1 project worked to 
improve prospects for the European 
mechatronics 
commu-
nity  by  envisioning  production  sys-
tems  for  factories  of  the  future. 
The  EU-funded  project  approached 
its  goal  using  a  commonly  agreed 
strategy and through strong cooper-
ation with industry.

activities 
Eumecha-pro 
Various 
resulted  in  the  development  of 
industry  roadmaps  and  research 
roadmaps. 
roadmaps, 
Industry 
established  for  various  production 
equipment  sectors,  oﬀ er  a  struc-
tured  view  of  future  industrial  ex-
pectations.  Emerging  technologies 
and  integrated  design  approaches 
were linked to industry requirements 
and highlight novel industrial oppor-
tunities.  Research  roadmaps  have 
industrial targets orienting research 
towards market needs and provide a 

common framework for the eﬃ  cient 
coordination  of  Europe’s  research 
resources.

design 

Other  project  eﬀ orts  concentrated 
on  promoting  the  practice  of  the 
mechatronics 
paradigm 
in  industry.  Team  members  iden-
tiﬁ ed best practices of mechatronic 
then  pro-
design,  which  were 
industry-oriented 
moted 
workshops.

through 

A better educational framework was 
investigated  so  that  manufacturing 
industries  can  beneﬁ t  from  the 
excellence  of  young  mechatronic 
engineers. This entailed the analysis 
of  mechatronics  education  require-
ments and approaches, and resulted 
in  a  European  vision  on  how  to 
improve  related  education  eﬀ orts 
while  at  the  same  time  making 
them more uniform across Europe.

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Eumecha-pro  project  members 
also  managed  to  improve  the  co-
ordination of various research and 
development funding mechanisms. 
This was achieved by entering pro-
ject outcomes into the ‘Eureka fac-
tory’  platform  and  the  European 
Commission’s  Manufuture 
initia-
tive.  Information  was  exchanged, 
shared  and  made  accessible 
through  the  Internet,  publications 
and  a  series  of  small  committee 
network meetings.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Agoria ASBL, based in Belgium.

1 

 ‘European mechatronics for a new 
generation of production systems’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, 
knowledge-based multifunctional 
materials and new production processes 
and devices’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7021

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36

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

INDUSTRIAL  TE CHN O LO GI E S

Improved industrial robots are more versatile

An  EU-funded  project  successfully  applied  new  technology 
to  improve  the  performance  of  robots  in  the  workplace. 
This marks a step forward in industrial robot design.

advanced 

technology. 

The  goal  of  the  Arﬂ ex1  project 
was to improve industrial robots 
through  application  of  the  lat-
est 
Researchers 
control 
employed 
theory,  sensors  and  electronic 
embedded  systems  to  enhance 
robot  performance  in  industry, 
as well as extend it to small and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) 
and new applications.

Project  partners  began  with 
existing  state-of-the-art  indus-
trial robots, improving their ﬂ exi-
bility, adaptability and the range 
of  tasks  they  could  carry  out  on 
the  factory  ﬂ oor.  This  was  done 

by introducing a new sensor sys-
tem that enabled a higher level of 
control to be achieved by gener-
ating a correcting command. The 
command  can  be  added  to  the 
reference  signal  from  the  user 
interface  in  order  to  obtain  the 
expected level of improvement in 
the robot’s performance.

Research conducted by the Arﬂ ex 
consortium  stands  to  have  a 
signiﬁ cant  impact  on  the  indus-
trial  robot  sector,  which  can  be 
extended  to  all  manufacturing 
systems.  This  will  be  achieved 
through  the  intimate  integration 
of  mechanical  engineering  with 

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electronics,  by  embedding  intel-
ligent sensors and control theory 
into the design of advanced so(cid:5) -
ware and hardware technologies.

The success of the Arﬂ ex project 
will also enable European manu-
facturers  of  industrial  robots  to 
compete  more  eﬀ ectively  in  the 
world market.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
EICAS Automazione S.p.A. in Italy.

1 

 ‘Adaptive robots for flexible 
manufacturing systems’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Information society technologies’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7224

Better coordination for micro- and nano-manufacturing 

‘Micro-nano-manufacturing  technologies’  (MNMTs)  are  emerging  at  an  accelerated  rate 
requiring coordination of research activities in a way that links organisations and initiatives 
on national and international levels, disseminates and promotes results, and facilitates their 
rapid passage from laboratory to industry. EU-funded researchers have established a related 
technology platform and research agenda that promises to do just that.  

EU-funded researchers developed 
the  Microsapient1  project  to  cre-
ate and implement a focused and 
sustainable European-wide infra-
structure  and  roadmap  linking 
MNMTs in support of a number of 
critical EU sectors.

The consortium sought to broaden 
the range of micro-systems-based 
products,  and  enhance  their  cap-
abilities  with  new  materials  and 
processes compatible with current 
integrated  circuit-based  industrial 
fabrication methods.

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i

A  thorough  analysis  of  emerg-
ing  projects,  and  gaps  prevent-
ing  their  industrial  integration, 
enabled  three  critical  and  last-
ing  contributions  to  the  co-
ordination  of  European  MNMT 
projects.  First,  the  project  con-
sortium  formed  the  ‘Micro-  and 
(MINAM) 
nano-manufacturing’ 
European  Technology  Platform 
(ETP).  Second,  it  created  the 
associated  Strategic  Research 
Agenda 
(SRA)  consisting  of 
manufacturing  roadmaps  sub-
sequently  used 
to  formulate 
Seventh  Framework  Programme 
(FP7) calls for proposals. Finally, 
the  Microsapient  project  team 
created  the  project  website  and 
published  a  project  newsletter 
both aligned with MINAM.

In  addition  to  the  above,  numer-
ous  promotional  activities  were 
undertaken  including  presenta-
tions at key European, Asian and 
North American forums.

The  Microsapient  project  made 
signiﬁ cant  progress 
in  estab-
lishing  coordination  and  con-
solidation  entities  for  European 
micro-  and  nano-manufacturing 
research and technology develop-
ment  (RTD)  as  well  as  providing 
roadmaps  for  related  strategic 
research  plans.  Better  coordin-
ation  of  MNMT  projects  should 
help  facilitate  an  expansion  of 
products 
micro-systems-based 
and  capabilities  and  position  the 
EU as a leader in MNMT.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
the University of Nottingham, the 
United Kingdom.

1 

 ‘Synergetic process integration for 
efficient micro and nano manufacture’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, 
knowledge-based multifunctional 
materials and new production processes 
and devices’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8310

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

37

INDUSTRIA L TECH NOLOGIES

Painting goes high-tech 

An eco-friendly robotic painting system can save on paint and speed up production considerably.

Europe 
itself 
is  diﬀ erentiating 
on  the  world  market  by  oﬀ ering 
more  competitive,  scalable  and 
user-friendly  solutions  for  diﬀ er-
ent sectors of industry and manu-
facturing.  Automatic  painting 
systems can be improved on and 
robotised  to  oﬀ er  quicker,  better 
production methods.

The EU-funded Eco2Painter1 pro-
ject developed new technology for 
self-programming painting robots 
that are capable of learning. The 
technology  can  enable  eco-eﬃ  -
cient,  high-quality  painting  up  to 
100 times more quickly than con-
ventional  methods  and  for  much 
smaller batches if needed.

The  technology  is  based  on  sen-
sors  used  to  closely  study  and 
deconstruct  the  object  to  be 
painted.  The  project  team  devel-
oped a prototype robotic painting 
system  that  programmes  itself 
by  using  a  3D  ‘what  we  see  is 
what  we  paint’  approach.  The 
system  oﬀ ers  minimal  down-
times  and  products  changes, 
reducing  the  amount  of  paint 
used  and  increasing  quality.  This 
is  enhanced  by  improved  sched-
uling and the ability to deal with 
complex  surface  geometries  and 
critical regions.

control 

In  more  speciﬁ c  terms,  the  new 
technology 
the 
can 
smoothness of the paint, as well 
as motion and paint strokes. Thus, 
it  considerably  minimises  un-
necessary strokes and overspray. 

There is even the ability to specify 
paint direction for certain parts.

Project  results  are  expected  to 
bring  an  eco-friendly  and  rapid 
method  of  painting  for  use  by 
industry. This will empower small 
and  medium-sized  enterprises 
(SMEs) to respond better to mar-
ket  needs  and  become  more 
competitive.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Profactor GmbH, in Austria.

1 

 ‘Economical and ecological high 
quality painting at highly scalable 
batch sizes’.

Funded under the FP6 programme ‘SME 
activities’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 7077

Making smaller better with nano-manufacturing 

‘Micro- and nano-manufacturing’ is a relatively new term that 
does not have a standard definition. Most generally, it refers 
to manufacturing processes or products that have to do with 
objects on the scale of one micron (1 one millionth of a metre) 
or measured in nanometres (one billionth of a metre, on the 
scale of atoms and molecules).

Although  many  industries  have 
been making parts on the scale of 
microns for some time, the focus 
is  increasingly  on  smaller  and 
smaller  components  with  more 
and more capabilities, particularly 
in  the  medical  and  electronics 
industries.

Ipmman1 

The 
project  was 
designed  to  provide  a  strategic 
roadmap  for  European  micro- 
and  nano-manufacturing.  The 
research  group  focused  on  all 
application 
possibilities  with 
potential  industrial  added  value. 
In  addition, 
concluded 
that  development  of  this  sec-
tor  requires  totally  new  manu-
facturing  methods,  not  simply 
adaptation  of  macro-manufac-
turing techniques.

they 

the 

Finally, 
researchers  col-
laborated  closely  with  industrial 
end-users  to  ensure  commercial 
relevance  of  conclusions  as  well 
as  provide  justiﬁ cation  for  rec-
ommendations  to  the  European 
Commission.

In  summary,  the  Ipmman  pro-
ject  successfully  deﬁ ned  a  stra-
tegic  roadmap  for  the  European 
manufacturing  sector  regarding 
micro-  and  nano-manufacturing. 
The  results  will  be  presented  to 
the  European  Commission  with 
important  implications  for  future 
research and technology develop-
ment in this very important tech-
nology sector.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Profactor GmbH, in Austria.

1 

 ‘Improvement of industrial production 
integrating macro-, micro- and 
nanotechnologies for more flexible 
and efficient manufacturing’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, 
knowledge-based multifunctional 
materials and new production processes 
and devices’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8049

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38

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 —June 2012

INDUSTRIAL  TE CHN O LO GI E S

Mimicking marine organisms to design novel materials  

A European initiative is developing polymers inspired by marine 
organisms for various consumer and industrial applications.

Synthesis  of  biomimetic  ma-
terials,  inspired  by  various  bio-
logical  systems,  constitutes  a 
popular research ﬁ eld with great 
applicability. In line with this, the 
project  Blue4glue1  is  studying 
bio-adhesives  used  by  marine 
organisms  and  which  have  the 
ability to work in the presence of 
water.

bond  with  various  surfaces. 
These  peptides  mimic  the  eﬃ  -
cient  water-resistant  adhesive 
mechanisms of the substrates of 
marine organisms. They are sub-
sequently connected to ‘Polyvinyl 
chloride’  (PVC),  PEG  and  sil-
icon  polymers  and  the  resulting 
biopolymers  are  tested  for  their 
interaction with hard surfaces.

The EU-funded Blue4glue project 
is  a  partnership  between  two 
European  academic  institutions 
and  Procter  and  Gamble  (P&G) 
technical  centres.  The  plan  is 
to  either  develop  bio-adhesive 
compounds with synthetic meth-
ods or extract them from natural 
marine organisms, for utilisation 
in various consumer products.

followed 

Partners  have 
the 
‘Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl’ 
(Fmoc) ‘Solid-phase peptide syn-
thesis’  (SPPS)  technique  to  syn-
thesise  peptides  with  repeating 
sequences,  modiﬁ ed  with  Dopa 
amino-acids  to  create  a  strong 

The  biopolymer  synthesis 
is 
being optimised and the adsorp-
tion onto surfaces is being moni-
tored  using  the  optical  method 
of  ellipsometry.  Several  model 
biopolymers  have  been  tested 
for their ability to adhere to any 
surface  and  act  as  deposition 
aid  for  home  and  healthcare 
products.  Polymers  with  adhe-
sive release properties have also 
been generated for production of 
anti-sticking ﬁ lms.

Blue4glue  deliverables  to  date 
demonstrate  the  applicability 
of  basic  scientiﬁ c  knowledge 
for  development  of  industrial 

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products. 
synthesised 
The 
biopolymers  have  the  poten-
tial to meet the challenges of a 
fast-moving  world  of  consumer 
products  and  improve  on  exist-
ing technologies.

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Proctor and Gamble, based in the 
United Kingdom.

1 

 ‘Reinforcing capacity towards 
industrially relevant research on 
bio-inspired materials and delivery 
mechanisms’.

Funded under the FP7 specific programme 
‘People’ (Marie-Curie actions).
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8481

New cost-effective, eco-friendly steel packaging cans

EU-funded  researchers  sought  to  develop  industrial-scale 
production  processes  for  polymer-coated  sheet  steel  and 
associated  steel-based  cans.  Outcomes  will  potentially 
satisfy  consumer  demand  for  more  attractive  designs 
while  reducing  manufacturing  costs  and  protecting  the 
environment.

Numerous  consumer  products 
from  so(cid:5)   drinks  to  foods  to 
paints  and  more  are  packaged 
in  metal  cans  of  various  types. 
The  choice  of  material  (typ-
ically  aluminium,  tin  or  steel) 
depends in part on the contents, 
with  considerations 
including 
whether  the  product  is  food  or 
drink,  whether  it  is  corrosive, 
and the like.

The Polycoat1 project set out to 
develop  new  polymer-coated 
steel  sheet  systems  enabling 
to 
steel-based 

containers 

compete  with  currently  avail-
able alternatives.

Steel  cans  are  fully  recycla-
ble  and  provide  safe  long-term 
storage  of  food  and  beverages. 
In  addition,  steel  packaging  is 
resistant  to  a  wide  range  of 
potential  contents,  to  external 
corrosion  and 
tampering. 
Furthermore,  use  of  polymer-
coated  sheet  material  elimin-
ates  the  need  for  washing  and 
lacquering 
reducing 
thereby 
both  cost  and  environmental 
impact.

to 

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

39

INDUSTRIA L TECH NOLOGIES

Finally,  steel  sheets  are  highly 
formable,  making  it  possible  to 
develop new container conﬁ gur-
ations  using  the  new  polymer-
coated steel systems, as well as 
existing ones.

Polycoat  researchers  thus  set 
out to develop experimental and 
computational  methodologies 
and  expertise  for  the  European 

can  industry,  facilitating  devel-
opment  of  large-scale  indus-
trial  manufacturing  processes 
for  novel  and  attractive  can 
designs.

outcomes 
should 
Project 
the  competitiveness 
increase 
of  the  European  can  industry, 
in  particular  as  related  to  food 
and beverages, while enhancing 

consumer  and  environmental 
safety.

1 

The  project  was  coordinated  by 
Rockﬁ eld  So(cid:5) ware  Ltd.  in  the 
United Kingdom.

 ‘Economical exploitation of polymer 
coated steel sheet in large-scale 
production of new can types by the 
European can industry’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, 
knowledge-based multifunctional 
materials and new production processes 
and devices’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8468

Enhancing separation membrane selectivity

Many industrial processes require the separation of components in gaseous mixtures via membranes. 
EU-funded  researchers  developed  novel  nano-structured  materials  and  used  them  in  membranes, 
demonstrating enhanced permeability and selectivity.

Gas  separation  via  selectively  per-
meable  membranes  is  used  to 
recover  hydrogen  gas,  to  remove 
carbon  dioxide  (CO2)  and  to  dehu-
midify air, to name only a few uses.

novel 

The  Compose1  project  sought  to 
nano-structured 
develop 
materials with highly selective per-
meability  to  regulate  the  ﬂ ux  of 
substances.  Investigators  focused 
on  two  classes  of  nano-structured 
materials,  namely  hybrid  materials 
and self-organised materials.

While selective gas separation using 
polymeric  membranes  is  a  rapidly 
growing branch of membrane tech-
nology,  the  existing  materials  are 
o(cid:5) en inadequate as permeability is 
sacriﬁ ced at the expense of selectiv-
ity and vice versa.

Hybrid materials (consisting of both 
organic and inorganic components) 
—  such  as  ‘Mixed-matrix  mem-
branes’ (MMMs) formed by incorpor-
ating inorganic particles into organic 
polymeric structures — show great 

potential for improving gas-separa-
tion properties.

Self-organised  supramolecular  co-
polymers,  on  the  other  hand,  self-
assemble  based  on  chemical  and 
physical  properties  to  form  thin 
ﬁ lms  much  like  the  cellular  mem-
brane  that  selectively  separates 
the  internal  from  the  external  cel-
lular  environment.  Understanding 
and exploiting nature’s organisation 
holds promise for a completely new 

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paradigm  in  separation  membrane 
technology.

Investigators manufactured various 
types  of  MMMs  with  promising 
results.  Membranes  composed  of 
nanoparticles 
incorporated 
(NPs) 
into  polymers  including  polyacety-
lenes, cellulose-based polymers and 
polydimethylsiloxane  rubber  exhib-
ited excellent permeability with sig-
niﬁ cantly enhanced selectivity.

Researchers also employed a com-
bination  of  self-assembly  and 
classical  membrane  formation  to 
produce a membrane with a highly 
ordered  self-assembled  top  layer 
over a porous non-ordered support 
layer.

Compose  have  developed  new 
nano-structured  materials  and 
manufactured them into separation 
membranes, enhancing both perme-
ability  and  selectivity.  Commercial 
availability  of  the  membranes  has 
the  potential  to  enhance  selective 
transport  and  separation  in  a  var-
iety  of  ﬁ elds  with  positive  eﬀ ects 
on  European  industrial  and  energy 
applications as well as CO2 seques-
tration and global warming.

The project was coordinated by GKSS 
Geesthacht 
Forschungszentrum 
GmbH, based in Germany.

1 

 ‘Multicomponent nanostructured 
materials for separation membranes’.

Funded under the FP6 programme 
‘Nanotechnologies and nanosciences, 
knowledge-based multifunctional 
materials and new production processes 
and devices’.
http://cordis.europa.eu/marketplace > 
search > offers > 8466

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40

EVENT S

research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

Info Day and brokerage event on Call FP7-KBBE-7-2013

There will be an Info Day and brokerage event on the FP7 call on ‘Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology’ on 16 
July 2012 in Brussels, Belgium.

The objective of the event is to bring together research stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors from the EU and Third Countries, together 
with Commission oﬃ  cers and provide information and ground for discussion and networking.

For further information, please visit: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/news-events/events/20120716_en.htm

‘Energy landscapes’ 

An event entitled ‘Energy landscapes’ will take place from 16 to 21 July 2012 in Obergurgl, Austria. 

In chemical physics, the behaviour of many systems is typiﬁ ed by the presence of competing interactions. This means that topography and topology, 
as deﬁ ned by the potential energy function, are very complex, with an exponential number of local minima separated by energy barriers. Usually 
no suitable approximation schemes are available to compute dynamic or thermodynamic properties directly for such complex many-body systems. 

Nevertheless, in many cases, predictions can be made from knowledge of the stationary points of potential energy function, such as from points 
with vanishing gradient. These types of techniques are commonly referred to as energy landscape methods. This approach allows researchers to 
map dynamical as well as thermodynamic phenomena onto properties of the energy landscape. 

The conference will include: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

lectures by invited high-level speakers; 

short talks by young and early-stage researchers; 

poster sessions and open discussion periods; 

forward-looking panel discussion about future developments.

For further information, please visit: 
http://www.esf.org/index.php?id=9134

Transport Research Information Days 

The Transport Research Information Days will be held on 18 and 19 July 2012 in the Charlemagne building, Brussels, Belgium

The  transport  theme  under  the  EU’s  Seventh  Framework  Programme  for  Research  and  Technological  Development  (FP7)  welcomes  excellent 
research proposals looking for innovative solutions to today’s transport-related societal challenges.

Any SME, company, research institution or university interested in learning more about how to participate in the transport theme under FP7 can meet 
EC oﬃ  cials and potential partners at the ‘Info Days’ and ﬁ nd out all about the work programme for 2013. The aim of the two-day event is to inform 
potential researchers about FP7 and the new Transport Calls for Proposals under the speciﬁ c programme ‘Cooperation’. Details will also be given on 
the main legal and procedural conditions, and questions answered. Participants will also have the chance to network with potential project partners.

For further information, please visit: 
http://ec.europa.eu/research/transport/events/infodays/index_en.htm  

Workshop on data mining in life sciences 

A workshop on data mining in life sciences will take place on 20 July 2012 in Berlin, Germany. 

Data mining in biology and medicine is a core component of biomedical informatics. It is also one of the ﬁ rst intensive applications of computer 
science to this ﬁ eld, whether in a clinic, laboratory, or research centre. Current biomedical data mining applications are taking on multifaceted roles 
in knowledge discovery in databases as well as machine-learning approaches. 

The event will be a forum for identifying important contributions and opportunities for research on data mining as it applies to biological and medical 
data. It will also be a chance to promote the systematic study of how to apply data mining to biology and medicine, and to showcase applications of 
data mining in biology and medicine. The conference programme is designed to foster an informal atmosphere where participants are encouraged 
to ask clarifying questions throughout the talks and take part in longer discussions a(cid:5) er each presentation.

For further information, please visit: 
http://www.data-mining-forum.de/w_life_sciences.php

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research*eu results magazine — N° 13 — June 2012

41

EVENTS

International conference on security and cryptography 

An ‘International conference on security and cryptography’ will take place from 24 to 27 July 2012 in Rome, Italy.

In recent years, computer applications and internet services have been contributing extensively to society. At the same time, they are vulnerable 
and are subject to frequent attacks. Cryptography is an indispensable tool for protecting information in computer systems. Theoretical and practical 
advances in the ﬁ elds of cryptography and coding are a key factor in the growth of data communications, data networks and distributed computing. 

The conference will not only focus on the mathematical theory and practice of cryptography and coding, along with other aspects of information sys-
tems and network security, but also applications and information systems development in the context of e-business, internet and global enterprises. 

The conference will be a forum for discussions and exchange for researchers, mathematicians, engineers and practitioners interested in security 
aspects of information and communication.

For further information, please visit: 
http://secrypt.icete.org/ 

Seventh International Workshop on Artificial Neural Networks and Intelligent Information 
Processing

The Seventh International Workshop on Artificial Neural Networks and Intelligent Information Processing will take place from 
30 to 31 July 2012 in Rome, Italy.

Over the past few years, bio-inspired artiﬁ cial intelligence has shown signiﬁ cant potential to meet applicative and technological challenges in indus-
trial, socio-economic or environmental ﬁ elds. 

Increased interest from researchers on this relatively new area is leading to a multidisciplinary synergy between a large number of scientiﬁ c com-
munities. The event will highlight advances, new experimental discoveries and novel technological improvements.

For further information, please visit: 
http://www.icinco.org/ANNIIP.aspx

Eighth International Conference on Urban Climate 

The Eighth International Conference on Urban Climate will take place from 6 to 10 August 2012 in Dublin, Ireland.

Climate change can cause signiﬁ cant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to mil-
lions of years. Science has made progress in understanding climate change and its causes, and is beginning to help develop a strong understanding 
of current and potential impacts. This understanding is crucial because it allows decision-makers to place climate change in the context of other 
large challenges facing individual nations and the world at large. 

This event will examine research and urban climate eﬀ ects in all scales and set important benchmarks for the development of the ﬁ eld. It will also 
be a forum in which urban climatologists can discuss modern developments in research, and the application of climatic knowledge to the design 
of better cities.

For further information, please visit: 
http://www.icuc8.org/

‘East-Meets-West on Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ Congress and Exhibition 

The European Office of Cyprus will organise a Congress on Innovation and Entrepreneurship on 1 to 4 September 2012 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

The Congress will explore new tools to bring researchers and enterprises together from all over the world. The Congress aims to harness the poten-
tial of entrepreneurship to transfer innovation ideas into products and services.

The main objective of the conference is to promote cross-national collaboration between east and west as a tool to overcome national limitations 
on knowledge, ﬁ nancial resources, technology, and services.

For further information, please visit: 
http://www.eastmeetswest.eu.com/   

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