Case studies

A data-driven platform created by a collaboration of a French startup and French and German universities has increased the speed and accuracy of repairs and maintenance of low-carbon energy technologies like wind turbines. These technologies are increasingly complex and the knowledge to service and repair it highly sophisticated (70% of technicians first try an unsuccessful approach), hiking up the costs of maintenance.

Know.Right.Now is an algorithm-powered personalised knowledge tool that uses “case-based reasoning (CBS)”, presenting solutions for a repair adapted from previously successful methods. This accumulated knowledge is offered to technicians dynamically, which results in faster and more accurate diagnoses and reduces the downtime of the equipment and cost of repairs.

With its prestige enhanced by EUROGIA, the tech is now being used by industry giants including Airbus, ABB, Repower and Bosch Thermotechnik, and Kiolis has grown from a startup into a credible market player.

Project funded by Bpifrance and BMBF

Hungarian and German SMEs and a university have developed high-performance pipe repair products made with sustainable oils. For 20 years, clay pipes (in sewage systems) have been repaired with composites containing synthetic ingredients from crude oil. COMPONAT consortium saw the need for an alternative using renewable environmentally benign materials.

After testing 832 compositions, they identified cashew nut and pine needle oil as inexpensive, sustainable and the best for adhesion, strength, workability and hardening time. The improved adhesion, storage life and heat resistance mean the new resins can withstand cleaning with water jets, saving time and money on milling (even with the resin costing 1 euro more per kilo).

Eureka helped bring the plant-based resins to development and to market. Sales of sewage systems with strengthened joining are increasing and the resin has also been repurposed for two new markets: industrial flooring and for corrosion protection coatings for stainless steel tanks.

Funded by BMBF and the National Research, Development and Innovation Office

The first real-time video translator has been developed by a successful collaboration between German and Israeli companies. The device has pioneering speech recognition, sentence identification and dynamic vocabulary technologies for instantaneous and accurate machine translation. MEDIATRANSLATOR consortium overcame a common technical challenge of differentiating between two speakers talking at the same time, dramatically improving the accuracy of transcription. They incorporated smart segmentation technology and improved deep-learning-based speech recognition algorithms and a scalable transcription platform for automatic transcription of speech content in video.

This new technology could help journalists reporting on breaking stories and even ease diplomatic talks. It’s linguistically optimised for the financial sector but can be customised or repurposed for use in smart homes or vehicles. The consortium soon hopes to embed technology that vocalises text in your own voice. Participating companies see this project as moving towards their global ambitions; having accessed new markets and made new contacts.

Funded by BMBF and Innovation Authority (ISERD)

Issa Rakhodai (ARRIS) witnessed and helped the evolution of television from black and white to analogue, digital, 3D and high definition. He has now realised his goal of developing ultra-high-definition (UHD) broadcasting from our TV sets. His passion for television motivated a collaboration between 16 partners from Belgium, Spain, France and Turkey covering the whole supply chain.

The consortium produced 14 prototypes: they shot film on cameras with a resolution of 4,000 pixels (four times high-definition TV), developed a decoding chipset, four UHD TV sets, a set-top box, encoders, efficient codecs (for digital signals), a super-resolution projector and a 3D TV that doesn’t need glasses.

50 million TV sets have already been sold in a market worth 70 billion US dollars. Participants benefited from the Clusters programme and the opportunity to innovate with partners who are normally their competitors. Participants also expect to further increase market shares and revenue.

A scalable and robust video streaming solution was developed in an international consortium collaboration. It delivers adapted media content to smart devices, with the level of quality that customers expect and demand.

Over the Top (OTT) media distribution is transforming the telecommunications landscape. It enables content providers to bypass cable or broadcast television service providers that would traditionally have distributed such content. New business opportunities are being created, both for OTT providers and suppliers of smart TVs, tablets and smartphones, through which this content is consumed. However, internet architectures and business models are struggling to cope with the massive deployment of OTT services.

Through NOTTS, 27 technical innovations were delivered and are now on the market. They are enabling media service providers to guarantee quality of service and thus attract more customers. NOTTS technologies have also been recognised by global standardisation bodies.

Rescoll with its Danish partners Biomodics and the Danish Technological Institute developed catheters that prevent bladder infections. With the Spanish Centro Tecnológico Riojano and a large company active in the automotive sector, Rescoll innovated a new type of rubber.

Project funded by: France (bpifrance), Denmark (Innovation fund Denmark), Spain (CDTI)
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Project funded by: ?
Published: 30/01/2018

The EmotionLab consortium of Danish and Swedish SMEs and universities created a new technology to detect emotions. They can apply this understanding to develop further cutting-edge adaptive learning solutions to enhance science education and corporate laboratory training.

The modern world is based on scientific and technological innovation, but around two-thirds of science students in Europe drop out of their studies in high school or university. What can be done to engage and retain more young people in science and technology education?

The consortium’s approach was to transform and enlarge the learning environment. This was achieved by using technology creatively developed in interactive virtual learning environments that use gaming elements to drive engagement and understanding.

Project funded by: Innovation Fund Denmark, SERI (Switzerland)

A team of technology and medical specialists created a new system that greatly increases the speed with which medical imagery can be made available, enabling less invasive treatments for diseases such as cancer. MRI scans can take several minutes to produce, during which time the exact position of a cancerous tumour can change, for example if a patient moves slightly. The new system developed by SORTS project partners, including original software, makes MRI-based feedback available within a fraction of a second. Doctors can target treatment using non-invasive therapy systems such as linear accelerators and high-intensity focused ultrasound.

The new real-time, image-guided system is a vital step in the transition from invasive to non-invasive medical intervention. It significantly boosts the precision and effectiveness of treatment, reducing patient risk while increasing throughput. That means shorter hospital stays and lower health costs. The technology has been trialled at 16 university hospitals around the world.