Electronics manufacturer TactoTek, has opened its new manufacturing and corporate headquarters, initiating a new phase of company growth.
Jussi Harvela, CEO, said: “In early 2016, TactoTek’s project pipeline began growing dramatically and foreshadowed additional production capacity requirements and staffing needs.
“So we started evaluating alternatives for larger facilities.”
TactoTek is a leading provider of injection moulded structural electronics (IMSE), which integrate printed circuitry and electronic components into 3D injection moulded plastics for applications such as in-vehicle electronics, home and industrial appliances, and wearable technology.
Senior vice-president of engineering Marko Suo-Anttila said: “The new, purpose-built location uniquely contains all production steps of the IMSE manufacturing process, including printing, decoration, surface mounting, high-pressure thermoforming and injection moulding.
“Our ISO Class 7 cleanroom facilities support demanding quality and consistency requirements.”
With its multi-disciplinary engineering teams, TactoTek collaborates with customers to adapt traditional electronics designs into IMSE solutions, said the company. TactoTek produces proofs-of-concepts and prototypes to refine product design and electronic functionality.
TactoTek’s vertical integration enables quick iterations to rapidly optimise customer designs for mass production.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Horizon 2020 programme have subsidised TactoTek’s production equipment and infrastructure.
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Projeler
TIDAL energy company GKinetic Energy has received funding under the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) programme to carry out further testing and improvements to a new turbine at Limerick Docks.
GKinetic Energy is developing an innovative hydrokinetic turbine device that accelerates the flow of water to produce zero-carbon energy in both river and tidal resources.
The €99,562 allocation from the SEAI Prototype Development Fund is to carry out further optimisation of the device as GKinetic enhances its plans to design, build and demonstrate a large scale 250kW tidal device in conjunction with a consortium of EU project partners.
Last March, DesignPro Ltd. secured Horizon 2020 funding to commercialise small-scale river devices using GKinetic’s technology.
Significant effort went into the device’s Power Take Off (PTO) system and, with support from Marine and renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) and LiR, the control law has now been defined.
The SEAI funding will see the deployment of an improved prototype device at a purpose-built test facility the company developed in partnership with Shannon Foynes Port Company in the Limerick Docks.
Testing is projected to run for a six-week period.
GKinetic has said it hopes to establish the Limerick Docks as a centre of excellence for testing marine energy technology.
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Subtropical ocean gyres are known to be zones of accumulated floating plastic debris, but polar accumulation has been studied by the EU-funded MICRO B3 project, revealing interesting results.
The FP7-funded MICRO B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology) project ended in 2015, but found that although pollution sources were distant, and plastic debris absent in most of the Arctic waters surveyed, it reached high concentrations in the farthest northern and eastern areas of the Greenland and Barents seas.
The scientists analysed the magnitude, distribution and sources of the plastic pollution on the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean based on the Tara Oceans 2013 circumpolar expedition.
During the circumpolar expedition, Dr Andrés Cózar and his colleagues collected floating plastic debris, including fishing lines and a variety of plastic films, fragments and granules. The fragmentation and typology of which led the researchers to conclude the plastic was old and from distant sources.
The paper says: ’The total load of floating plastic for the ice-free waters of the Arctic Ocean was estimated to range from around 100 to 1,200 tonnes, with 400 tonnes composed of an estimated 300 billion plastic items as a midrange estimate.’
Given the wide range, the researchers say the study needs to be considered as a preliminary, first-order approximation.
Testing showed that although the Arctic Polar Circle was slightly polluted with plastic debris, in the Greenland and Barents seas debris was both abundant and widespread.
The team also found that maximum concentrations were lower than in the subtropical accumulation zones but the median values were similar.
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New strains of bacteria in a lake hidden under an Icelandic glacier has revealed how life might thrive in sub-surface oceans on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.
Skaftárkatlar Lake lies beneath an ice sheet 300 metres thick with waters that have likely never been exposed to the Sun. As a result, it is one of the best places on Earth to study how life might evolve in the isolation of a subterranean ocean on one of these moons.
Dr Gregory Farrant of Matís, a governmental research institute based in Iceland, said: “Our preliminary results reveal new branches of life here. It’s tricky to analyse the DNA of microbes that are totally new to science because there’s no prior knowledge about them. We’re dealing with a lot of unknowns.”
Farrant is the lead investigator on an EU-funded research project called AstroLakes. His work is predicated on the idea that underground oceans represent our best chance of finding life on other planets.
Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a hidden ocean beneath its icy surface, which could be less than five kilometres deep at the poles, which is a distance similar to the ice caps on Earth.
Other moons, such as Saturn’s Titan or Jupiter’s Europa, may also harbour bacteria like that found in Skaftárkatlar, and such research projects contribute more base reference points for future space missions to find out.
NASA is currently considering a trip to Enceladus in a proposed mission called ‘Enceladus Life Finder’, and to Europa in its ‘Europa Clipper’ mission.
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The European Commission has released the first ever edition of the ‘Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor’, designed to help policy makers identify local strengths and areas for improvement, and learn from comparable cities.
The tool – which emerged from a research project covering 168 cities in 30 European countries, and which was developed by the commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) – also sheds light on the strong relationship between cultural vibrancy and various dimensions of a city’s life, starting with its social diversity and its economic activity.
Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, responsible for the JRC, said: “My objective is to place culture and creativity at the heart of the European policy agenda.
“In times of major societal transformations and sharpening global competition between cities, we must look beyond traditional sources of growth and socioeconomic wellbeing and explore the role of culture in vibrant, innovative and diverse cities.
“The Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor highlights successful European cities that have found their own ways of using the potential of culture and creativity to drive development, innovation and job creation and improve quality of life for citizens. It puts sound evidence at the disposal of policy makers to help them identify where they fare well and where further improvement is desirable.”
The interactive tool is available online and will allow users to browse the selected cities as well as a wide array of quantitative and qualitative information about their performance.
It notably shows that the ‘ideal’ Cultural and Creative City in Europe would be the amalgam of the best performing cities on each indicator.
Click here for more information.
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A new project led by Trinity College Dublin (TCD) aims to transform 11 European cities participating in lush, green urban environments using ‘engineered’ Nature-based solutions.
Trinity is to spearhead a €12m EU project, “Connecting Nature” which will develop man-made, Nature-focused installations such as the creation of urban woodlands and roof gardens to make European cities greener.
The project has 37 participant organisations across 19 European countries working to establish Europe as a world leader in revolutionising how 21st Century cities can incorporate Nature.
Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, the project will use 11 European cities to implement the solutions the research produces and monitor their success.
Using engineering to produce Nature-based solutions, the project addresses issues such as air pollution, unsustainable urban development, climate change and natural disasters.
Project leader Dr Marcus Collier, an assistant professor in botany in the School of Natural Sciences, said in a press statement, that the project ‘will attempt to achieve what no other Horizon 2020 project has before’.
‘It will co-create city-wide master plans to scale out Nature-based solutions and generate funding for them. This is not just about building climate resilience. It is about transforming cities for future generations,” he added.
Those behind the project hope that the innovations will produce sustainable jobs and improve the health and wellbeing of citizens.
Professor Brian Lucey of TCD conveyed support on behalf of the school. The project, Lucey said in a press statement, is ‘not just academically credible but also impactful’.
‘This project will make a difference going forward by integrating cities with academic research, and it will also forge an important link between two schools in Trinity,” he said.
The launch of the project, which took place in June, saw mayors, politicians, academics and industry representatives gather to listen to speakers from the European Investment Bank (ECB), Social Finance UK and the European Venture Philanthropy Association emphasise the opportunities for large-scale investment in innovative Nature-based solutions.
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After leading the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) for two-and-a-half years, Markku Markkula is expected to hand over the role to Belgian Karl-Heinz Lambertz.
CoR members will also gather on 12 July in Brussels to discuss the Estonian EU Presidency and debate EU policies.
EU Commissioner for Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas will lead discussions on the mid-term review of the Horizon 2020 research programme, while Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc will join CoR members to discuss the future of low-emission mobility and the Connecting Europe Facility.
In its mid-term appraisal of Horizon 2020, the CoR will illustrate the importance of research and innovation on the long-term prospects of the European economy. Moedas will debate the CoR’s recommendations.
Speaking in the Estonian capital Tallinn, Markkula joined members of the Commission for Environment, Climate Change and Energy to reaffirm their commitment to making Europe’s energy transition the driver for combatting global warming, recovering economic growth and boosting jobs.
The UN’s climate talks are to take place in Bonn, Germany, in November and the EU’s cities and regions said alliances with their American counterparts would be strengthened to work on a renewed global climate coalition.
Markkula said: “Europe must continue to show leadership on climate change by being even more innovative and transforming our energy supply.
“Tallinn city – a pioneer in sustainable development – demonstrates that with the right EU funds and the right vision, we can build a sustainable future. This is why our committee is building an alliance for a strong, effective and more visible cohesion policy, which is more important than ever under the Estonian Presidency.
“For the sake of a united, sustainable and more inclusive European future, the EU’s cohesion policy after 2020 must have the same financial proportion as it has today.”
A CoR member since 1999, Lambertz has been a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and is currently the president of its Socialist Group. From March 2013 until June 2014, he was president of the Euregio Maas-Rhine and is currently president of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR).
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The viability of graphene for space applications is set to be tested in two experiments to be carried out by researchers and students in the Graphene Flagship in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).
The experiments will launch between 6-17th November 2017, testing graphene in zero-gravity conditions to determine its potential in space applications including light propulsion and thermal management.
One experiment will see a team of Graphene Flagship graduate students from Delft Technical University, the Netherlands, participate in ESA Education’s Drop Your Thesis! programme.
Their successful proposal will use microgravity conditions in the ZARM Drop Tower (Bremen, Germany) to test graphene for light sails.
By shining laser light on suspended graphene-membranes from Flagship partner Graphenea, the experiment will test how much thrust can be generated, which could lead to a new way of propelling satellites in space using light from lasers or the sun.
The other experiment will investigate how graphene can improve efficiency in heat transfer in loop heat pipes (cooling systems used extensively in satellites and aerospace instruments).
This is a collaboration between Graphene Flagship partners at the Microgravity Research Centre, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; the Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge, UK; Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Italy; and Leonardo Spa, Italy, a global leader in aerospace, producing of a variety of components and systems for space applications.
Here, the loop’s wick, which is typically made of porous metal, will be coated with different types of graphene-related materials to improve the efficiency of the heat pipe.
The coated wicks will be tested in a low-gravity parabolic flight operated by ESA in partnership with Novespace, France. During each three-hour flight, the specially modified plane will make a series of 30 parabolic ascents with around 25 seconds of weightlessness in each parabola.
Jari Kinaret, director of the Graphene Flagship, said: “These two projects exemplify the two-fold character of the Graphene Flagship: the loop heat pipe project is targeting a specific application, while the light sail project is firmly linked to basic research and builds upon the unique combination of properties that only graphene can offer.
“I am particularly proud of the fact that one of these projects was initiated by students working on an area completely disconnected from space applications: this demonstrates the creativity of the next generation of researchers, and shows the sometimes surprising links between different parts of our Flagship – or maybe I should say spaceship?”
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Tekes and Finpro are set to merge, forming Business Finland, to gather all services under one roof and foster collaborations for innovation and scale-up programmes.
Pekka Soini, director general of Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, said that bringing Finland’s support schemes for research and innovation will enable a more networked type of innovation, boosting collaborations between research institutes, universities and companies.
“It’s better to be served by one entity,” he said. “Business Finland will offer even better services for our customers and it will enrich the innovation ecosystem.”
The responsibilities of Tekes and Finpro will not change, but the way the two are organised and provide services will be harmonised, combining the needs of local companies with global opportunities for scaling.
As the EU prepares for the successor to the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Soini added that more support is needed for boosting innovative European enterprise.
Tekes currently funds some 1,500 industrial research and development projects and around 600 public academic research projects.
Funding for basic research will continue, with the merger expected to increase collaborations between industry and academia.
More funds will be allocated to innovations in ICT and the digitalisation of industries, while research organisations will be able to strengthen co-operation with companies on topics of common interest.
One of the foundations on which Business Finland expects to grow is the skills base developed during the success of mobile phone developer Nokia, a skills base that became one of the reasons engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce was attracted to establish a research and development centre in the Finnish city of Turku.
Business Finland aims to replicate Rolls-Royce’s contribution with the help of officials in the capital Helsinki.
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An EirGrid-led consortium has secured €20m in funding under the Horizon 2020 programme to carry out research into renewable energy development.
EirGrid is the overall EU-SysFlex project co-ordinator, while French electricity group EDF will act as technical co-ordinator.
Fintan Slye, chief executive of EirGrid, described the funding as an endorsement of the company’s groundbreaking work in renewable energy.
Slye said: “Our engineers have been working to meet the challenges of operating the electricity system while achieving high renewable electricity targets. Running the power system with the current high levels of renewable energy is unprecedented and presents significant challenges for its real-time operation.”
The project, which involves 34 organisations from 15 countries across Europe, has an overall budget of €26m and will run for four years until 2021.
The aim of the EU-SysFlex project is to identify issues associated with integrating large amounts of renewable energy, provide practical assistance to power system operators across Europe, and create a long-term roadmap to facilitate the large-scale integration of renewable energy.
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