FET-Proactive


FP7: FET Proactive Intiative: Towards Zero-Power ICT (2zeroP)

NEWS

  • "Green ICT, towards Zero Power ICT":
    CHIST-ERA called for proposals in autumn 2011:
    - Low consumption devices (new processor design, new computing paradigm)
    - Energy efficient system (hardware and software), architecture
    - Energy Harvesting
  • Phonons & Fluctuations Workshop, Paris, France, 8th -9th September2011. The aim of the workshop is to follow on the discussions of the previous one held in November 2010 in the field of Phonons and Fluctuations. This event will bring scientists working in, but not exclusively, the European projects NANOFUNCTION, NANOPOWER, ZEROPOWER, NANOTEC, NANOICT, TAILPHOX, as well as the CNRS Network for Thermal Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. This year emphasis will be placed on the role of noise in ICT and on energy issues in the nanoscale. The speakers will highlight the state of the art and their vision concerning phonons and fluctuations.
  • The website of the ZEROPOWER CO-ORDINATION has been launched
  • A networking session " Energy efficient ICT: toward zero-power devices for a greener planet" took place at the ICT2010 conference, 28th September 2010 in Brussels. Organized by Prof. Luca Gammaitoni, University of Perugia, this session brought together European experts at the cutting-edge of developing efficient low-power ICT devices that harvest most of their energy from the environment.

WHAT IS "Towards Zero-Power ICT"?

FET proactive initiative: Towards Zero-Power ICT
Extract from ICT Work programme 2009-2010 - Objective ICT-2009 8.6 – Call 5)

New disruptive directions are needed for energy-harvesting technologies at the nanometre and molecular scale, and their integration with low-power ICT into autonomous nano-scale devices for sensing, processing, actuating and communication.

Target outcome
a) Foundations of Energy Harvesting at the nano-scale: Demonstration of radically new strategies for energy harvesting and local storage below the micrometer scale. Exploration and harnessing of potential energy sources at that scale including kinetic energy present in the form of random fluctuations, ambient electromagnetic radiation, chemical energy and others. Research may also address bio-mimicked energy collection and storage systems.

b) Self-powered autonomous nano-scale electronic devices: Autonomous nano scale electronic devices that harvest energy from the environment, possibly combining multiple sources, and store it locally. These systems would co-ordinate low-power sensing, processing, actuation, communication and energy provision into autonomous wireless nanosystems.

Expected impact
- Possibility of building autonomous nano-scale devices (from sensor to actuators), extending the miniaturisation of autonomous devices beyond the level of the 'smart dust
- New applications in a vast number of ICT fields such as intelligent distributed sensing, for health, safety-critical systems or environment monitoring

Funding Schemes: STREP

CALL 5 was launched: on 30 July 2009, CLOSED on 27 October 09, 17h Brussels local time
Information about and links to "Guide for Applicants"

Leaflet 2zeroP
Leaflet ( 300KB) with Extract of the ICT Work programme 2009-2010, Objective ICT-2009 8.6 – Call 5 - Towards Zero-Power ICT

EVENTS

PROJECTS

  • Seven research proposals were received for evaluation in Call 5, "Towards Zero-Power ICT". They requested a total EC contribution of € 17 million for addressing both fundamental scientific and technological challenges. Three out of four projects above threshold will be funded consuming nearly completely the budget of 7 Mio. €. SINAPS will employ semiconductor nanowires both for energy harvesting of electromagnetic radiation and for (bio-) chemical sensing. NANOPOWER will investigate the fundamentals of energy harvesting at the nano-scale by using piezoelectric nonlinear vibration, guided phonon transport and Buttiker-Landauer motors. GREEN SILICON will harvest energy from temperature gradients with zero-, one- and two-dimensional silicon silicon-germanium superlattices.
  • GREEN SILICON: Generate Renewable Energy Efficiently using Nanofabricated Silicon
    Project Home page
  • NANOPOWER: Nanoscale energy management for powering ICT devices
    Project Home page
  • SINAPS: Seminconducting Nanowire Platform for Autonomous Sensors
    Project Home page
  • The website of the ZEROPOWER Co-ordinating Action has been launched

TIMETABLE

  • Possibility of building autonomous nano-scale devices (from sensor to actuators), extending the miniaturisation of autonomous devices beyond the level of the 'smart dust'
  • New applications in a vast number of ICT fields such as intelligent distributed sensing, for health, safety-critical systems or environment monitoring
  • Call launched: 30 July 2009
  • Deadline for submission of proposals : CLOSED on 27 October09
  • Evaluation: Winter 2009-2010
  • Negotiations: Spring 2010
  • Start of projects : 1 August 2010

CONTACTS