Future forward: insights from industry representatives

The Eureka Clusters are technological engines. Innovations nurtured by the Cluster system are now deeply embedded in industries worldwide. Others are poised to disrupt and revolutionise their sectors in the near future. The ICT developments of CELTIC-NEXT, the low-carbon technologies of EUROGIA, the software breakthroughs of ITEA, the manufacturing advancements of SMART and the electronic systems devised by Xecs offer crucial lessons and an array of possibilities.

CELTIC-NEXT

CELTIC-NEXT is focused on end-to-end connectivity. Devices and networks are now expected to operate seamlessly and without interruption. Maintaining this increasingly complex ecosystem requires agile innovation. The Cluster has worked on connecting devices and improving technologies across all sectors, including in recent projects addressing agriculture, video and gaming, e-commerce, energy and smart cities.

Many emerging tools, such as artificial intelligence or Blockchain, cause heavy loads on the ICT infrastructure. We need to evolve future networks to handle these different requirements with much lower energy costs.

David Kennedy – CELTIC-NEXT Chair

Notably, it supported the AI4Green project, which aimed to reduce 5G energy consumption. Using artificial intelligence, AI4Green resulted in savings of up to 30% in mobile networks. By predicting usage rates at given times, the programme was able to ramp transmission up or down depending on projected needs and therefore make significant energy savings.

CELTIC-NEXT expects future communications to be greatly impacted by artificial intelligence, business analytics, cybersecurity and a range of other areas as well.

“Where do we put these resources within the network so that the people using them can get low latency, high-throughput services and enjoy all the benefits?” asks CELTIC-NEXT Chair David Kennedy.

The Cluster is intent on anticipating how various technologies will cross-fertilise and create greater connectivity demands, which may stress the systems in ways that they were not originally designed to handle.

“Communications is no longer a standalone item. Next-generation communications will have to be fully integrated into the business models of the various sectors,” Kennedy says. He cites the automotive sector, which is moving toward increased autonomy. The decreased attention of drivers on the task of driving creates new demands for the use of communications, from mobile office and web connectivity to highdefinition entertainment functions.

CELTIC-NEXT is also eager to address the paradox of energy consumption. “Networks have to grow in functionality, but consume less energy, which is contradictory,” Kennedy adds. “The challenge is techno economic. Energy costs, money and reducing that matches the sustainability and the environmental agenda. It is in the interests of all parties to reduce the energy profile of every service going forward.”

ITEA

ITEA focuses on the development of software and systems to meet technological, business and societal challenges, with applications for energy, engineering, healthcare, industry, mobility, smart cities and other sectors. The programme creates efficiencies that aim to promote economic growth and societal well-being and have been deployed everywhere from automobiles to televisions to medical practice.

Through the ITEA project IMPACT, a software application was developed, using patient imaging data to develop personalised treatment plans that can be executed using minimally invasive robotic technology. The technology has been used to create significant efficiencies in cardiac and oncology treatment, streamlining diagnostics and deployment of interventions. The increased imaging accuracy enabled by the programme has reduced heart procedure times by 30% and reduced tumour excision margins by 20%, leading to substantial patient benefits. Future work on the software will further enhance the safety and efficacy of surgical workflows.

I²PANEMA has created efficiencies in an entirely different ecosystem: shipping ports. By integrating data from sensors and other inputs across these highly complex commercial hubs and by developing a new, global standard for smart applications for ships, the project has helped to digitise paper-based logs that create delays and assisted in the reduction of processing times for incoming shipments.

More or less everybody touches results from ITEA projects in their daily life.

Dirk Elias – ITEA Chair

While most projects are the result of a bottom-up process triggered from the community members, the ITEA Office also provides food for thought: “We are stimulating the cyber-physical metaverse community, linking the real world and the virtual world in real time,” says ITEA Chair Dirk Elias. Among the Cluster’s priorities is the development of digital twins that may serve to smooth the interactions between these two realms.

“You might have a digital twin in the virtual world. The outcome of whatever happened there will have an immediate impact in the real world,” Elias explains.

EUROGIA

EUROGIA is dedicated to the cultivation of a range of low-carbon technologies. The Cluster aims to both meet ballooning energy demands while reducing costs and mitigating the environmental impacts of production. It has developed a range of biomass, solar, wind and wave energy refinements as well as carbon capture techniques.

We are accelerating low-carbon technology development by bridging industry research and policy to strengthen Europe’s industrial competitiveness.

Sinem Altuncu – Eurogia General Manager

“We have used a 5D strategy: digitalisation, decarbonisation, democratisation, deregulation and decentralisation” says Eurogia General Manager Sinem Altuncu.

The AISMeCoT project, for example, has used a unified data infrastructure to reduce costs associated with reading smart energy meters. The analysis of data collected by the project has led to increased identification of fraud, allowed for reductions in labour by eliminating the need for in-person meter readings and led to more accurate demand forecasting.

The CPVH project has deployed hybrid photovoltaic solar modules in a system that allows for integrated building energy management that stores and deploys energy according to demand and time of day.

The Cluster is currently focusing its resources on localised microgrid energy production and novel means of energy storage. It plans to accelerate this work through the use of artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies. It is also emphasising new means of hydrogen production and storage, which is key to greening everything from electricity production to residential gas supply to aviation.

“We have to implement new technologies given the urgency of climate action, the acceleration of digital transformation and growing geopolitical pressures on energy and supply chains,” Altuncu emphasises.

SMART

SMART aims to smooth out inefficiencies in the manufacture of consumer goods and devices, aeronautics, automobiles and other transportation modalities using advanced technologies. Mechanical processes and quality control in manufacturing are time-consuming and expensive.

By digitising operations, enhancing human and machine collaboration and turning an eye to more sustainable practices, SMART hopes to make European manufacturing both more cost effective and greener.

“Our main projects have worked towards improved productivity of industrial processes,” says SMART Chair Javier Arenas. “Sustainability and cyber security have gained weight in our selection process as well.”

ToolSense, for example, addresses both process and quality control. The project has made refinements to the way that cutting tools are deployed. Because of the enormous stress placed on cutting tools due to inexact deployment, they must be replaced frequently. The sensory technology monitors their temperature and the forces placed on them. By more accurately calculating these thermal and mechanical loads, cutting tool lifespans can be extended, thus cutting costs and reducing the need for additional materials.

SMART is expanding its remit, looking towards ways it can deploy the lessons learned during previous projects to new areas of industry.

Our projects aim to make manufacturing more intelligent through autonomous production and smart sensors that provide useful information to operating systems.

Javier Arenas – SMART Chair

“In our new technology roadmap, we have accounted for the biotech and agricultural sectors. SMART adapts to the reality of the market and the technology,” Arenas says. The Cluster has also prioritised the development of customer-based manufacturing approaches, designing modular systems that are easily adapted to customer feedback in real time and devising means of personalising products.

Xecs

Capitalising on previous Clusters, Euripides and Penta, Xecs is dedicated to the development of sustainable electronic components and systems. Most modern technologies hinge on these parts and their interoperability. Designing innovative components and applications is key to the sustainable growth of nearly every industry.

Xecs is determined to innovate and deliver efficient components and systems while optimising the reduction of energy consumption and materials usage.

The Cluster reflects what the industry foresees for the future and will develop in the coming years. Our strategic research and innovation agenda is created by more than 300 experts in the electronics industry.

Caroline Bedran – AENEAS Director-General

“Microelectronics evolves from the chip itself to the whole value chain – from materials and equipment through the chips up to the application level,” says Caroline Bedran, director-general of AENEAS, under which Xecs operates.

The Penta IMAGINATION project has developed new high-resolution, low-noise image sensors, for example, as well as means of processing and transmitting the images they capture. The technology may be useful in robotics applications where high levels of detail are required for accurate execution of tasks, such as manufacturing.

Xecs also developed innovative components and systems for healthcare equipment such as patient monitoring devices, and also for the automotive domain, such as in autonomous driving systems.

“More recently, we have seen more projects around artificial intelligence and digital twins,” Bedran adds. The Xecs Cluster also expects to see more projects on photonics technologies as well as on quantum technologies, which will be combined with more traditional electronics in the systems of tomorrow.

The leaders of all five Clusters emphasise their dedication to both executing their current strategies according to the needs of their communities and refining them as new developments arise, learning from the challenges and building on the remarkable successes of the past 40 years.