number 008. July-August 2014
CONTENTS published CARTIF Research Centre Boecillo Technology Park. Valladolid, Spain www.cartif.com
staff CARTIF Communication Department
collaborations International Projects Department. Raquel López. Rubén García.
design
CARTIF news
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Keywords
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Talking with…
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The project
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CARTIF selection
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oopscooperative@gmail.com
photography Cover and inside pictures: CARTIF archive Back cover picture: Aníbal Reñones.
INTERN
EDITOR’S NOTE This October, CARTIF will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its foundation. During this period of time, we have become one of the “seniors” among Spanish research centres, allowing us to offer proven experience to our customers. Over the years we have completed almost 600 R&D projects, with the majority taking place in Spain. This corresponds to the Centre’s founding principles: to contribute to the development of its economic and social environment by using and promoting technology innovation through the development and propagation of research. However, in response also to our vocation to disseminate and achieve excellence in our lines of work, our researchers have gone beyond national borders to work on more ambitious projects. Therefore, by happy coincidence, this year – the 20th in our short history – is also the year we can chalk up 100 international projects either completed or ongoing. In the centre pages of this edition you will find a description of this history. Here’s to the next 100!
NATIONALS
cartif news
cartif news This news selection is just a small sample of the Center activities in the last month. You can follow us through our web and social networks. THE REVAWASTE PROJECT MIXED PLANT WILL BE IN TARRAGONA (SPAIN) The general aim of the LIFE Project REVAWASTE, led by CARTIF, is the sustainable management of a broad spectrum of wastes (non-recyclable fraction proceeding from waste treatment plants and industrial, together with biomass, livestock and agrofood wastes) in an integrated plant.
This objective will be reached by means of the technological development and practical application of the “mixed plant” concept. This development will support a new waste management strategy, based on the separation, pre-treatment, recycling and valorisation steps.
REEMAIN PROJECT LAUNCHES A MANUFACTURING PLATFORM Under the framework of the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) program, REEMAIN’s has formed a “Manufacturing Technology Platform (MTP) project extension” that links REEMAIN to other research efforts and organizations in Europe and the USA The collaborative platform is called iProSPER and it stands for the International Program for Sustainable Production and Energy Reduction. The platform will remain open to new members.
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cartif news
INSPIRE PROJECT COMPLETES LARGEST STUDY OF EUROPEAN BUILDING STOCK The EU is working towards ambitious targets for the reduction of energy consumption of buildings in Europe. This includes a bold renovation target which seeks to transform existing buildings into nearly zero-energy buildings. INSPIRE project has addressed this information gap with its recently completed assessment and analysis of the EU-27’s residential and office building stock. In terms of targeting buildings to improve through fabric retrofit measures, the report concludes that older dwellings have greater potential for improvement. With over half the residential stock in the EU-27 countries being built before 1970.
R2CITIES CONSORTIUM HELD ITS 2ND PERIODIC MEETING IN GENOA Between 16 and 20 June, R2CITIES partner, Genoa Municipality played host to over ten events, designed to pave the way forward for green urban policy in the framework of Genoa Smart Week. The line-up of events ranged from conferences, presentations and roundtables bringing together experts, stakeholders and authorities from across a number of cities and districts in Europe. Our colleague Rubén García, as the project coordinator, presented the results of the first work year of the project.
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keywords
keywords Framework Programmes INTERREG LIFE As a research centre, one of the objectives of CARTIF has always been to obtain an international presence. Aware that science, technology and innovation are a universal heritage that requires the sharing of information as to what is being done simultaneously by other groups, since 2002 the Centre has included the internationalisation of its projects as part of its growth strategy.
CARTIF has become a leader in some highly competitive sectors such as energy efficiency and smart cities
For reasons of geographic proximity and common interests, the most natural region for this expansion was Europe. Given that the EU already had financing instruments for R&D (such as the Framework Programme), the researchers’ first option was to learn about the mechanisms of that programme (the 5th at the time) and begin to create proposals that would meet the requirements established by the European Commission. The beginnings were neither fast nor simple. In Spain there is no specific academic degree that prepares for European R&D project
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EIP
PPP Iberoeka
H2020 CIP
management. Therefore, the researchers based their work on their technical abilities, brainstorming what they wanted to develop and looking for calls for proposals to obtain funding. At that time, barely 4% of the Centre’s personnel worked in this sector.
Among the first successes achieved between 2002 and 2007 were several projects relating to the agrifood sector, the application of chemical processes in industry and the management of innovation, included under the 5FP, 6FP, the CIP programme and INTERREG. With the commencement of the 7FP, this experience meant that CARTIF began working on a larger number of projects, some of which it even coordinated. Twelve years later, personnel involved in European projects accounts for around 19% of the workforce, and CARTIF has become a leader in some highly competitive sectors such as energy efficiency and smart cities and sustainable management.
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The number of projects in which it participates, as partner or coordinator, and the scope of the applied and demonstrated technology and of the research carried out, places CARTIF among the top Spanish centres present in the European market. Over the last six years, the centre has worked on 22 projects under the 7FP, of which it has coordinated 8. On other funding programmes (LIFE, CIP, INTERREG) it has carried out 21 projects, coordinating 11 of them. Another important factor in this area is participating on platforms, networks and professional associations of each research or market sector. CARTIF currently belongs to twenty or so organisations related to its research lines: construction, infrastructure, energy, environment, industry, food, health and ICTs. CARTIF coordinates the Cultural Heritage subgroup of the European Construction Technology Platform; it belongs to the WssTP (Water supply and sanitation Technology Platform) and has been appointed as the Spanish liaison point for E2B. Furthermore, the Centre participates in EERA (European Energy Research Alliance), on both the Joint Programme on economic, environmental and social impacts (JP e3s) and the Joint Programme on Smart Cities. It is also a member of Food for Life-Spain, of public-private partnerships such as Bio-based Industries (PPP-BBI), Robotics (PPP-Robotics) and Factories of the Future (PPP-FoF). The Centre takes part in European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), in particular the EIPs on Agriculture, Smart Cities, Water, and Raw Materials.
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International history
Throughout its 20 years, CARTIF’s research teams have been involved in 100 international projects, 72 in Europe and 28 in Latin America and northern Africa. It has participated in numerous research and technology transfer networks on the American continent, providing experts for various lines of study, with particular emphasis on the automation, instrumentation and process control in manufacturing. As part of the Iberoeka framework programme, numerous projects have been completed in various countries. Among those developed in Europe, the Centre has participated on some of the most ambitious projects funded by the EU over the last few years. These include Green eMotion on electromobility; LASHARE on industrial laser applications; HeERO on the pan-European emergency call service system;
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BEMOSA on the prevention of threats to airports; REEMAIN, on manufacturing of the future; RESCATAME and EQUINOX on urban pollution control; VALUVOIL, REVAWASTE, HUELLAS and COLRECEPS on waste treatment; CITyFiED, R2CITIES, INSPIRE, BRICKER, COMMONENERGY and DIRECTION on energy efficiency; OPTIRAIL on railway infrastructures; SandS on the Internet of Things; and many others in fields such as agrifood, biorefineries, ICTs applied to different sectors and innovation management. In short, CARTIF’s international vocation is increasingly more firm and aims to expand into more market niches and research areas. In order to discover more about how the Centre’s international team works, we invite you to read the interview on the following pages.
talking with
talking with… The International Projects Team As part of the Centre’s internationalisation strategy at the turn of the century, Management created an International Projects Department, currently made up of five people with different profiles. Among them are management and administration experts along with researchers who began by developing projects in the different Divisions of the Centre and who provide their experience from other points of view. In the words of one of its coordinators, Pedro Caballero, the variety of their knowledge and backgrounds is essential for successfully covering all of the aspects regarding the “life cycle” of a project. The team members perform a wide variety of tasks that form part of this cycle: creation of the idea, development of proposals, their drafting and presentation, management of ongoing projects and the subsequent justifications. They are the first to attend the information days organised by the EU and its DirectoratesGeneral (the so-called Info Days), they contact
Pedro Caballero. Industrial Engineer. Coordinates the International Projects Department from 2006. Independent expert for the EC
Paloma Gatón. Biologist. Represents CARTIF in the EIP on Agriculture
the necessary institutions and businesses, they take responsibility for the administrative and financial management of the projects, they negotiate contracts and are at the disposal of the technicians of each Division of the Centre to support them in their daily tasks, as Daniel Martín explains. However, in addition to the projects in the negotiation or development phase, there is another vital part of their work: the drafting of the many proposals which are ultimately not approved. Paloma Gatón believes in the need for this experience of projects which sometimes fail in order to learn and achieve success. This belief is endorsed by her colleagues. Another important part of the team’s work is the strategic orientation of the rest of the Centre. The International Projects Department is responsible for informing all personnel, from management to the work teams, of the priority streams of EU funding. We must always
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talking with
Daniel Martín. International Marketing Expert. Management and preparation of international projects in Energy and Health areas
consider expanding our areas of activity, says Pedro Caballero. Right now, we are very comfortable with the areas in which we are well positioned, but we are already considering others in which we would like to have the same success. In the short term, we will focus on the health sector, in which we already have national experience in AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) and Biomedical engineering. When asked about the reasons for CARTIF’s success in certain fields, opinions coincide: more than a decade of experience, without a doubt, states Daniel Martín. That is a lot of time in this field. Other centres and companies are expanding into Europe after seeing opportunities in Spain reduced, but obtaining visibility, position and success takes time. In the opinion of Paloma Gatón, a multidisciplinary team is another deciding factor. At CARTIF we complement each other. Some areas perform tasks that complement others and the managers give them the final touches. Yes, we are a research centre, but here all of the researchers have to develop management skills, which is not normally the case, says Pedro Caballero. This means that the researchers supervise very well the calls for proposals, the programmes and EU requirements. Being good at research and innovation is not enough: being able to fit the
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ideas to the requirements demanded by the funding body is just as important, he reflects. A good example of this is the success achieved in the last calls for the LIFE programme, in which CARTIF was the European centre to be awarded the most projects. Everyone asks us how we did it, comments Paloma Gatón, and the answer is not simple, but we could summarise it as a combination of good technologists, great ideas and correct management. And, of course, years of experience. Something similar happens with projects in the energy sector, points out Daniel Martín. The Energy Division already had extensive experience in renewable energies and the application and development of technologies when it began to draw up European proposals. There was some success during the first years but as soon as the field gained recognition, the number of projects multiplied. We are currently a centre of reference in Europe in this field, because we are working on 15 projects regarding energy efficiency and smart cities. We have covered all the phases: the building, the district and the city. Today, we are leading three very large projects, with demosites in various countries as well as large constructions on which we have worked. It is a huge responsibility from a technical
Raquel López. PhD in Chemistry. Represents CARTIF in the EIP on Water and Raw Materials
talking with
point of view, says Pedro Caballero, but above all from a managerial viewpoint. CARTIF is the spokesperson for the rest of the partners of the consortia at the EU, it manages the fulfilment of tasks assigned and it administers funds. This is one of the tasks carried out by the Department to support the Divisions.
Involvement in work groups As already mentioned previously, CARTIF belongs to platforms, networks and associations of various sectors. Among the most recent additions, are the EIPs (European Innovation Partnerships), institutions destined to decide the main themes to which funds for R&D&I will be assigned over the next few years. These are bottom-up initiatives that aim to promote business leadership and improve science-business interaction. The EIPs are organised around the so-called Action Groups and Commitments. CARTIF actively participates in 3 of these groups, enabling it to be in contact with the most important actors in European innovation and to influence the future lines of research that will be prioritised by the Commission. As a Centre, our participation provides impetus to our lines of work, which allows us to consolidate our position as a leading research centre at the international level, says Raquel López, a researcher who represents CARTIF in the EIP on Water and in the EIP on Raw Materials as well as coordinating two of the Centre’s LIFE projects. In the case of Rubén García, who represents CARTIF in the EIP on Smart Cities (EIP SCC) in a personal capacity, being selected to belong to these partnerships means recognition of the
Centre’s track record with regard to the Smart City idea, initiated several years ago. Currently, CARTIF not only coordinates two Smart City projects, while participating and coordinating several more on Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Shopping Centres, but it also holds the Secretariat for the Smart City Valladolid and Palencia initiative (Smart City VyP) led by the two city councils. With membership of the EIP SCC, CARTIF’s work is recognised and its experience and knowledge is placed at the disposal of the European Commission; the EIP SCC is one of the most important advisory and support bodies for the EC and also has huge development potential over the next few years.
Rubén García. Computer Engineer. Represents CARTIF in the EIP SCC
Rubén García, researcher in the Energy Division and coordinator of the Smart City project R2CITIES, is jointly responsible for one of the work groups of the Stakeholder Platform of EIP-SCC (“ICT for Energy Efficiency in Buildings”), which in his own words, is at the same time both a personal challenge and a huge responsibility. On a practical level, this implies promoting collaboration between large businesses, SMEs, academics, local councils, regional government institutions and advising the EC with regard to new guidelines to be followed by our Cities of the Future.
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the project
the project
DIANA: new foods with more antioxidants The original idea of this Project was to obtain natural antioxidants from the waste of certain foods (grapes, cereals (oats and sorghum), coffee and algae) and developing new enriched food. The second phase was the design of ingredients with antioxidants, mainly polyphenols from wine and coffee, ferulic acid from cereal. Subsequently, the research advanced the implementation of the new formulations in various matrices and sensory evaluation of the contribution. Finally, researchers studied the effect of antioxidants on food matrices, meat, dairy, animal feed, pasta, snacks, coffee, flour and beverages.
Some of these new products are milk enriched with dry white grape extract, pasta enriched with red grape extract, soluble coffee with a 20% more of antioxidant capacity, energy healthy bars and extruded cereals high in fiber, isotonic drinks, flours with more betaglucans and ferulic acid, and more healthy feedstuffs for fish.
The objective was to evaluate the preservative effect that prevents oxidation and rancidity by physico-chemical properties, improved microbiological stability, sensory properties and nutritional-functional effect CARTIF has worked to enhance the waste from the grapes, cereals, coffee and algae through different technologies, such as extrusion cooking, extraction and purification of antioxidants (ferulic acid and polyphenols from coffee) and betaglucans from cereals, etc. With these new ingredients, new enriched products have been developed.
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CARTIF CEO with the research team of the Project during its public presentation
cartif selection
This month, we recommend you two of the last published papers from our researchers and the Winner’s classic work
ROAD CRACK DETECTION USING VISUAL FEATURES EXTRACTED BY GABOR FILTERS Zalama, E; Gomez-Garcia-Bermejo, J; Medina, R; Llamas, J; Computer-aided civil and infrastructure engineering; 2014 Pavement management systems require detailed information of the current state of the roads to take appropriate actions to optimize expenditure on maintenance and rehabilitation. In particular, the presence of cracks is a cardinal aspect to be considered. This article presents a solution based on an instrumented vehicle equipped with an imaging system, two Inertial Profilers, a Differential Global Positioning System, and a webcam. Information about the state of the road is acquired at normal road speed.
CORN STOVER THERMAL DECOMPOSITION IN PYROLYTIC AND OXIDANT ATMOSPHERE Conesa, JA; Urueña, A; Diez, D.; Journal of analytical and applied pyrolysis, 106 132-137; 2014 The pyrolysis and combustion of corn stover were studied by dynamic thermogravimetry and derivate thermogravimetry at heating rates of 5, 10, 20 and 50 K min−1 at atmospheric pressure. For the simulation of pyrolysis and combustion processes a kinetic model based on the distribution of activation energies was used, with three pools of reactants (three pseudocomponents) because of the complexity of the biomass samples of agricultural origin.
THE WHALE AND THE REACTOR: A SEARCH FOR LIMITS IN AN AGE OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY Langdon Winner. The University of Chicago Press, 1986. 214 pages. 20 $ Langdon Winner has made a name for himself as a public historian who raises the very questions many of us are reluctant to ask about new information technologies. This far-sighted and still-timely collection of ten essays explores some the social, political, and philosophical ramifications of these technologies. While he looks at computer networking, nuclear reactors, genetic engineering, the socalled appropriate-technology movement and a variety of other specific issues, his main focus is on the way we think about technology. He believes that, unlike other forms of human creativity, technology has never been considered a subject worthy of philosophical inquiry.
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innovation engine