The Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) has awarded funding to seven industry cooperation projects presented by the University of Luxembourg. The projects were selected in the context of the FNR’s BRIDGES programme which provides financial support to encourage partnerships between public research institutions and national or international companies.
The projects submitted by University researchers are bound to receive financing of close to 2.4 million Euro from the FNR. Additionally, BRIDGES requires partners from the private sector to bear at least 15 percent of the overall costs of each project.
“We are proud that seven university projects were retained,” states Jens Kreisel, Vice-rector for research. “This illustrates the quality of our research and its practical relevance for industry and society. The funding will enable us to explore new research avenues and, in cooperation with our partners, evaluate the practical feasibility of scientific approaches.”
In 2019, the FNR allocates overall roughly 2.8 € in the framework of the BRIDGES programme (formerly named CORE-PPP). In addition to encouraging collaboration between companies and research institutions, the objective of the programme is to increase the attractiveness of Luxembourg as an innovation hub.
The projects cover a broad range of research areas and industry sectors:
- A research team from the University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) cooperates with electromechanical components manufacturer Cebi in order to develop software infrastructure for the next generation of smart production lines.
- Working together with the Automobile Club Luxembourg, a team from the University’s Research Unit in Engineering Science aims to develop new mobility concepts for Luxembourg to reduce congestion and pollution levels. The project focuses on a Mobility-as-a-service approach combining public and private transportation services that is expected to reduce the need for private car ownership.
- A project team from the Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management cooperates with ArcelorMittal to develop an intelligent system to support purchasing supplies, such as raw materials. The system will take into account market data along with unstructured data, like news flashes or satellite images, to make sure that buyers pick the right pricing options.
- The project team of “Ignition” will receive funding to reduce the risk of accidents in the piping of Enriched high-pressure oxygen (EHPO) that is widely used in industrial applications. The researchers from the Research Unit in Engineering Sciences will build an oxygen test facility to simulate the flow of the gas and identify the triggers that can lead to ignition. Project partner is Rotarex S. A. Luxembourg, a supplier of fire suppression system components.
- Along with industry partner BGL BNP Paribas, a research group of the SnT will work on solutions to use Machine Learning technology in FinTech applications. So far, the use of Machine Learning in this area is limited, as it is often perceived as a black box. The project team aims to design systems that are transparent for users and auditors while simultaneously providing the benefits of advanced data analysis.
- In the “DISBuS” project, the consortium comprising of SnT and satellite operator SES plans to develop a comprehensive framework that improves communication between satellites and ground stations. The project team will develop and demonstrate two novel digital signal processing techniques.
- Being compliant with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a major challenge for many companies. In the “ARTAGO” project, SnT will work on solutions for the computer-assisted assessment of GDPR compliance using artificial intelligence to extract information from a variety of legal documents such as privacy-policy statements. The project will be a collaboration between SnT and law firm Linklaters.