Excelling LABUST in marine robotics

Project Information

EXCELLABUST

Grant agreement ID: 691980

DOI

10.3030/691980

Project closed

EC signature date 4 December 2015

Start date 1 January 2016

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• Twinning of research institutions

Total cost

€ 1 014 551,00

EU contribution

€ 1 014 551,00

Coordinated by

SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU FAKULTET ELEKTROTEHNIKE I RACUNARSTVA
Croatia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EXCELLABUST (Excelling LABUST in marine robotics)

Reporting period: 2017-04-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Laboratory for Underwater Systems and Technologies (LABUST) at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical and Engineering (UNIZG-FER) in Croatia positioned itself in the last years as the regional leader in marine robotics: LABUST has the required technologies, people, infrastructure, and experience in field experiments. What LABUST is missing is research excellence that will allow it to fully exploit and bring available resources to a level compatible with internationally leading institutions in the area of marine robotics. The main goal of EXCELLABUST project is to address networking gaps and deficiencies between UNIZG-FER and internationally leading counterparts at EU level, by significantly strengthening marine robotics research within LABUST through twinning with expert partners.
The first objective is to increase UNIZG-FER marine robotics scientific excellence and innovation capacity, and raise staff's research profile within three strategic research domains that are aligned with the Strategic Research Agenda for Robotics in Europe 2014 - 2020: 1) mapping and perception, 2) advanced navigation, guidance, and control, and 3) autonomy and cognition. The second objective is to increase UNIZG-FER scientific involvement and visibility. These objectives will be reached through a set of strategic measures: staff exchanges and expert visits for providing S&T knowledge transfer; on-site trainings for providing hands-on S&T experience; innovation management trainings; organization of research-industry workshops for strengthening links to marine robotics industry; and joint organization of summer schools with strong emphasis on application of marine robotics for strengthening links to marine robotics end-users from marine biology, marine archaeology, oceanography, marine security, etc. In order to measure the quality of the twinning action, key impact indicators are defined and they will be monitored during and after the EXCELLABUST project lifetime.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Objective 1: Increase UNIZG-FER marine robotics scientific excellence and innovation capacity, and raise staff's research profile

Overall we have organized 54 events that have contributed to the accomplishment of this objective.
• S&T knowledge transfer:
- 3 staff exchanges from UNIZG-FER to partner institutions (each in the duration of two months)
- 27 expert visit invited talks at UNIZG-FER and during BtS’16 summer school
- 6 expert visit tutorials at UNIZG-FER and during BtS’16 summer school
• hands-on S&T experience
- 1 on-site training by CNR in Genova, Italy
• knowledge on innovation management
- 17 innovation management trainings on various topics

Objective 2: Increase UNIZG-FER scientific involvement and visibility
Overall we have organized 13 events that have contributed to the accomplishment of this objective.
• strengthen links to marine robotics industry:
- CNR organized “EU-funded projects in marine robotics and applications workshop - EMRA’16” in Newcastle, UK
- 16 conferences and industrial events
• strengthen links to marine robotics end-users
- 9 open-door events, 3 of which were organized at UNIZG-FER
- “Breaking the Surface 2016” summer school in Biograd na Moru, Croatia

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The overall progress of the project as well as the impact of the results is best demonstrated through a list of Key Impact Indicators (KIIs) that have been defined in the project proposal. Even though not all KIIs have shown to be useful since they cannot be directly influenced through the set of proposed measures (e.g. the success rate in proposal funding), we provide a full table with the KIIs as they were defined in the proposal. Some initial indicators have also been changed relative to the original table of indicators due to slightly different methodology.

KII 1. Publications - This indicator specifically addresses Objective 1 and is a clear demonstrator of the national impact.

1.1. Number of publications in top 10% peer-reviewed journals [planned: 0 (2010 - 2015); 1 (M36); 2 (M48)]
Journal publications in 2016 – March 2017: 1
Total current status (2010 – March 2017): 1

1.2. Number of public. in Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 peer-reviewed journ. [planned: 1/2/1/2 (2010 - 2015); 3/3/5/5 (M36); 4/4/5/5 (M48)]
Journal publications in 2016 – March 2017: 5 (1/1/3/0)
Total current status (2010 – March 2017): 11 (2/3/4/2)

1.3. Number of peer-reviewed conference publications [planned: 37 (2010 - 2015); 50 (M36); 57 (M48)]
In 2016 – March 2017: 9
Total current status (2010 – March 2017): 46

1.4. Number of citations [planned: 367 (2010 - 2015); 580 (M36); 700 (M48)]
2010 – 2015: [228 (Mišković) + 506 (Vukić)]/2 = 367
2016 – March 2017: [83 (Mišković) + 105 (Vukić)]/2 = 94
Total current status (2010 – March 2017): 461 (+26%)


KII 2. Participation in national and EU level research and innovation programmes - This indicator also addresses Objective 1, by measuring participation in research and innovation programmes.

2.1. Number of national and international proposal submitted [planned: 40 (2010 - 2015); 8-10 per year (M36); 8-10 per year (M48)]
In 2016: 22 (20 international and 2 national)
Jan - Mar 2017: 2 (2 international)
Total: 24 (20 international and 2 national) – see tables below for details

2.2. Percentage of national and international proposal granted [planned: ~20% (2010 - 2015); ~40% (M36); ~40% (M48)]
Current status (2016 – March 2017): 10 (42%)


KII 3. Innovation and connection with industry - This indicator addresses Objective 2, by measuring the level of scientific involvement and visibility, through linking with industry.

3.1. Number of collaboration agreements with businesses [planned: 0 (2010 - 2015); 6 (M36); 8 (M48)]
Current status: 4

3.2. Number of patent applications [planned: 0 (2010 - 2015); 2 (M36); 3 (M48)]
Current status: 0

3.3. Number of commercialization agreements [planned: 0 (2010 - 2015); 2 (M36); 3 (M48)]
Current status: 0

3.4. Number of new innovative products or services [planned: 0 (2010 - 2015); 1 (M36); 2 (M48)]
Current status: 2


KII 4. Extent of synergy - This indicator addresses Objective 2, by measuring the level of scientific involvement and visibility, through linking with industry as well as end-users.

4.1. Percentage of joint publications [planned: ~20% (2010 - 2015); ~50% (M36); ~50% (M48)]
Current status (2016 – March 2017): 5 of 14 (36%)

4.2. Number of collaboration agreements with research institutions [planned: 2 (2010 - 2015); 7 (M36); 10 (M48)]
Current status (2016 – March 2017): 4

4.3. Number of joint events [planned: 1 (2010 - 2015); 6 (M36); 8 (M48)]
Current status (2016 – March 2017): 2

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