EUREKA rewards innovative SME and environment-friendly project
EUREKA recognised a fast-growing company and efforts to improve Europe's environment with the presentation of two awards on 27 June. The CARE project, which has developed tools for promoting the reuse of components and the repair of electronic components and products, received the Lillehammer award for activities to improve Europe's environment. Contronics, a Dutch SME (small and medium sized enterprise) which has developed a humidifying system to keep fresh produce cool, received the Lynx award for fast-growing enterprises. Dr Hansjörg Griese from the Fraunhofer Institute told CORDIS News it is a 'great honour' for all the participants in the CARE project to receive the Lillehammer award. Collaborator Dr Urs Sennhauser from the Swiss Federal laboratories for materials testing and research added that the award will help with the marketing of the product. 'It will help us to gain recognition of this approach of reuse. Some countries are not yet active in this field, so the award will help to promote the idea there,' Dr Sennhauser said. He added that the interest of SMEs, the companies most likely to implement the ideas behind the CARE project (two are already doing so), in using the process is likely to be raised by the award. 'SMEs look for landmarks such as this award,' he said. The CARE project has developed tools for evaluating component reliability in order to convince manufacturers to reuse components that will function for a known period. But manufacturers are not the only ones who need convincing, according to Dr Sennhauser. He said that a 'social problem' means that the general public needs to be persuaded that reusing components is safe. There is also a legal problem, said Dr Sennhauser, particularly where liability is concerned. These restrictions led the project consortium to approach EUREKA for funding. 'If you want a project where you can finally use the results in an industrial environment, especially a project with complex technical and legal problems, you need to be able to form a flexible working package where you can add new sub-projects,' Dr Sennhauser said. EUREKA's flexible approach to financing the project was an additional reason for choosing them, he added. In this way, the CARE project resembles an integrated project, one of the new tools for the EU's Sixth Framework programme (FP6) for research and development (R&D). Dr Griese agrees with this comparison, and described the CARE project as 'an integrated project on a small level.' The consortium intends to submit a proposal for an integrated project and has already responded to the call for expressions of interest. Frank Bakker, Managing Director of Contronics and winner of the Lillehammer award, admits that his company first turned to EUREKA solely for funding. 'We are a small company and it's very difficult to get capital for development of this type of thing,' he said. 'We then discovered that the EUREKA sign, the EUREKA name, brought us commercial benefits.' Mr Bakker believes that by the end of this year, Contronics will have a turnover of around two million euro from their EUREKA project alone. The SANIFOGGER project developed an ultrasonic humidifying system, incorporating a special filter which produces minute water particles, which keeps food moist and fresh. The application of ozone at night also kills bacteria. Supermarkets using the system have reduced wastage by up to 60 per cent, and reduced their costs as food does not need packaging or cold overnight storage. SANIFOGGER was followed up by TRAVEL FOGGER, a 'travelling version' used to keep food fresh during long journeys. Since the project finished in 1999, Contronics has sold 1,500 systems. The SME's turnover for a novel humidifier increased by 20 per cent in 2000, and 42 per cent in 2002. 'Winning the Lynx award was very motivating for my team. We really feel like a company with a good future. It will bring us a lot of attention worldwide and new customers in new fields. EUREKA endorsement and the Lynx award are a sign that our product is something special,' said Mr Bakker.