Case studies

Researchers from the UK and Sweden developed efficient turbine blades for exploiting tidal energy. Unlike sunlight or wind, the ocean’s tides are predictable and regular, and therefore represent a vital source of renewable energy that is both clean and dependable. The TEHADP project investigated robust new materials, manufacturing techniques and designs that can withstand the tough conditions in tidal energy plants. The new turbine blades they developed (also known as hydrodynamic absorbers) are reliable and cost-effective and can be “tuned” to different tidal speeds for deployment in different locations.

TEHADP turbine blades have been tested in real-world conditions, in a scaled-up tidal power plant off the Welsh coast and in full-size turbines off the coast of Scotland. Partners unveiled a tidal turbine system that includes the largest and most powerful single-axis turbine available on the commercial market. They are now pursuing opportunities for commercial deployment in the UK, France and several Asian countries.

Project funded by VINNOVA, Swedish innovation agency and Innovate UK

A transatlantic collaboration between Canadian and French companies has resulted in an innovative search engine that responds to shapes rather than text. 10-15% of parts used by designers and manufacturers are duplicates or close duplicates and “new” parts are unnecessarily created because of the time it takes to search in a CAD portal. 3DPartFinder helps designers and manufacturers search for parts, reducing costs and accelerating production. To search, input a model and the search engine displays more than 100 million unique results in 3D in under seven seconds. The application is implemented in a CAD portal for users around the world.

Eureka brought complementary skills together, giving the partners a competitive advantage that resulted in multi-million euro benefits. The project partners are developing an interface for the search engine to work with any component manufacturer, CAD portal or database, and they hope to extend the search engine’s capabilities in other fields.

Funded by Bpifrance and the National Research Council

A Canadian large company and German SME developed, field-tested and delivered an innovative iron-ore sensing, sorting and communication system. The solution makes mining low-grade ore feasible and optimises the whole decision-support process. It boosts performance by up to 20% and saves on energy, water and chemical use.

The ground-breaking sensor technology and data analytics platform evolving from this project provides mining operations with unprecedented real-time information about their ore deposits.

Project funded by: National Research Council (Canada)

The Blockchain PISC project involved close collaboration between Swiss and Canadian SMEs. They coordinated their research efforts, exchanged development experiences and opened access to their respective products and services in new global markets. The new technologies developed have since seen commercial success. 

Ensuring that privacy, identity, security and compliance (PISC) issues in new digital currencies (such as Bitcoin) are fully compatible with global financial systems is key to the integration and expansion of these new forms of financial asset. This Eureka project developed an intelligent software that can analyse big data on blockchain markets to ensure the correct identification of customers and end-users. At the same time, it enables the private nature of transactions to be preserved. 

Project funded by: CNRC-NRC (Canada), SERI (Switzerland)