Building an Ecosystem for the up-scaling of lightweight multi-functional concrete and ceramic materials and structures.

During the last decades a trend towards the use of lightweight materials in constructions and infrastructures, as well as for the aerospace, automotive and defence industry is observed. Lightweight durable components are easy to transport, handle and install and demand less operational energy reducing substantially their environmental footprint, as well as the relative costs. Among other materials, concrete and ceramics are on the focus of interest due to their wide range of applications and their durability.

Based on end applications lightweight attributes must be coupled with enhanced properties and multifunctionalities, such as high wear and mechanical strength, self-sensing, self-cleaning properties, which can be achieved with the addition of nanoparticles (NPs) to formulations (e.g. Al2O3, TiO2, SiC, CNT). However, pilots are bulky and expensive facilities which in most of the cases require upgrades to be modular and flexible in application, while administrative burdens often delay project kick-off and funding gaps are difficult to overcome, making the majority of the already existing efforts to remain on a lab or in restricted pilot level with limited exploitation capacity for further industrialization.

Objective

The main objective of the LightCoce project is to cover the gap in the upscaling and testing of multifunctional lightweight concrete and ceramic materials by providing open access to SMEs and Industry to Pilot Lines (PLs) through a one-stop-shop ecosystem consisting of upgraded Pilot Lines (including three clusters of PLs; a. Concrete, b. Conventional Ceramics, and c. Advanced Ceramics), characterisation & testing facilities, process modelling, quality assurance and monitoring, and standardisation, safety and innovation management services that will be accessible to the interested stakeholders (clients) at fair conditions and cost. 

The ecosystem will be reached from customers through a single-entry point (SEP). The value proposition of LightCoce is based on four main elements of high value for business and in particular SMEs, namely access to Pilot Lines and associated technology and competence (including IPs), access to network, access to finance and access to international markets.

In this framework, the overall objective of LightCoce is to create the European wide reference network of Pilot Lines for the development, expertise, technology validation facilities and transfer services to industry and SMEs for advanced materials applications ranging from constructions materials (bricks, ceramic tiles, concrete blocks), and infrastructures (ready mix concrete, prefabricated components), to high tech applications in automotive and aerospace industry. 

In this respect the LightCoce consortium consisting of 26 organizations has been formed by well recognized and world leading experts in their fields: 5 Large Enterprises, 1 Association, 8 RTDs and 12 SMEs, spread across 9 countries has been organized around a core group of partners which are the owners of the different Pilot Lines and the organizations in charge of delivering the key services to guarantee financial sustainability; a second group of partners represent an initial layer of customers and end-users for the test beds facilities and will co-invest their resources to support in the upgrade of the facilities and the launch of pilot projects.

The LightCoce Ecosystem will ultimately strengthen the cooperation between stakeholders (technology providers, service providers and the industry), building business model based on Open access cooperative Innovation.

Partners

• ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION
• AERCRETE TECHNOLOGY AB
• ADVANCED MATERIAL SIMULATION SL
• ELLINIKO PARARTIMA TIS AMERIKANIKISENOSIS MICHANIKON THERMANSIS PSICHIS KAI KLIMATISMOY
• AXIA INNOVATION UG
• EXELISIS IKE
• RISE RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SWEDEN AB
• CREATIVE NANO PC
• ZERO EMISSIONS ENGINEERING BV
• FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUER WAERMESCHUTZ EINGETRAGENER VEREIN MUENCHEN
• HIGHFTECH ENGINEERING SRL
• IDENER TECHNOLOGIES SL
• SIEC BADAWCZA LUKASIEWICZ - INSTYTUT OBROBKI PLASTYCZNEJ
• INSTITUTO DE SOLDADURA E QUALIDADE
• ASOCIACION DE INVESTIGACION DE LASINDUSTRIAS CERAMICAS AICE
• KERABEN GRUPO SA
• MOSTOSTAL WARSZAWA SA
• NANOCYL SA
• NUOVA TESI SYSTEM SRL
• SCHLAGMANN POROTON GMBH & CO. KG
• AZIMUT SPACE GMBH
• STAM SRL
• SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS EUROPE SL
• TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE NURNBERG GEORG SIMON OHM
• TITAN CEMENT COMPANY AE
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
• UNISMART - FONDAZIONE UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
• LIGHTCOCE OPEN INNOVATION TEST BED IKE

Start date: 1 January 2019 - End date: 30 June 2023

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 814632.