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The illumination revolution

Project description

A smart lighting solution that imitates nature

Apart from powering the world, lighting technology also has a range of environmental effects, the most important being its aggravating impact on global warming and its contribution to the depletion of natural resources and the loss of biodiversity. Paradoxically, nature’s solution in terms of lighting has been disarmingly effective and sustainable: a broad variety of organisms can produce and emit their own biological light without the aid of the sun. This process is called bioluminescence. Having learned from nature’s example, the EU-funded Pipelight_2 project is developing a living system that produces continuous bioluminescence. The project aims to replace urban artificial lighting, decrease environmental impact, enhance well-being and offer new creative possibilities.

Objective

Light is what powers the world and makes our cities live. Light is identified as civilization’s first marker of development. In our lives, light is everywhere, produced by the Sun or artificially created by human ingenuity. However today’s lighting technology is contributing to global warming, therefore threatening both our planet and its inhabitants, contributing to the depletion of natural resources and the loss of biodiversity.
Ironically Nature has done 3.8 billion years of research and development through evolution to find the most efficient solution in terms of lighting: bioluminescence. Fireflies, glow-worms, and more than 80% of marine organisms (jellyfish, plankton, fish, squids, sharks, krill) produce this biological light without needing the Sun.
Glowee has decided to imitate what Nature does best and use these super-powers to develop biological lighting. For 5 years, Glowee’s multidisciplinary team (biologist, designer, business, finance) have been working to create the bedrock of Pipelight_2, a living system producing continuous bioluminescence in order to replace urban artificial lighting, reduce environmental impact, improve well-being and offer new creative possibilities.
Glowee has acquired unparalleled, world-leading expertise in the field of bioluminescence, recognized globally by more than 20 innovation awards and 3 patents filed. Global smart lighting market fitting with Glowee’s technology is huge (> 1b€) and our business plan reach 28 M€ of revenue in 2028.
TRL6 has been reached, the market validated through over 50 stakeholder interviews. The proposed project aims to increase the product performances to be ready for most challenging and impactful outdoor use (intensity, temperature resilience, cost-efficiency) and run a first pilot market demonstration (grant request). With the equity request, Glowee is willing to partner with a patient investor supporting its unique technology and its ambition to lead the light industry revolution.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

GLOWEE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 731 625,00
Address
4 RUE PIERRE FONTAINE
91000 Evry
France

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Essonne
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 475 000,00
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