Applied Polymer Technologies

Ireland: Eastern and Midland (Ireland)

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

The Applied Polymer Technologies (APT) Gateway Centre is a nationally funded research centre specialised in polymer processing and testing. It offers a full range of activities from part design to pilot production using a suite of industry relevant polymer processing equipment. The APT centre is a member of the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network which includes 15 specialised Gateways and 3 sectoral clusters delivering innovation expertise and solutions for industry.

The centre has a number of collaborative EU wide links with industry and academia  based on its parent organisations membership of the European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (https://www.ecp4.eu/) and the Regional University Network (https://run-eu.eu/).  

 
The APT centre has a range of industry relevant equipment which can generally be characterised as: 

Polymer Processing; http://mri.ait.ie/capabilities/processing/

Polymer Characterisation; http://mri.ait.ie/capabilities/characterisation/

Design and additive manufacturing; http://mri.ait.ie/capabilities/additive-manufacturing/

Specific items include: 

Injection  moulding

130 T. Sumitumo Demag with integrated material handling system

130 T. Fanuc

60 T. Arburg

35 T. Arburg

6 T. Babyplast

14 T. Whitman Battenfeld fully integrated micromoulder with cleanroom

Extrusion

27mm  Leistritz (25 kg per hour)

16mm Prism   (20g min batch size)

22mm EUEXMA High temp compounder (10kg per hour)

Q2 2021 planetary compounder

Q2 2021 In line compouner/rheometer

27mm  Leistritz (25 kg per hour)

Labtech 250ml Blow-moulding

3D Filament extruder (12 spools per hour)

40 mm Boston Matthews Tube

EUEXMA Lab Blown Film

EUEXMA Melt-Spinning Fibre line

25mm Betol cast…. The APT centre offers a full range of services including contract testing and collaborative supports through a range of EU funding mechanisms. Services includes: 

Pilot and production-scale injection moulding, blow moulding, thermoforming, extrusion and compounding lines

Advanced analytical facilities for materials research, testing and troubleshooting

Design, rapid prototyping and micro-moulding capabilities
. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

MECANO ID

France: Occitania

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

MECANO ID supports its customers from Space, Nuclear and Aeronautics sectors in the development of predominantly mechanical and thermal systems subjected to harsh environments and require efficient and robust project management.

3 complementary skills

Mechanical systems engineering and development

MECANO ID ensures project management of complete developments or supports projects carried out by customers. For projects integrating other disciplines, MECANO ID relies on specialized partners or qualified subcontractors and ensures full traceability at all stages.

Composite development and manufacturing

With its multidisciplinary expertise, MECANO ID provides a unique approach including design, sizing, manufacturing and testing of high performance composite parts.

Mechanical and thermal tests

Thanks to the expertise gained over more than 20 years, MECANO ID Test Laboratory offers high value added services, in compliance with specific aeronautics and space requirements while providing… Composite manufacturing

http://www.mecano-id.fr/en/composites

MECANO ID develops high added value composite components and provides all development activities to be compliant with your needs and specifications :

design and sizing, 
manufacturing composite parts with the RTM / infusion processes, designing and manufacturing required molds,
testing to characterize products performances, 
R&D to optimize and innovate products manufactured.

The manufacturing workshop delivered its first parts for space applications in 2009. Different types of products are currently qualified: tubes, inserts, fittings, etc.

Testing

http://www.mecano-id.fr/en/testing

MECANO ID has qualified equipments to test prototypes for vibratory environmental, pytotechnical shocks and the correctly designing a screw-mount assembly : 

Vibration testing 
SRS Shock Testing Services
Screw-mount assemblies

. MECANO ID supports clients in the development of mechanical assemblies within the framework of a complete developments Under MECANO ID project management or in support in design or analysis for projects.

Mechanical and thermal design

Mechanical and thermal systems conception
Metallic or composite structure elements conception
Tooling conception (vibration, assembly, tests, etc.)
Electronic equipment structure conception
Internal and external satellites payload

Mechanical analyses

Static, modal or thermo-elastic analyses
Shock, seismic and usure analyses
Prevision, reporting and optimization 

Thermal analyses

Definition and sizing thermal control
Steady and transitional regime analyses
Temperature cartographie determination for thermo-elastic analyses
Reporting and thermal test exploitation

Manufacturing

Composites fabrication
Subcontracting metallic fabrication

Assembly, integration and tests

Prototypes assembly and integration 
…. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

Arctur d.o.o.

Slovenia: West Slovenia

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

Arctur is Research & Development oriented SME, active in the field of ICT. Established in 1992, Arctur has progressed to become the main Slovenian commercial supplier of HPC (High Performance Computing) services and solutions. Arctur has its own HPC and Cloud Computing infrastructure to be used as the technological foundation for advanced HPC and Cloud computing solutions and innovative web services in a distributed, high-redundancy environment.

The company has extensive experience in server virtualization and deployment, integration of disparate IT-systems, IT support of project-management and server farm leverage for the deployment of Software as a Service (SaaS), specialized for small and media enterprises (SME). In recent years Arctur is active in the field of mobile solutions, interlacing them with web and Cloud platforms. Company has also entered the fast-developing field of 3D printing, both in data acquisition and 3D modelling, supported with parallel computations and remote visualization and… Arctur’s HPC infrastructure is a high-performance, on-demand and scalable HPC environment that was built, configured and optimized for speed and performance. Arctur-2 is our flagship hyperconverged HPC & Cloud computing infrastructure. Is has been designed and built to fit various and diverse usage scenarios, from general use Cloud Computing to HPC computing as well as Big Data analytics. By converging different types of servers into single entity we achieved high performance, energy efficiency and seamless management, enabling us to provide excellent services to our customers.

Technical details:

- CPU cores from Intel Xeon E5 v4 CPUs

- up to 1 TB of memory per node

- GPU nodes with NVIDIA Tesla GPUs

- 25/100 Gigabit Ethernet network from Mellanox

- 1.5 PB of distributed storage

- multiple-tier block storage with all-flash arrays for cloud computing workloads

 

 
. - HPC infrastructure rental

- HPC consulting and training

- virtual datacenter and virtual server rental

- colocation services

- development
. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

Irish Manufacturing Research

Ireland: Eastern and Midland (Ireland)

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

IMR's goal is to Demystify, Derisk and Deliver emerging technologies and new knowledge to enable industry to succeed at the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing.

Pillar 1: Automation & Control

Vision   Self-adaptive autonomous automation

Enabling manufacturers to be globally competitive through step change improvements in productivity and quality manufacturing through automation and robotics. The Mullingar Pilot Lines provide a national test bed for the development of automation and control applications across a broad range of industries.

Pillar 2: Design for Manufacturing

Vision   Customer-defined manufacturing

Supporting industry to design and produce using advanced digital toolsets and technologies such as 3D printing, advanced machining and full product lifecycle management, to create novel products and processes designed around great customer experiences.

Pillar 3: Digitisation 

Vision  Data driven business

Accelerating the evolution towards Industry 4.0 and… IMR provide a range of equipment from our facilities in Dublin and Westmeath, Ireland. The main innovation space in Dublin has over 1000m2 of office/lab space, with a further 4000m2 of office/lab space in Westmeath.

IMR Facilities includes (but is not limited to) the following:

Labs

Additive Manufacturing Lab in Mullingar
Cobotics lab in Mullingar

Training Rooms

1 training room for outreach programmes in Westmeath
1 training room in Westmeath

Meeting Rooms

4 meeting rooms in Dublin
3 meeting rooms in Westmeath

Coffee & Chat: 

 

1 Coffee & Chat area in Dublin & Westmeath

IMR Equipment includes (but is not limited to) the following: 

Carbon 3D M2 
End Effectors
EOS P396
Hermle C42 UMT
KUKA iiwa KMR
KUKA KR3 AGILUS
Microsoft Hololens
Renishaw RenAM 500M
Universal Robots
Virtual Reality Hardware
Vision Systems

 
. IMR Services includes (but is not limited to) the following: 

Industrial Research
Training
Specialist Consultancy
Specialist Manufacturing Services
Industry Network
Funding Opportunities
Brokerage and Business Linkages
Incubator

Detailed example: Funding Opportunities

In 2020 IMR launched and is effectively operating a suite of complimentary services to support competitive funding to manufacturing industry. The service is provided by the business development (BD) team online and from both IMR locations. The service is designed to support Irish manufacturing industry, particularly SMEs.

Freemium services for IMR Community Members

1-to-1 Funding Clinic taking the industry partner through the exact grant options available for to their company (1hr online);
1-page Funding Intelligence Report containing a summary of the information and links related to the company’s project pipeline; and
Exclusive access to 1 Industry Funding Workshop & 2 EU/National consortia* coordinated…. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

INSAVALOR

France: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

INSAVALOR is the subsidiary of INSA Lyon for R&D, valorisation and Professional training.

Since its creation in 1988, INSAVALOR acts as an active support of INSA Lyon’s research. Its role is to identify companies’ needs, in terms of know-how, technology and training and mobilize the scientific teams in order to bring out innovative solutions.

INSAVALOR manages more than 1 000 industrial contracts per year.

PROVADEMSE is the technological innovation platform of INSAVALOR dedicated to the development of environmental technologies. It facilitates the emergence and the development of innovative technical solutions, for waste and effluent treatment and recovery scenarios by relying on solid professional skills in experimentation on both laboratory and demonstration scales.

With DataValor, INSAVALOR provides companies with advanced expertise in Data science, as well as the best machine learning and deep learning techniques to get the most value from their data.

DataValor offers tailored support to… PROVADEMSE equipment:

Physicochemical laboratory: Percolation columns, waste and building materials leaching systems, analytical equipments...
Ecotoxicology laboratory: Bio-tests (terrestrial and aquatic organisms), binocular microscopes and magnifiers …
Pilot-scale assessment systems (experimental lysimeters, pilot systems of scenario behavior testing) and full-scale equipment (instrumented road boards)
Pilot-scale treatment facilities: Thermal desorption, pyrolysis-gasification, composting and anaerobic digestion, extraction and washing pilot systems

Other equipment: Heavy capacity oven, shredders, sorting equipments...
. PROVADEMSE covers the whole technical process, starting with on-site sampling and proceeding to support towards an industrial implementation. Our expertise allows us to provide concrete solutions in the following areas:

Waste characterization and management
Environmental assessment of materials integrating wastes or sediments for building or civil engineering
Soil and sediment remediation
Material recovery from waste
Energy recovery from waste
Industrial and territorial ecology

PROVADEMSE provides also support in Environmental Technology Verification (ETV)

DATAVALOR services cover the following expertise:

Data Science and Big Data
Information search
Data mining and visualization
Data structuring
Artificial intelligence
Security and privacy
Robotic
Medical informatics

 
. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

Medical & Engineering Technology Gateway

Ireland: Northern and Western (Ireland)

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

Established in 2016, Enterprise Ireland funded Medical and Engineering Technologies (MET) Technology Gateway is an interdisciplinary support providing cutting-edge, industry focussed solutions for SMEs and larger organisations across the MedTech, Engineering and Lifesciences sectors. Based at GMIT’s Galway campus, the Gateway offers a range of applied technologies relevant to companies in the device design application phase.

Accredited under ISO 9001, MET technologies provide client companies a more seamless and cost effective approach to the design and assessment of their new products. In addition to helping companies move to the next stage of their product development, these engagements have facilitated companies generate new knowledge and know-how providing a competitive differentiator to accessing International markets.

MET technological offering to its industry partners include:

- Medical Imaging Technologies

- Biomedical Engineering Technologies

- Data Analytics and Visualisation

-… MET equipment includes:

- Medical Imaging (X-ray and ultrasound)

- Simulation systems for medical device testing

- Engineering test facilties

- SEM analysis

 
. MET technological offering to its industry partners include:

Technology Theme 1: Medical Imaging Technologies

MET has a licenced, purpose built fluoroscope facility and ultrasound equipment which support a variety of engagements with industry:

Product testing:

In conjunction with anatomical models (see Technology Theme 2), prototype products can be tested under simulated conditions under the fluoroscope
Ultrasound equipment is used in conjunction with the fluoroscope to conduct visualisation studies of next generation prototypes
Under simulated conditions, provides companies an opportunity to provide feedback on the design features of their prototypes.

Training:

Companies demonstrating new technologies to clinicians
Companies training internal engineers

Technology Theme 2: Biomedical Engineering Technologies

Our Biomedical Research Centre staff are masters in translating medical data (MRI’s, ultrasounds, etc.) into engineering data and finally into…. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

Centre for Technology Transfers in Ceramics

France: New Aquitaine

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

The Centre for Technology Transfers in Ceramics (CTTC) is a non-profit association, labeled Center of Technological Resources (CRT) since 1997 by the French Ministry of Research and Innovation.

The expertise of the CTTC concerns ceramic materials, their manufacturing processes, and in particular ceramic additive manufacturing.

The CTTC achieves an annual turnover of 2 million euros, +50% of which is realized in the form of contractual research with industry. Among this private turnover, 50% is achieved with SMEs.

We offer R&D services, analysis and characterization, expertise, feasibility, prototyping, training, industrialization, pilot lines, pre-series, technology transfer and collaborative research services. We also have a FabLab for the general public.

On the one hand, on upstream projects we work in close collaboration with academic research laboratories, universities and engineering schools. On the other hand, on downstream projects, we work in collaboration with the economic world.
Our… CTTC owns 2 technological platforms and a characterization lab.

CERATECH Platform: the facilities of that platform cover all steps of the manufacturing chain: from the synthesis of the material, preparation of powders, their shaping, heat treatment, up to the final finishing step. From the laboratory scale to the semi-industrial scale, the platform's equipment meets the needs of R&D development, up to pre-series manufacturing.

ALTERINOV Platform: seven additive manufacturing technologies, a dozen of printers and ancillary means for material preparation, thermal treatment and product control. That platform is equiped with 3 layer-by-layer technologies (Laser Stereolithography, Binder Jettin, Robocasting) and 4 Direct Writing Technologies (InkJet Printing, Aerosol Jet Printing, Micro-dispensing, and Aerosol Deposition Method which is patented as INPACT Technology).

EXALYSES: the CTTC’s characterization lab (recently renamed EXALYSES) offers a range of characterisation tools, specific to powders and…. We offer various services, designed to meet our clients/partners needs :
- R&D services (most of our activities, 50% of our turnover)
- Characerization and analyses (15% of our turnover)
- Expertise
- Feasibility
- Prototyping and testing
- Training
- Industrialization
- Pilot lines
- Pre-series manufacturing
- Technology transfer
- Collaborative research
- FabLab for the general public.
. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

CTMNC - Centre technique de matériaux naturels de construction

France: Île-de-France

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

The Technical Center for Natural Building Materials (CTMNC) has developed a reputation in Europe for promoting innovative techniques and for improving the quality of building materials for sixty years.

CTMNC has expertise in the characterisation, manufacturing and use of fired clay, unfired clay and natural stone as building materials and in their combination with other building materials.

CTMNC has 60 highly-skilled engineers and technicians spread over 3 geographical sites (Clamart, Limoges and Paris) that can rely on high-performance equipment :

a laboratory for testing materials, products and works
a laboratory dedicated to research and development on ceramic behaviour (characterisation, processes and surface covering)

Our vocation is to meet the needs of many players in the fields of materials, construction processes, building and roads. We also support professionals wishing to develop technological innovations.

Our interlocutors are industrialists, project managers, project owners… CTMNC has a large panel of equipment :

Chemical Analysis: Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Spectrometer, Ionic Chromatograph, UV-Visible Spectrophotometer,  Fourier Transform Infrared  (FT-IR) Spectrophotometer, XR-Diffractometer ;
Physical Characterisation : Particle Size Distribution (by Sieve and Sedigraph), Mercury Porosimeter, Optical Microscope,  Bigot Curve Measurement ;
Thermal Analysis : Themogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dilatometer, Calorimeter ;
Clay Studies: Laboratory Installations for Grinding, Extruding, Drying, Firing; High Pressure Extrusion Machine, Drying Test Rigs, Controlled Industrial Driers and Ovens ;
Tests on Products: Freeze/Thaw Units, Tile Flexural Strength Test Machine,  Brick Compressive Strength Test Machine, Impermeability and Absorption Measurement Facilities, Chimney Thermal Testing Rig, High Temperature Mechanical Testing Press ;
Tests on Works: Walls Compressive Test Machine (2000…. Research and development to improve the building materials and their manufacturing processes : optimisation of the clay bricks through simulation (thermal, acoustic, mechanical) ; development of unfired clay bricks ; development of functionalised covering ; improve the manufacturing processes and the quality of the building materials.

Technical expertise on products and buildings : raw materials characterisation, Masonry and roofing testing, Product testing (COFRAC NF EN 17025), support and recommendation on building material pathologies, evolution of building systems

Support for product and environmental quality certification procedures :  Audit of the NF label, Product certification (COFRAC NF EN 45011), Life cycle assessment, Environmental and Health declaration sheets, support on the waste management

Support to access the market : certification, guideline, BIM

Evaluation of the performance of building materials and building systems. Mechanical behaviour, Fire Safety ; Environment ;…. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

MI-Partners B.V.

Netherlands: North Brabant

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

MI-Partners is a company specialized in the development of high-end mechatronic systems. The development of these systems is often very challenging in terms of accuracy and/or speed. We deal with the full trajectory in system design: starting from whiteboard and specifications, we generate  concepts and make a concept selection, together with our customer. Then we start an iterative design process, where modelling, performance prediction and mechanical design go hand in hand. We outsource manufacturing of the parts, but assembly and testing is done in-house. As we mostly develop one-of-a-kind systems (prototypes, test equipment or research equipment), we always face unique challenges. Our company consists of 50 highly educated and experienced engineers. MI-Partners’ main competences being concept design, precision engineering, thermal design, dynamics and control. OEM customers from all over the world acknowledge our added value in bringing them innovation.

Member of:

DSPE (Dutch Society of… All (high-end) measurement equipment to do:

modal and vibration/acceleration measurements
thermal measurements
friction and stiffness measurements

.
Mechatronic research
Development, (thermal, CFD, dynamic simulations)
Design (actuators, motion control, air bearings, maglev technology, tuned mass damping, active vibration isolation, active thermal control and stability, vacuum and cryogenic )
Prototyping
One of a kind equipment, including CE certification and on-site installation
Testing and validation
Training

. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology

NOVELTIS

France: Occitania

Overview

Mission/Objectives of the cluster organisation

NOVELTIS is a French private company that was created in 1998. We perform innovative scientific engineering studies and implement customized end-user solutions in the fields of Space, the Environment and Sustainable Development.

Our engineers and scientists develop high-tech solutions that involve top-level skills in environmental and physical sciences, in areas covering atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces.

NOVELTIS teams have extensive expertise in multi-source data processing, environmental modelling, big data, cloud computing, Web-GIS and operational decision support systems. Our company supplies end-to-end services to governmental bodies and industries.

NOVELTIS helps also the space agencies and industry design tomorrow’s space missions, and promotes the use and exploitation of current missions. NOVELTIS focuses its activities on innovation, in close relations with international research laboratories.

NOVELTIS is certified to the ISO 9001 standards and has been granted “Confidential-Defense… . NOVELTIS and Space:

NOVELTIS works on the design of tomorrow’s space missions and enhances the value of current missions, in partnership with space agencies, the European Commission, research centers and industry.

With more than 20 years of experience, NOVELTIS has been able to develop over the years a real expertise in scientific engineering for space missions, whether for atmospheric physics and chemistry, oceanography, characterization of continental surfaces or sciences of the universe.

NOVELTIS' activities in Space includes:

Analysis and specification of the needs for new missions;
Preliminary studies of new concepts in Earth observation and atmospheric sounding;
Development of end-to-end simulators and new on-board and ground processing algorithms;
Performance analysis of space instruments and missions;
Design of new geophysical products derived from the missions;
Calibration and validation of observation systems, before and after satellite launch;
Radiative transfer modeling…. Yes. service.

Sectors
Technology