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HELMo Gramme As part of the technical division of the HELMo University College in Liege, HELMo Gramme welcomes some 630 students, divided in two cycles, and totals some sixty to seventy graduates per year. Moreover, it builds on forty FTEs and about a hundred teachers. Applied research and continuing education play an active role in initial training. Since 2020 IT has been integrated into the technical department: this is an opportunity for the engineering school to develop projects on Industry 4.0.
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he HELMo University College has a cross-disciplinary research centre: the CRIG (research centre for grouped institutes). Headed by Isabelle Bragard, the CRIG is made up of thematic cells; one of them is supported by the computer science and technology department and headed by Sandra Belboom and Frédéric Senny. Five main lines of research have been defined, including IT, Industry 4.0, Environment, Biotechnologies, entrepreneurship. Within this framework, HELMo Gramme pursues research projects on a European, regional and internal scale. These different sources of funding (INTERREG, competitiveness clusters, Walloon Region) enable students to develop their own research strategy and the University College to hire researchers.
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Focus on Industry 4.0, the circular economy and life sciences
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Rolling Solar: towards the integration of solar cells in public infrastructures The road network interconnecting Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands makes up a total of one million kilometres of roads that represent a godsend for the transition to renewable energies by integrating solar cells into them and into urban equipment. Promising demonstrators where crystalline solar cells are integrated into cycle paths, roads and noise barriers have already been realised. However, the costs of such systems are high because they are not yet produced on a large scale and are based on fragile silicon solar cells produced in the form of small tiles, which require high mechanical protection and a lot of assembly. The aim of the Interreg ROLLING SOLAR project is to reduce costs through the use of flexible (less fragile) thin-film modules, to improve their integration into road infrastructures and thus to enable large-scale sustainable power generation directly at the point of use and without the use of additional space. This project is part of the INTERREG V-A MRE programme, which aims to strengthen the potential of the Meuse-Rhine Euregio. It is carried out by a consortium of no less than 8 public research institutes and 13 private industrial partners. The project is based on four work packages: - Development of solar modules ; - Integration and testing of these modules in building elements; - Innovative electrical interconnection; - Validation and industrialisation. CRIG’s specific objective in this international project is to ensure the environmental coherence of the project by analysing the life cycle (LCA) of the solutions developed and by carrying out a study focused on the eco-design and recyclability of photovoltaic modules. ROLLING STAR started on 1 September 2018 and will end on 31 August 2021. More information on www.rollingsolar.eu, www.interregemr.eu and https://www.interregemr.eu/projets/rolling-solar-1-fr
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