Functional and advanced insulating and energy harvesting/storage materials across climate adaptive building envelopes

Project Information

iclimabuilt

Grant agreement ID: 952886

DOI

10.3030/952886

Project closed

EC signature date 12 November 2020

Start date 1 March 2021

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced materials

Total cost

€ 16 538 331,27

EU contribution

€ 14 999 167,61

Coordinated by

ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - iclimabuilt (Functional and advanced insulating and energy harvesting/storage materials across climate adaptive building envelopes)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

iClimaBuilt’s ultimate goal is to support the and help small high-tech firms to scale up and cope with the continuous rising of technological complexity and by translation of research results into innovations. Through its Single-Entry-Point the necessary upgraded infrastructures and tools will be offered to test, validate and upscale new technological solutions.
The test cases designed, developed, tested and validated within the test bed, as a well-studied combination of material technologies per market and climate, contributing to desired energy savings to reach set nZEB balance, will serve as a means for validating and improving selected materials and corresponding innovations and, finally, services of the OITB. iclimabuilt project aims to form a cross-domain business ecosystem combining the capabilities of different experts, building the connection between suppliers and users, based on the cooperation within interdisciplinary entities to support new product development/upscaling and testing, satisfy customer needs based on a case-by-case assessment of the underlying barriers of each technology, and eventually incorporate the next round of innovations in building envelope materials and technical systems. The goal is to support the translation of research results into innovations and help small high-tech firms to scale up and cope with the continuous rising of technological complexity and by providing a Single-Entry-Point for necessary infrastructures and tools to test, validate and upscale new technological solutions. iclimabuilt will do so with the aim to accelerate the development of additional leading-edge technology by focusing on and providing the following service categories:
- Materials by Design - New Material/Product Development
- Testing and Characterisation of materials and components, including large scale testing in outdoor facilities and living laboratory environments
- Virtual Performance Testing, through modelling, simulation and digital twins.
- Safety Assessment Standards & Regulation and Sustainability assessment through LCA and LCC
- Upscaling through Process Optimisation and Machine Learning
- Financing, Investment and Innovation

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

During M19-M36 period the six service categories have been analyzed and the relevant services with their providers have been identified. The optimization and upgrading of the nine iclimabuilt PLs was finalized. The production of the materials that were required for the manufacturing of the seven iclimabuilt TCs was achieved and the TCs required for the testing activities and for integration in the LLs were manufactured. The iDMS database was finalized and its population with data and metadata from the characterizations of the PLs materials was undertaken. The foreseen characterization of the PL materials has been carried out. The predictive modelling and multi-scale simulations, and machine learning based control approach were concluded successfully for the PLs. Modelling and simulation activities have been carried out for the TCs. Three building archetypes have been defined and modeled. An interoperability multi domain simulation workflow to assess the building performance has been optimized. Preparatory work has been undertaken to link the LCA simulation tool with the multi domain simulation workflow. Round-robin and inter laboratory tests were performed for PL materials. The durability assessment of the PL materials has been completed. The risk evaluation for the relevant PLs has been concluded and case specific safety recommendations have been provided. A computational simulation model for the evaluation of ventilation setups and workroom configurations has been developed. Toxicological assessments were conducted for specific PLs raw materials and airborne samples. Up to 75% characterization activities of TCs performance have been performed. Guidelines for developing DT for enhancing performance in the built environment have been set and the feasibility of co-simulation framework has been tested. For two LLs a comprehensive DAQ system was tested was verified. The first prototype of the TC level DAQ has been verified and the LL coordinated testing plan has been set up. The TCs have been integrated into the five different LLs. The LCA for the PLs has been completed. The OC was launched and achieved its primary objectives. Seventeen proposals were submitted, and thirteen out of them were eligible. Comprehensive evaluation criteria and a structured two-stage evaluation process for the iclimabuilt OC was established. Regarding the consumer-cantered workflows, the MTaaS platform underwent comprehensive testing and customization. The database with the relevant stakeholders and initiatives has been further developed. A template facilitating the identification of standardization needs of the PLs has been developed and shared with PL owners. The dissemination actions led to exceeding the social media engagement KPI, gaining over 1000 followers across platforms and successful outreach activities. The Data Management Plan (DMP) was developed and implemented following the H2020 guidelines for Open Data management.

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 iclimabuilt ecosystem will provide easy open access thought its SEP to industrial partners, including SMEs, to Pilot Lines related to materials development, manufacturing, and system integration as well as to advanced characterization techniques, modelling & simulation software, environmental assessment and consultancy on standardization and regulatory aspects (including nanosafety) for upscaling concepts related to materials for building envelopes.
iclimabuilt goes beyond the material level to support the energy transition of building stock in Europe. The ecosystem aims to develop a holistic approach considering the building as a system maximising energy saving opportunities while covering the remaining energy demand by smart and energy harvesting systems to the largest possible extent.
The iclimabuilt ecosystem is offering an open access innovation environment, in which SMEs will be able to proceed in technological innovation in a fast and low-cost way. This decreased cost of innovation, compared to other existing alternatives lays on the synergies that are developed inside the ecosystem, knowledge and good practice experience.
Increase in the number of new SME users for existing test beds
- SMEs will be able to proceed in technological innovation in a fast and cost-efficient way.
- Access to advanced facilities and services
Improved industrial process parameters
- Through various technologies - Digitalisation, AI and data analytics - will facilitate the innovation process through a more resource efficient, flexible in design and manufacturing, and productive value chain.
- These technologies can have a substantial impact on pilot line owners and building envelope component manufacturing.
Faster verification of materials and system performance
- Real time monitoring and measurement system combined with modelling and simulation.
- Through the unique data management system (iDMS) iclimabuilt will ensure full traceability and data quality by following accepted standard protocols for characterisation.
Faster verification of materials performance
- Contribute to a cost-effective transformation of existing stock into nearly zero-energy buildings and will tackle the energy efficiency goals, create new jobs and economic growth to SMEs and Europe.

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