Final Report Summary - SECURE-R2I (Reinforcing cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries on bridging the gap between research and innovation for inclusive and secure societies)
Executive Summary:
The overall aim of the SECURE-R2I project was to reinforce cooperation with Eastern Partnership Countries (EPC) on bridging the gap between research and innovation for Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 7. “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies”. The research domains encompassed by “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies” are broad. Addressing this issue, the SECURE-R2I project assisted R&D and innovation (RDI) organisations in EPC via a range of knowledge and technology transfer activities with the support of European specialists. The activities included:
• Networking between EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7: It consisted in mapping EPC RDI organisations and organising brokerage events to stimulate cooperation;
• Analysing the tech transfer opportunities and bottlenecks of EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 6: It consisted in surveying these organisations and holding discussions with representatives of government, industry, government and intermediary bodies;
• Exchanging best practices in knowledge/technology transfer via a range of specific training courses and intensive summer schools in Europe;
• Twinning via R2I pilot projects: Each EPC research partner in the consortium twinned with another consortium partner who supported them to implement a bilateral R2I pilot project;
• Providing innovation support services to selected, high-potential EPC (and European) RDI: The activities consisted in coaching and advisory services on innovation and tech-transfer.
The main work and results achieved during the project were the following:
WP2 – Networking
• Final version of the online promotional brochure featured 40 EPC organisations and technologies. 100 hardcopies of the final edition were distributed during the final event in Kyiv. The electronic version of the promotional brochure was downloaded over 4600 times.
• Successful brokerage events were held in Tbilisi attracting 110 participants (June 2015), Minsk attracting 100 participants (November 2015) and Kyiv attracting 120 participants (September 2016).
WP3 – Cooperation and Knowledge Transfer Analysis
• Audits were successfully conducted of six EPC RDI organisations.
• Based on the SMART scan process, six promising technologies from EPC organisations were selected for innovation support.
• Three innovation policy dialogue exercises were successfully held in Tbilisi (June 2015), Minsk (November 2015) and Yerevan (May 2016).
• A “Report on technology transfer opportunities and bottlenecks in the Eastern Partnership Countries” was published in September 2016.
WP4 – Best Practices Exchange
• Technology-transfer summer schools were successfully held in Tallinn (June 2014), Heraklion (July 2015) and Coimbra (July 2016) attracting 58 participants from EPC countries.
WP5 – Twinning via Research-to-Innovation (R2I) Pilot Projects
• R2I pilot project implemented in Ukraine: implement security holograms utilising diffractive optical elements based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers.
• R2I pilot project implemented in Belarus: Innovative e-voting system for remote monitoring of elections.
• R2I pilot project implemented in Georgia: Smart sensory networks for nuclear radiation monitoring.
• R2I pilot project implemented in Armenia: Toward secure quantum communication technologies.
WP6 – Innovation Support Services
• Hands-on support provided to the six EPC research/technology teams which helped them to understand how to review exploitation models/commercialization pathways by taking into consideration both the market potentials and the opportunities of upscaling in the international arena.
WP7 – Dissemination and Promotion
• Project website attracted over 7500 unique visitors.
• Five newsletters published.
• Results of the pilot projects presented in 10 published research articles and 15 international conferences.
Project Context and Objectives:
The overall aim of the SECURE-R2I project was to reinforce cooperation with Eastern Partnership Countries (EPC) on bridging the gap between research and innovation for Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 7. “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies”. The research domains encompassed by “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies” are broad. From the perspective of Eu R&D thematic priorities, they include ICT; Security; Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials (NMP); and Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). These research domains also form the basis of important economic sectors in the EPC, with many potential benefits for the EU, but which also need European support to increase their exploitation. Addressing this issue, the SECURE-R2I project assisted R&D and innovation (RDI) organisations in EPC via a range of knowledge and technology transfer activities with the support of European specialists.
The project aimed to achieve its overall objective via the following groups of activities:
i. Identify and network with EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7
The objective was to bring together different EPC and EU organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7 to exchange information and develop and knowledge and tech-transfer partnerships. In order to achieve this, the consortium partners: i) collected information on key EPC RDI organisations, ii) promoted EPC RDI organisations via different communication channels, and iii) organised three brokerage event in EPC.
ii. Assess the tech-transfer opportunities and bottlenecks in the EPC
The objective was to analyse tech-transfer processes in EPC in order to provide recommendations on how to improve them. The approach consisted in: i) identifying barriers and bottlenecks as well as promising innovation, ii) auditing six EPC RDI organisations, iii) proposing policy recommendations, and iv) selecting six promising technologies for hands-on support.
iii. Train EPC RDI organisations in knowledge and technology transfer
The objective was to train and exchange RDI methods and techniques with EPC RDI organisations. This was achieved through: i) organising three (3) summer schools in Europe, ii) organising site visits to leading European innovation support organisations, and iii) supporting the trainees in applying their knowledge.
iv. Twinning between EPC and EU/AC partners via R2I pilot projects
The objective was to twin each EPC research consortium partner (ISP-NASU, UIIP-NASB, GTU and IPR-NAS) with another consortium partner. Each EPC and EU/AC pair achieved this by: i) implementing a bilateral R2I pilot project relevant to Societal Challenge 7, ii) organising trainings and exchanges of experts, and iii) organising long term information exchange in mutually interesting research and technology areas.
v. Hands-on tech-transfer support to EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7
The objective was to support promising EPC RDI organisations needing tailored, hands-on support for tech-transfer. Activities offered included: i) coaching on IPR, business plans, innovation management and innovation financing., and ii) advising on the most appropriate technology exploitation routes.
vi. Promote project results and international cooperation
The objective was to increase awareness of EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7 and stimulate cooperation with European organisations. A multilateral approach was adopted to achieve this: i) promoting project activities and results through a project website, and ii) publishing and distributing promotion materials (leaflet, poster, newsletters).
vii. Cluster with related EU projects to identify common RDI weaknesses and coordinate policy measures
The objective was to communicate, cooperate and exchange with related EU projects (e.g. INCO R2I, IncoNet-EECA, IncoNet-CA/SC and BILAT-UKR*AINA) to identify common structural weaknesses in the research to innovation chain and coordinate policy measures to address them.
Project Results:
The main S&T results/foregrounds came from the four bilateral research–to-innovation (R2I) pilot projects relevant to Societal Challenge 7. These three year collaboration pilot projects involved short term exchanges and training in scientific techniques.
i) R2I pilot project in Ukraine: implement security holograms utilising diffractive optical elements based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers
By the end of the pilot project, the Ukrainian consortium partner ISP-NASU and Moldovan consortium partner IAP-ASM had produced the following main results:
• New structures based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers nanolayers (Ge5As37S58-Se and As2S3–Se) were obtained by successive multilayer deposition on a glass substrate in a thermal vacuum. The direct, one step, surface relief formation process was shown to produce grating structures with a diffraction efficiency between 20% to 30% at the wavelength 650 nm at (+45⁰)–(-45⁰) orientations of polarizations. Carbazole-based polymer epoxy propylcarbazole doped by azodye disperse orange was synthesized, and surface relief gratings with a largest amplitude of about 130nm (48% of film thickness) were formed by light and electron irradiation.
• Several types of diffractive optical element (DOE) were produced using the new chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers nanolayers: optical components (lenses and beam splitter) and security elements (labels, emblems). The possibility to create azopolymer nanomultilayer structures in a one-step process opens the way to fabricating optical elements with unique properties.
• The partners digitally designed a security hologram - based on the state emblem of Moldova - for use by the State Assay Chamber to protect precious metal articles from falsification by directly marking the hologram on to the surface of the metal.
• The research results were published in 11 scientific journal articles - including articles in Optical Materials and the Journal of Nano Research - and presented at 15 international conferences.
• The partners plan to patent the developed recording media in Ukraine and Moldova.
• IAP-ASM won a Horizon 2020 project – utilising research results from this SECURE-R2I pilot project – which will enable them to develop new DOE for digital holographic microscopy together with the Universität Stuttgart and Tampere University of Technology (see www.h2020-holo.com).
ii) R2I pilot project in Belarus: Innovative e-voting system for remote monitoring of elections
Over the course of the pilot project, the Belarusian consortium partner UIIP-NASB first developed the architecture of the Guarantor e-voting system and then produced an initial prototype demonstrator to show to the Estonian consortium partner Cybernetica. The security and usability of the proposed architecture were evaluated by Cybernetica, who made recommendations for developing a second prototype. This second prototype was later successfully tested during a demonstration voting event at the Belarusian IT association Infopark.
To attract potential clients for the Guarantor system, UIIP-NASB developed a mock client portal with all the functionality required to hold election events. The hope was to commercialise the system with “Moi Dom” — an organization providing various services to homeowner and landowner cooperatives in Belarus. Currently, most of the services offered by “Moi Dom” are related to payments, but they are interested to expand and offer electronic government services, including secure voting over the Internet.
iii) R2I pilot project in Georgia: Smart sensory networks for nuclear radiation monitoring
Overall, the main results achieved by the Georgian consortium partner GTU and Greek consortium partner TEI Piraeus during the pilot project were:
• Radiation detectors were produced from samples prepared using Czochralski- and Magnetic Czochralski-silicon methods. These devices are considered very promising candidates for future nuclear experiments.
• Dopant impurity atoms B (B10) were added to molten Si in precise amounts. The influence of the dopant compensation on the carrier mobility has been thoroughly investigated.
• A wireless sensor network comprised of the radiation detectors was tested in the Radiology Department of Athens University Hospital. The sensor network was shown to perform well with clinical instruments such as: dual-energy absorptiometry, 3d panoramic x-ray, flat-panel CT angiography, etc.
• 6 journal articles were published.
• 11 conference papers were presented.
iv) R2I pilot project in Armenia: Toward secure quantum communication technologies
Over the course of the pilot project, the Armenian consortium partners IPR-NAS and Redinet were able to develop a quantum repeater protocol without long-lived quantum memories based on the deterministic storage of a single photon in cold atomic ensembles. It was shown that this system is the fastest quantum repeater proposed so far. In particular, a total time Ttotal of approximately 1s was predicted for key distribution over the distance of approximately 1000 km, in contrast to a Ttotal > 4000s using conventional protocols. The proposed mechanism is capable of reshaping single-photon wave-packets during frequency conversion to match a photon wave packet, which is typically emitted by a quantum-memory element such as an atom, ion, or quantum dot.
The considerable theoretical advance made by the researchers was reflected in their success in publishing three related research articles in the prestigious international journals Laser Physics, Physical Review A and Journal of Physics B.
Potential Impact:
The SECURE-R2I project was expected to achieve the following potential impacts:
1. To foster mutually beneficial public-private-partnerships between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries through the market uptake of research results.
2. To contribute to the achievement of a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between the EU and ENP countries through enhancing cooperation between research and innovation actors on both sides.
3. To increase the potential of STI cooperation between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries under the Horizon 2020 and to contribute to the definition of bi-regional programmes on innovation.
We now step through each of these, one-by-one.
1. To foster mutually beneficial public-private-partnerships between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries through the market uptake of research results.
SECURE-R2I helped to create this impact via its many and varied activities to boost EPC-EU tech-transfer:
• Produced and disseminated an online promotional brochure featuring 40 EPC organisations and technologies. 100 hardcopies of the final edition were distributed during the final event in Kyiv. The electronic version of the promotional brochure was downloaded over 4600 times.
• Organised three successful brokerage events in Tbilisi attracting 110 participants (June 2015), Minsk attracting 100 participants (November 2015) and Kyiv attracting 120 participants (September 2016).
• Organised three successful technology-transfer summer schools in Tallinn (June 2014), Heraklion (July 2015) and Coimbra (July 2016) that attracted 58 participants from EPC countries.
• Implemented four bilateral research–to-innovation (R2I) pilot projects relevant to Societal Challenge 7.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Ukraine: implement security holograms utilising diffractive optical elements based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Belarus: Innovative e-voting system for remote monitoring of elections.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Georgia: Smart sensory networks for nuclear radiation monitoring.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Armenia: Toward secure quantum communication technologies.
• Provided hands-on support to six EPC research/technology teams which helped them to understand how to review exploitation models/commercialization pathways by taking into consideration both the market potentials and the opportunities of upscaling in the international arena.
2. To contribute to the achievement of a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between the EU and ENP countries through enhancing cooperation between research and innovation actors on both sides
SECURE-R2I helped to create this impact on policy dialogue, capacity building in human resources and infrastructures, cooperation in research and innovation, and mobility:
Policy dialogue
• Organised three innovation policy dialogue exercises successfully held in Tbilisi (June 2015), Minsk (November 2015) and Yerevan (May 2016).
• Produced a “Report on technology transfer opportunities and bottlenecks in the Eastern Partnership Countries” published in September 2016.
Capacity building in human resources and infrastructures
• Provided extensive training, education, coaching and advisory activities via the three summer schools, four R2I pilot projects and innovation support services provided to six EPC research/technology teams.
Cooperation in research and innovation
• Organised the three successful brokerage events in Tbilisi, Minsk and Kyiv.
• Implemented the four R2I pilot projects.
• Provided innovation support services to six EPC research/technology teams.
Mobility
• Implemented the R2I pilot projects over a three year period which involved short term exchanges and training in scientific techniques.
3. To increase the potential of STI cooperation between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries under the Horizon 2020 and to contribute to the definition of bi-regional programmes on innovation
SECURE-R2I helped to create this impact in the following ways:
• Thanks to his participation in the technology transfer summer school in Heraklion, Greece, in July 2015, the young researcher Dr. Andrei M. Bandalouski (UIIP-NASB) was strongly encouraged to begin the commercial exploitation of his research to enable hotel businesses to optimise their revenue through dynamic pricing of online bookings and sales. He and his partners went on to develop experimental software which they evaluated on The Sport Time Hotel Minsk over the summer 2016. In parallel, their aim was to introduce the code into the software package InVista Hotels analytic SaaS supplied by the company BIT Softworks.
• Thanks to the SECURE-R2I brokerage event in Minsk in November 2015, one of the consortium partners, Belarusian IT association Infopark, was introduced to the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, who were searching for a new partner for their extended e-SENS project. e-SENS aims to facilitate the deployment of cross-border digital public services through generic and re-usable IT components. Specifically, Infopark was invited to join the project to work on a Gap Analysis for the Harmonisation of Digital Markets between the EU, Belarus and other Eastern Partnership Countries. The work will involve an analysis of solutions and comparison of already formalised architectures of various building blocks (e.g. e-ID, etc.).
• Collaboration between two consortium partners, Institute of Applied Physics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (IAP-ASM) and Intelligentsia, resulted in the submission of a successful proposal to the 2015 H2020 TWINNING call in May 2015 (scoring 14.5/15 in the evaluation) which began January 2016 (see www.h2020-holo.com). The 3 year project utilises research results from the SECURE-R2I pilot project and is coordinated by IAP-ASM. Together with colleagues from University of Stuttgart (Germany) and Tampere University of Technology (Finland), Moldavian scientists will be working on the following two topics: i) Design and optimization of diffractive optical elements to improve digital holographic microscopy and ii) Development of advanced image processing algorithms for digital holographic microscopy using diffractive optical elements
• In January 2016, Intelligentsia submitted the AERO-UA proposal to the H2020-MG-2016-2017 call, which was selected for funding. The project started on 1 October 2016 (see www.aero-ua.eu) and is dedicated to strategic and targeted support for Europe-Ukraine collaboration in aviation research and involves 4 EU and 5 Ukrainian organisations. Amongst the project’s many activities are pilot projects between the EU and UA partners dedicated to safety monitoring of aerospace composite structures and turbo-engines.
Meanwhile, the project’s main dissemination activities included:
• Production of a project website (www.secure-r2i.eu). The website was regularly updated with news and relevant events. Over the project duration, the website received over 7500 unique visitors.
• Production of a SECURE-R2I project leaflet (A4 size, double sided) and SECURE-R2I project poster (A1 size) that were distributed during related events and conferences.
• Production of five project newsletters over the course of the project that were distributed to the SECURE-R2I email distribution list and announced on several LinkedIn interest groups e.g. Nanomaterials Group.
The consortium made considerable efforts to advertise the project using the promotion materials and project results via the following events:
• Nanomaterials Spring 2014 conference, Tbilisi, Georgia, April 2014
• FP7 ener2i project brokerage event, Chisinau, Moldova, May 2014
• 3rd International Conference on Semiconductor Materials, Information Technologies and Photovoltaics in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, May 2014.
• International Conference on Clean Energy 2014, Istanbul, Turkey, June 2014
• 2nd International Symposium on Optics and its Applications, Yerevan, Armenia, September 2014
• EMRS-2014 Fall Meeting in Warsaw, Poland, September 2014
• 6th International Conference on Sensor Electronics and Microsystem Technologies”, Odessa, Ukraine, September 2014
• International Conference on Material Science and Condensed Matter Physics, Chisinau, Moldova, September 2014
• International Conference eRa 9 Synergy Forum, Athens, Greece, September 2014
• 7th International Conference on Information Technology, ICIT 2015, Amman, Jordan, May 2015
• H2020 Info-day, Yerevan, Armenia, July 2015
• International Conference eRa 10 Synergy Forum in Athens, Greece, Sept 2015
• International Conference: Advanced Materials and Technologies, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 2015
• STI Evaluation Workshop (cluster IncoNet EaP Project) and GRANT 2015 conference, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 2015
• Workshop on commercialization of research results : "Opportunities for Ukrainian Start-ups", Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2016
• Forum on Entrepreneurship, Vinnitsa, Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 2016
• International seminar for sensors and sensory systems, Ferrara University, Ferrara, Italy, April 2016
• STEP Workshop, Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 2016
• STI Evaluation Workshop (cluster IncoNet EaP Project), Kyiv, Ukraine, June 2016
• H2020 Info-day, Yerevan, Armenia, June 2016
• Workshop for alumni of Technology Transfer Training Programme, Kharkiv, Ukraine, June 2016
• International Conference Materials Science and Condensed Matter Physics, Chisinau, Moldova, September 2016
• Peer Review of the Ukrainian R&I System, Kyiv, Ukraine, September 2016
List of Websites:
www.secure-r2i.eu
The overall aim of the SECURE-R2I project was to reinforce cooperation with Eastern Partnership Countries (EPC) on bridging the gap between research and innovation for Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 7. “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies”. The research domains encompassed by “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies” are broad. Addressing this issue, the SECURE-R2I project assisted R&D and innovation (RDI) organisations in EPC via a range of knowledge and technology transfer activities with the support of European specialists. The activities included:
• Networking between EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7: It consisted in mapping EPC RDI organisations and organising brokerage events to stimulate cooperation;
• Analysing the tech transfer opportunities and bottlenecks of EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 6: It consisted in surveying these organisations and holding discussions with representatives of government, industry, government and intermediary bodies;
• Exchanging best practices in knowledge/technology transfer via a range of specific training courses and intensive summer schools in Europe;
• Twinning via R2I pilot projects: Each EPC research partner in the consortium twinned with another consortium partner who supported them to implement a bilateral R2I pilot project;
• Providing innovation support services to selected, high-potential EPC (and European) RDI: The activities consisted in coaching and advisory services on innovation and tech-transfer.
The main work and results achieved during the project were the following:
WP2 – Networking
• Final version of the online promotional brochure featured 40 EPC organisations and technologies. 100 hardcopies of the final edition were distributed during the final event in Kyiv. The electronic version of the promotional brochure was downloaded over 4600 times.
• Successful brokerage events were held in Tbilisi attracting 110 participants (June 2015), Minsk attracting 100 participants (November 2015) and Kyiv attracting 120 participants (September 2016).
WP3 – Cooperation and Knowledge Transfer Analysis
• Audits were successfully conducted of six EPC RDI organisations.
• Based on the SMART scan process, six promising technologies from EPC organisations were selected for innovation support.
• Three innovation policy dialogue exercises were successfully held in Tbilisi (June 2015), Minsk (November 2015) and Yerevan (May 2016).
• A “Report on technology transfer opportunities and bottlenecks in the Eastern Partnership Countries” was published in September 2016.
WP4 – Best Practices Exchange
• Technology-transfer summer schools were successfully held in Tallinn (June 2014), Heraklion (July 2015) and Coimbra (July 2016) attracting 58 participants from EPC countries.
WP5 – Twinning via Research-to-Innovation (R2I) Pilot Projects
• R2I pilot project implemented in Ukraine: implement security holograms utilising diffractive optical elements based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers.
• R2I pilot project implemented in Belarus: Innovative e-voting system for remote monitoring of elections.
• R2I pilot project implemented in Georgia: Smart sensory networks for nuclear radiation monitoring.
• R2I pilot project implemented in Armenia: Toward secure quantum communication technologies.
WP6 – Innovation Support Services
• Hands-on support provided to the six EPC research/technology teams which helped them to understand how to review exploitation models/commercialization pathways by taking into consideration both the market potentials and the opportunities of upscaling in the international arena.
WP7 – Dissemination and Promotion
• Project website attracted over 7500 unique visitors.
• Five newsletters published.
• Results of the pilot projects presented in 10 published research articles and 15 international conferences.
Project Context and Objectives:
The overall aim of the SECURE-R2I project was to reinforce cooperation with Eastern Partnership Countries (EPC) on bridging the gap between research and innovation for Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 7. “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies”. The research domains encompassed by “Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies” are broad. From the perspective of Eu R&D thematic priorities, they include ICT; Security; Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials (NMP); and Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). These research domains also form the basis of important economic sectors in the EPC, with many potential benefits for the EU, but which also need European support to increase their exploitation. Addressing this issue, the SECURE-R2I project assisted R&D and innovation (RDI) organisations in EPC via a range of knowledge and technology transfer activities with the support of European specialists.
The project aimed to achieve its overall objective via the following groups of activities:
i. Identify and network with EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7
The objective was to bring together different EPC and EU organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7 to exchange information and develop and knowledge and tech-transfer partnerships. In order to achieve this, the consortium partners: i) collected information on key EPC RDI organisations, ii) promoted EPC RDI organisations via different communication channels, and iii) organised three brokerage event in EPC.
ii. Assess the tech-transfer opportunities and bottlenecks in the EPC
The objective was to analyse tech-transfer processes in EPC in order to provide recommendations on how to improve them. The approach consisted in: i) identifying barriers and bottlenecks as well as promising innovation, ii) auditing six EPC RDI organisations, iii) proposing policy recommendations, and iv) selecting six promising technologies for hands-on support.
iii. Train EPC RDI organisations in knowledge and technology transfer
The objective was to train and exchange RDI methods and techniques with EPC RDI organisations. This was achieved through: i) organising three (3) summer schools in Europe, ii) organising site visits to leading European innovation support organisations, and iii) supporting the trainees in applying their knowledge.
iv. Twinning between EPC and EU/AC partners via R2I pilot projects
The objective was to twin each EPC research consortium partner (ISP-NASU, UIIP-NASB, GTU and IPR-NAS) with another consortium partner. Each EPC and EU/AC pair achieved this by: i) implementing a bilateral R2I pilot project relevant to Societal Challenge 7, ii) organising trainings and exchanges of experts, and iii) organising long term information exchange in mutually interesting research and technology areas.
v. Hands-on tech-transfer support to EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7
The objective was to support promising EPC RDI organisations needing tailored, hands-on support for tech-transfer. Activities offered included: i) coaching on IPR, business plans, innovation management and innovation financing., and ii) advising on the most appropriate technology exploitation routes.
vi. Promote project results and international cooperation
The objective was to increase awareness of EPC organisations involved in RDI for Societal Challenge 7 and stimulate cooperation with European organisations. A multilateral approach was adopted to achieve this: i) promoting project activities and results through a project website, and ii) publishing and distributing promotion materials (leaflet, poster, newsletters).
vii. Cluster with related EU projects to identify common RDI weaknesses and coordinate policy measures
The objective was to communicate, cooperate and exchange with related EU projects (e.g. INCO R2I, IncoNet-EECA, IncoNet-CA/SC and BILAT-UKR*AINA) to identify common structural weaknesses in the research to innovation chain and coordinate policy measures to address them.
Project Results:
The main S&T results/foregrounds came from the four bilateral research–to-innovation (R2I) pilot projects relevant to Societal Challenge 7. These three year collaboration pilot projects involved short term exchanges and training in scientific techniques.
i) R2I pilot project in Ukraine: implement security holograms utilising diffractive optical elements based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers
By the end of the pilot project, the Ukrainian consortium partner ISP-NASU and Moldovan consortium partner IAP-ASM had produced the following main results:
• New structures based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers nanolayers (Ge5As37S58-Se and As2S3–Se) were obtained by successive multilayer deposition on a glass substrate in a thermal vacuum. The direct, one step, surface relief formation process was shown to produce grating structures with a diffraction efficiency between 20% to 30% at the wavelength 650 nm at (+45⁰)–(-45⁰) orientations of polarizations. Carbazole-based polymer epoxy propylcarbazole doped by azodye disperse orange was synthesized, and surface relief gratings with a largest amplitude of about 130nm (48% of film thickness) were formed by light and electron irradiation.
• Several types of diffractive optical element (DOE) were produced using the new chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers nanolayers: optical components (lenses and beam splitter) and security elements (labels, emblems). The possibility to create azopolymer nanomultilayer structures in a one-step process opens the way to fabricating optical elements with unique properties.
• The partners digitally designed a security hologram - based on the state emblem of Moldova - for use by the State Assay Chamber to protect precious metal articles from falsification by directly marking the hologram on to the surface of the metal.
• The research results were published in 11 scientific journal articles - including articles in Optical Materials and the Journal of Nano Research - and presented at 15 international conferences.
• The partners plan to patent the developed recording media in Ukraine and Moldova.
• IAP-ASM won a Horizon 2020 project – utilising research results from this SECURE-R2I pilot project – which will enable them to develop new DOE for digital holographic microscopy together with the Universität Stuttgart and Tampere University of Technology (see www.h2020-holo.com).
ii) R2I pilot project in Belarus: Innovative e-voting system for remote monitoring of elections
Over the course of the pilot project, the Belarusian consortium partner UIIP-NASB first developed the architecture of the Guarantor e-voting system and then produced an initial prototype demonstrator to show to the Estonian consortium partner Cybernetica. The security and usability of the proposed architecture were evaluated by Cybernetica, who made recommendations for developing a second prototype. This second prototype was later successfully tested during a demonstration voting event at the Belarusian IT association Infopark.
To attract potential clients for the Guarantor system, UIIP-NASB developed a mock client portal with all the functionality required to hold election events. The hope was to commercialise the system with “Moi Dom” — an organization providing various services to homeowner and landowner cooperatives in Belarus. Currently, most of the services offered by “Moi Dom” are related to payments, but they are interested to expand and offer electronic government services, including secure voting over the Internet.
iii) R2I pilot project in Georgia: Smart sensory networks for nuclear radiation monitoring
Overall, the main results achieved by the Georgian consortium partner GTU and Greek consortium partner TEI Piraeus during the pilot project were:
• Radiation detectors were produced from samples prepared using Czochralski- and Magnetic Czochralski-silicon methods. These devices are considered very promising candidates for future nuclear experiments.
• Dopant impurity atoms B (B10) were added to molten Si in precise amounts. The influence of the dopant compensation on the carrier mobility has been thoroughly investigated.
• A wireless sensor network comprised of the radiation detectors was tested in the Radiology Department of Athens University Hospital. The sensor network was shown to perform well with clinical instruments such as: dual-energy absorptiometry, 3d panoramic x-ray, flat-panel CT angiography, etc.
• 6 journal articles were published.
• 11 conference papers were presented.
iv) R2I pilot project in Armenia: Toward secure quantum communication technologies
Over the course of the pilot project, the Armenian consortium partners IPR-NAS and Redinet were able to develop a quantum repeater protocol without long-lived quantum memories based on the deterministic storage of a single photon in cold atomic ensembles. It was shown that this system is the fastest quantum repeater proposed so far. In particular, a total time Ttotal of approximately 1s was predicted for key distribution over the distance of approximately 1000 km, in contrast to a Ttotal > 4000s using conventional protocols. The proposed mechanism is capable of reshaping single-photon wave-packets during frequency conversion to match a photon wave packet, which is typically emitted by a quantum-memory element such as an atom, ion, or quantum dot.
The considerable theoretical advance made by the researchers was reflected in their success in publishing three related research articles in the prestigious international journals Laser Physics, Physical Review A and Journal of Physics B.
Potential Impact:
The SECURE-R2I project was expected to achieve the following potential impacts:
1. To foster mutually beneficial public-private-partnerships between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries through the market uptake of research results.
2. To contribute to the achievement of a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between the EU and ENP countries through enhancing cooperation between research and innovation actors on both sides.
3. To increase the potential of STI cooperation between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries under the Horizon 2020 and to contribute to the definition of bi-regional programmes on innovation.
We now step through each of these, one-by-one.
1. To foster mutually beneficial public-private-partnerships between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries through the market uptake of research results.
SECURE-R2I helped to create this impact via its many and varied activities to boost EPC-EU tech-transfer:
• Produced and disseminated an online promotional brochure featuring 40 EPC organisations and technologies. 100 hardcopies of the final edition were distributed during the final event in Kyiv. The electronic version of the promotional brochure was downloaded over 4600 times.
• Organised three successful brokerage events in Tbilisi attracting 110 participants (June 2015), Minsk attracting 100 participants (November 2015) and Kyiv attracting 120 participants (September 2016).
• Organised three successful technology-transfer summer schools in Tallinn (June 2014), Heraklion (July 2015) and Coimbra (July 2016) that attracted 58 participants from EPC countries.
• Implemented four bilateral research–to-innovation (R2I) pilot projects relevant to Societal Challenge 7.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Ukraine: implement security holograms utilising diffractive optical elements based on chalcogenide glasses and azopolymers.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Belarus: Innovative e-voting system for remote monitoring of elections.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Georgia: Smart sensory networks for nuclear radiation monitoring.
o R2I pilot project implemented in Armenia: Toward secure quantum communication technologies.
• Provided hands-on support to six EPC research/technology teams which helped them to understand how to review exploitation models/commercialization pathways by taking into consideration both the market potentials and the opportunities of upscaling in the international arena.
2. To contribute to the achievement of a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space between the EU and ENP countries through enhancing cooperation between research and innovation actors on both sides
SECURE-R2I helped to create this impact on policy dialogue, capacity building in human resources and infrastructures, cooperation in research and innovation, and mobility:
Policy dialogue
• Organised three innovation policy dialogue exercises successfully held in Tbilisi (June 2015), Minsk (November 2015) and Yerevan (May 2016).
• Produced a “Report on technology transfer opportunities and bottlenecks in the Eastern Partnership Countries” published in September 2016.
Capacity building in human resources and infrastructures
• Provided extensive training, education, coaching and advisory activities via the three summer schools, four R2I pilot projects and innovation support services provided to six EPC research/technology teams.
Cooperation in research and innovation
• Organised the three successful brokerage events in Tbilisi, Minsk and Kyiv.
• Implemented the four R2I pilot projects.
• Provided innovation support services to six EPC research/technology teams.
Mobility
• Implemented the R2I pilot projects over a three year period which involved short term exchanges and training in scientific techniques.
3. To increase the potential of STI cooperation between Member States and/or Associated Countries and ENP countries under the Horizon 2020 and to contribute to the definition of bi-regional programmes on innovation
SECURE-R2I helped to create this impact in the following ways:
• Thanks to his participation in the technology transfer summer school in Heraklion, Greece, in July 2015, the young researcher Dr. Andrei M. Bandalouski (UIIP-NASB) was strongly encouraged to begin the commercial exploitation of his research to enable hotel businesses to optimise their revenue through dynamic pricing of online bookings and sales. He and his partners went on to develop experimental software which they evaluated on The Sport Time Hotel Minsk over the summer 2016. In parallel, their aim was to introduce the code into the software package InVista Hotels analytic SaaS supplied by the company BIT Softworks.
• Thanks to the SECURE-R2I brokerage event in Minsk in November 2015, one of the consortium partners, Belarusian IT association Infopark, was introduced to the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, who were searching for a new partner for their extended e-SENS project. e-SENS aims to facilitate the deployment of cross-border digital public services through generic and re-usable IT components. Specifically, Infopark was invited to join the project to work on a Gap Analysis for the Harmonisation of Digital Markets between the EU, Belarus and other Eastern Partnership Countries. The work will involve an analysis of solutions and comparison of already formalised architectures of various building blocks (e.g. e-ID, etc.).
• Collaboration between two consortium partners, Institute of Applied Physics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (IAP-ASM) and Intelligentsia, resulted in the submission of a successful proposal to the 2015 H2020 TWINNING call in May 2015 (scoring 14.5/15 in the evaluation) which began January 2016 (see www.h2020-holo.com). The 3 year project utilises research results from the SECURE-R2I pilot project and is coordinated by IAP-ASM. Together with colleagues from University of Stuttgart (Germany) and Tampere University of Technology (Finland), Moldavian scientists will be working on the following two topics: i) Design and optimization of diffractive optical elements to improve digital holographic microscopy and ii) Development of advanced image processing algorithms for digital holographic microscopy using diffractive optical elements
• In January 2016, Intelligentsia submitted the AERO-UA proposal to the H2020-MG-2016-2017 call, which was selected for funding. The project started on 1 October 2016 (see www.aero-ua.eu) and is dedicated to strategic and targeted support for Europe-Ukraine collaboration in aviation research and involves 4 EU and 5 Ukrainian organisations. Amongst the project’s many activities are pilot projects between the EU and UA partners dedicated to safety monitoring of aerospace composite structures and turbo-engines.
Meanwhile, the project’s main dissemination activities included:
• Production of a project website (www.secure-r2i.eu). The website was regularly updated with news and relevant events. Over the project duration, the website received over 7500 unique visitors.
• Production of a SECURE-R2I project leaflet (A4 size, double sided) and SECURE-R2I project poster (A1 size) that were distributed during related events and conferences.
• Production of five project newsletters over the course of the project that were distributed to the SECURE-R2I email distribution list and announced on several LinkedIn interest groups e.g. Nanomaterials Group.
The consortium made considerable efforts to advertise the project using the promotion materials and project results via the following events:
• Nanomaterials Spring 2014 conference, Tbilisi, Georgia, April 2014
• FP7 ener2i project brokerage event, Chisinau, Moldova, May 2014
• 3rd International Conference on Semiconductor Materials, Information Technologies and Photovoltaics in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, May 2014.
• International Conference on Clean Energy 2014, Istanbul, Turkey, June 2014
• 2nd International Symposium on Optics and its Applications, Yerevan, Armenia, September 2014
• EMRS-2014 Fall Meeting in Warsaw, Poland, September 2014
• 6th International Conference on Sensor Electronics and Microsystem Technologies”, Odessa, Ukraine, September 2014
• International Conference on Material Science and Condensed Matter Physics, Chisinau, Moldova, September 2014
• International Conference eRa 9 Synergy Forum, Athens, Greece, September 2014
• 7th International Conference on Information Technology, ICIT 2015, Amman, Jordan, May 2015
• H2020 Info-day, Yerevan, Armenia, July 2015
• International Conference eRa 10 Synergy Forum in Athens, Greece, Sept 2015
• International Conference: Advanced Materials and Technologies, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 2015
• STI Evaluation Workshop (cluster IncoNet EaP Project) and GRANT 2015 conference, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 2015
• Workshop on commercialization of research results : "Opportunities for Ukrainian Start-ups", Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2016
• Forum on Entrepreneurship, Vinnitsa, Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 2016
• International seminar for sensors and sensory systems, Ferrara University, Ferrara, Italy, April 2016
• STEP Workshop, Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 2016
• STI Evaluation Workshop (cluster IncoNet EaP Project), Kyiv, Ukraine, June 2016
• H2020 Info-day, Yerevan, Armenia, June 2016
• Workshop for alumni of Technology Transfer Training Programme, Kharkiv, Ukraine, June 2016
• International Conference Materials Science and Condensed Matter Physics, Chisinau, Moldova, September 2016
• Peer Review of the Ukrainian R&I System, Kyiv, Ukraine, September 2016
List of Websites:
www.secure-r2i.eu