According to the results of COLOMBUS-1 and as a high potential in terms of GMI competitiveness and growth has been demonstrated and documented there-in, underpinned by a strategic business plan, COLOMBUS-2 is now prepared and submitted to EU. COLOMBUS-2 takes into consideration all the remarks and guidelines of the feasibility study including business plan of COLOMBUS-1 and contains all the required innovation, demonstration and support activities that need to be performed for the materialization of GMI plan, clearly achievable within the duration of the project: design, demonstration, testing, prototyping, piloting, scaling-up, miniaturization, validation and market replication. According to COLOMBUS-1 results, these activities will foster the development of only three (3) out of the initially four (4) proposed products (namely ADVANCED, CONDUCTOR and OLGA), while enabling increase of their Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and industrial readiness for market introduction. The three (3) new developed composite repair equipment and associated methodologies will further enhance GMI range of products and services offered to the worldwide composite manufacturing and repair industries and will consolidate its position in the global market, which is targeting productivity and equipment for efficient repair, that simultaneously guarantee appropriate repair quality standards (an absolutely critical factor in the aeronautical industry). This range of solutions will focus towards actual composite repair users’ needs, as derived from corresponding stakeholders from all involved areas. The main economic benefit for future GMI product users compared to SoA solutions that will attract them to invest in GMI innovative solutions, will come from their expectations to perform more efficient repairs in a faster manner, while extending the life of their applications, as repairs which would previously be impossible, will now be technically safe (i.e. certifiable) and economically feasible to perform. GMI plans to commercialize the project results addressing both EU and global market through its existing worldwide network of representatives, as it will be restructured and further reinforced by strategic alliances with companies active in sectors identified within COLOMBUS-1. Other options for certain developments (e.g. licensing) will be examined in detail. More specifically, within the frame of WP6, GMI created a “multi-functional development team”, containing both engineers and marketers, in order to ensure full understanding of the aeronautical composite repair market requirements and the related technical problems that need to be solved, thus facilitating tailoring of ADVANCED, CONDUCTOR and OLGA to the end-user’s needs.
