5 CWP PROJECTS APPROVED IN THE MINCOTUR AEIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS WITH AN IMPACT OF OVER 650,000 EUROS IN GRANTS TO ASSOCIATES

Last October 2021, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism (MINCOTUR) launched the second call for extraordinary 2021 AEIs within the framework of the Next Generation grants, with a budget of €20 million. The CWP presented 5 project proposals, both feasibility studies and industrial development and even industrial research in the framework of Connected Industry 4.0. The five projects include technologies based on Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual sensing systems, prediction and early warning systems as well as 3D printing and autonomous remote control systems. The CWP, with almost €600,000 in funding for these projects, is among the top 10 clusters in terms of budget received in Spain, and with two top-rated projects also among the top ten.

The provisional resolution indicates that they receive funding to be implemented during 2022. In 2023 a total of 13 CWP partners will receive subsidies from the Ministry with an eligible expenditure of more than €1.1 million, which represents a direct aid to the companies of €660,000.

The 5 projects that have been approved represent a total eligible expenditure of almost 1.1 M€, being a direct grant of more than 660 k€. The projects that have been approved and receive funding are as follows:

AquaGIS: its aim is to explore commercial opportunities for ICT and water sector technologies that can be implemented in companies in the food sector. It is led by the food cluster of Castile and Leon VITARTIS, with the participation of the food cluster of Navarre NAGRIFOOD, the digital cluster of Euskadi GAIA and the CWP. The project includes a survey of the needs of food companies and the implementation of inter-cluster activities to bring digital and water solutions to end users in the food sector.

DIGICAL: the DIGICAL project aims to design and develop an Early Warning System (SAP) for floods using innovative digital technologies in order to improve and streamline decision-making and processes in flood risk management. This approach will be applied to the specific case of an area of the Ter river where both the water catchment for the drinking water treatment of Aigües de Vic and the sewage network managed by Depuradores d’Osona are located. This project is led by CWP with the participation of ABM, Prodaisa, Aigües de Vic and Depuradores d’Osona.

HYDROLEAKS 2.0: Continues the HYDROLEAKS project that was implemented during 2020 and 2021, and will optimise the operation and maintenance of drinking water networks. Through the interpretation of data and network parameters on an online platform, the variation in network usage, daily speeds and other relevant parameters will be monitored. The analysis of these parameters by means of neuronal networks and artificial intelligence applications will make it possible to detect and localise anonymous and futile behaviour. This initiative is led by CWP and participated by Aigües de Manresa, Aigües de Vic, Createch360, B’GEO Open Gis, Neurite and ACLIMA.

PORTS4ALL: industrial research project that aims to offer an integral multi-technological solution to transform grey infrastructures (such as ports) into key infrastructures (marine oases) through the restoration of degraded and polluted spaces, the recovery of lost biodiversity and finally to reinforce the fight against climate change. To achieve this objective, the project will carry out research in different areas (habitat regeneration technologies, autonomous remote control systems, predictive ML-IA systems and virtual sensors) to offer a comprehensive solution. The project involves CWP and partners Seastainable Ventures, GPA Seabots, ADASA and the  EURECAT technology centre.

AICHARGE: a project aimed at researching and integrating artificial intelligence and distributed registry technologies (known as Blockhain) to maximise the electrical recharging of leisure boats with energy of sustainable origin, in order to reduce and even eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. The project involves the CWP partners GPA Seabots and Power Innotech, as well as the Clúster de l’Energia Eficient de Catalunya and the company Prosume, a CEEC partner.