Montserrat Blanco Bahamonde, Cristina Sorolla Ballesta, Raquel Portilla Parrilla, Carlos V. García Molina, Javier M. Ferrís Oñate, Jaime M. Prat Pastor
Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV). Universitat Politècnica de València. Edificio 9C. Camino de Vera s/n (E-46022) Valencia. Spain
The text reviews the experience and achievements of Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) and its partners in the European programmes to support and promote R&D, innovation and training over the 2014-2017 period.
Europe 2020 is the strategy of the European Union (EU) for growth and employment. It was implemented in 2014 with the goal of creating the necessary conditions for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. These three priorities are mutually strengthening and will help the EU achieve high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion in 2020. To achieve these strategic objectives, the EU's multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020 has envisaged several financial support programmes for all sectors.
After having reached the mid-point of this period, it is time to take stock and present
the results of Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) together with its partners in European programmes between 2014 and 2017. The IBV took part in research, design and technological development, as well as innovation and training projects in Horizon 2020, Erasmus+, COSME and other European programmes. The overall return of the EU for the IBV in 2014-2017 was 3.8 million euros in a total of 30 projects (Figure 1). Thanks to the support of the IBV, 27 companies that cooperated with the centre obtained a return of 10.3 million euros in European programmes in 2014-2017.
Among all the EU initiatives, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, is the most important tool for funding EU's research, technological development and innovation activities during the period 2014-2020. Over the past four years after its implementation, the activity of the IBV in Horizon 2020 has focused on two axes: support to companies in the definition of proposals in the SME Instrument, and participation in collaborative research and innovation projects.
♦ The IBV has successfully supported the participation of Spanish and European companies in the SME Instrument, a new phased financing scheme to support SMEs who wish to grow and internationalise through an innovation project at a European level. Thanks to the support of the IBV, seven SMEs received funding in phase 1 of the SME Instrument to verify, in collaboration with the centre, the technical and economic feasibility of their innovative ideas: new dental implants with osteoinductive properties (ILERIMPLANT), running shoes that plan the training and avoid injuries (KELME), equipment for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (ONCOVISION), a virtual fitting room for electronic commerce of clothing and footwear (Tecnologías DIM), a smart device that reduces the risk of pressure ulcers (QIMOVA), and a robotic system for neuro-rehabilitation at home (INSPIRO and MADE FOR MOVEMENT). Currently, the IBV collaborates with the Valencian SME ONCOVISION in the CAREMiBRAIN project, which focuses on the design and clinical validation of their innovative system for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. The company received an EU contribution of 4.4 million euros for this initiative, which the IBV supported in phase 2 of the SME Instrument. In addition, the IBV is working on a phase 2 project with the Murcian company TECNIMUSA for the development of an exoskeleton that will restore autonomous movement in patients with spinal cord injury of traumatic origin.
♦ As for the collaborative projects of Horizon 2020, the IBV coordinates three projects: InKreate, Back-UP and BodyPass, and participates as a partner in my-AHA. InKreate focuses on an innovative computer tool that will make it possible to design fashion cloths from 3D avatars, which will help companies to improve their competitiveness with better designed products and more efficient production processes.
Likewise, Back-UP will develop an innovative computer system to improve the prognosis of workers with neck and back pain, which will allow doctors, prevention services and patients to exchange information during rehabilitation and the return to work process.
The BodyPass project bets on the connection between the health sector and the consumer goods sector by promoting exchange, linking and reuse, as well as the integration of 3D personal data bases of the two sectors, which will provide a secure exchange of information.
Finally, my-AHA is intended to reduce the frailty risk among the elderly and to delay physical and cognitive decline by improving aspects related to physical, mental and social activity, nutrition, sleep and general well-being.
Another programme in which the IBV played a leading role is Erasmus +, the European programme for education, training, youth and sport in the period 2014-2020. Among the various areas of Erasmus+, the IBV was successfully involved in Strategic Partnerships, which resulted in 9 online training actions that provide innovative solutions for the professional training of different groups. Among other examples, the Institute is collaborating in projects focused on new technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of foot pathologies; improvement of the quality of live of people with Alzheimer's, caregivers and relatives through serious games; optimisation of the safety conditions, quality and useful life of artificial turf sports fields; assessment of body damage based on biomechanical analysis; and application of 3D printing technology in areas such as design or the social healthcare sector. Likewise, in the Sports category, the centre leads the FitWork project to provide both occupational risk management professionals and sports professionals with an innovative guide to good practice to properly promote physical activity at work; and it is also involved in the EMoCS project, which aims to prove the relevance and need for a regular sport activity in or around the workplace, providing tools and support to public and private authorities to address the high level of physical inactivity that Europe shows in this field.
With the focus of the COSME Programme on the design of consumer goods to improve the competitiveness of SMEs, the IBV participates, together with the coordinating company GARVALÍN, in the BIOsenSHOES project, whose objective is to develop children's shoes that provide useful information to parents about the maturing process and the activity that their children develop.
Additionally, the IBV leads the Valencian participation in EIT Health, the largest European organisation to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in healthy living and active ageing. EIT Health was selected as a new Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in December 2014, and the IBV has since participated as a core partner. In the frame of the calls for the Campus pillar of EIT Health, the centre is coordinating the AGEFRIENDLY-DESIGN project, the objective of which is to develop an open and online course to train companies in the ergonomic design of workplaces considering the specific abilities and needs of older workers.
In the automotive and transport sector, the IBV collaborates with FICOSA to develop drowsiness detection systems for vehicles to avoid traffic accidents. The Spanish company leads several international initiatives within the framework of the IBEROEKA programme, which supports business technology cooperation with Ibero-America.
Finally, the IBV is actively collaborating with different European administrations in order to carry out research and innovative technological developments through different public procurement instruments.
♦ It is worth noting the collaboration of the European Committee for Standardisation with the IBV after being awarded a study on children’s anthropometric data in Europe. The purpose of this research is to analyse the demands of children's products manufacturers and to review the existence, availability and quality of anthropometric and forces information of the European child population.
♦ The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) also counted on the IBV’s collaboration to develop different web tools that allow companies from different sectors to perform an occupational risk assessment to create healthy workplaces.
♦ Likewise, the centre collaborated with the Norwegian companies INSPIRO and MADE FOR MOVEMENT in the execution of phase 1 of the innovative pre-commercial public procurement European project, MAGIC, which focuses on the development of innovative technologies for the physical recovery of people who have suffered strokes.
CONCLUSIONS
These are the results of the work of the IBV during the first half of the period 2014-2020, which materialise our commitment to excellence in collaboration at a European level. As it has been shown, the involvement of the IBV in European projects has not only meant economic return from the EU for the centre, but also for the Valencian, Spanish and European companies with which it collaborates. In the coming years, we will continue to focus on European projects in order to achieve the strategic objectives set by the centre and to promote the participation of its partners and collaborating companies.
To achieve these results, the IBV has support from the Europe Technology Centres call of the Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation, whose objective is both to promote the involvement of Spanish technology centres in Horizon 2020 and to strengthen their capacity to boost the participation of companies in such programme (ECT-2014-0082 and ECT-2016-0241). In addition, after the good results achieved by the IBV in the Seventh Framework Programme, the Institute was contracted by the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) over 2014-2017 to support and facilitate the participation of Spanish companies in the Horizon 2020 programme.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank all the organisations that collaborate in the projects and the institutional agents involved: European Commission (and its collaborating agencies EASME, REA, EACEA), EU-OSHA, CEN, EIT Health, OAPEE MINECO, CDTI and IVACE.
♦ These projects have received funding from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme of the EU through the following contracts: my- AHA (689592), InKreate (731885), Back-UP (777090), BodyPass (779780), RUNSAFER (672605), CAREMiBRAIN (651145 and 711323), SolDent (650946), VisuaLook (662847), DuoTrainer (710568), i-LiveRest (696939), HUMEXE (784560) and MAGIC (687228).
♦ These projects have received funding from the Erasmus + programme of the EU through the following contracts: Train4Orthomis (2014-1-ES01-KA202-004533), AREYOUFINE? (2015-1-ES01-KA202-016294), idICT (2015-1ES01-KA204-016179), OVOMAX (2015-1-PL01-KA202-016969), 3DSPEC (2016-1-PL01-KA202-026335), AD-GAMING (2016-1-ES01-KA204-025313), Podiatrain (2016-1-ES01-KA203-024997), Teleturf (2016-1-ES01-KA202-025236), Brain4Train (2017-1-PL01-KA202-038370), FitWork (579903), and EMoCS (590471).
♦ The BIOsenSHOES project (699678) has received funding through the COSME programme of the EU.
♦ The AGEFRIENDLY-DESIGN project (17149) is financed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). This EU organisation receives support from the European research and innovation programme Horizon 2020
♦ The IBEROEKA Project is financed by CDTI (IDI-20150255) and certified by IBEROEKA (IB14-775).
♦ IVACE supports the IBV in the development of supporting activities to promote both activity and the ability to develop excellence in R&D with the joint financing of ERDF (IMAMCJ/2014/1, IMAMCJ/2015/1, IMAMCJ/2016/1) and IMACID/2017/5.
