Montserrat Blanco Bahamonde, Cristina Sorolla Ballesta, Raquel Portilla Parrilla, Carlos V. García Molina, Javier M. Ferrís Oñate
Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV). Universitat Politècnica de València. Edificio 9C. Camino de Vera s/n (46022) Valencia. Spain
During the period 2014-2020, the Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) and the companies with which it collaborates have taken part in European programmes that support and promote R&D, innovation and training. This article is intended as a review of the IBV’s participation and achievements in those programmes.
The latest editions of the main programmes that support and promote technological development and innovation within Europe have taken place in the period 2014-2020. The closure of the cycle has been strongly influenced by COVID-19, in response to which the reaction of the European Union (EU) has been to undertake a decisive commitment to European reconstruction through innovation and recovery funds.
Unlike other EU policies such as agriculture or cohesion, which are allocated on a country-by-country basis, the funds allocated to science pursue excellence and are therefore competitive: the best projects receive financing, regardless of their nationality.
The end of the 2014-2020 period provides a good opportunity to take stock and present the results of the participation of the Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV), together with its collaborating companies, in European programmes. The Institute’s participation has focused on research, design and technological development, on innovation and training projects within Horizon 2020, on Tenders, Erasmus+, and a series of other European programmes of varying vocation and scope. In 2014-2020, the IBV participated in a total of 45 projects, of which it led 12, with an overall return of 7.2 million euros.
And thanks to the support of the IBV, 34 companies that collaborated with the centre in the 2014-2020 European programmes, obtained a return of 13 million euros.
Among all the EU initiatives, Horizon 2020 (H2020), the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, stands out as the most important instrument and the one that had the greatest impact on and financial endowment for research, technological development and innovation activities in the EU during the period 2014-2020. The IBV’s activity in H2020 focused on two areas: (i) the participation of the centre in collaborative research and innovation projects and (ii) support to companies in the preparation and implementation of SME Instrument proposals.
i. The IBV leads 4 collaborative projects in H2020: InKreate, Back-UP, BodyPass, and SUaaVE. It also participates as a partner in 4 other initiatives: My-AHA, BIONIC, DIAMOND and USER-CHI. In the clothing industry, InKreate is dedicated to the generation of an innovative IT tool that makes it possible to design fashion garments from 3D avatars, thereby helping companies to improve their competitiveness with better designed products and more efficient production processes. In the field of health, we are involved in four projects that seek to improve people’s quality of life. Back-UP, which proposes an innovative IT system that optimizes the prognosis of workers with neck and back pain, will allow doctors, prevention services and patients to exchange information during the latter’s rehabilitation and return-to-work process. The BodyPass project focuses on the connection between the healthcare and the consumer goods sectors by promoting exchange, linkage and reuse, as well as the integration of 3D personal databases used by the two sectors, thereby allowing information to be exchanged securely. my-AHA seeks to reduce the risk of frailty among the elderly and delay their physical and cognitive decline, improving aspects related to physical, mental and social activity, nutrition, sleep, and general well-being. BIONIC aims to develop a platform that assesses in real time, and in a personalized way, the impact of work on the health of older workers, making it possible to design interventions in the work environment by adapting planning and production. Finally, three European projects linked to the automotive industry. SUaaVE has consolidated the IBV’s line of work on autonomous and connected vehicles. Its main goal is to improve the response and sensitivity of the autonomous vehicle, making it more aware of the needs of occupants, pedestrians and other drivers. USER-CHI is an innovation project focused on promoting electromobility in Europe through solutions that improve the drivers’ experience during the charging process. DIAMOND promotes gender mainstreaming in transport systems through research aimed at identifying and designing specific measures to meet the needs and expectations of female users and professionals in this sector.
ii.On the other hand, the IBV has successfully supported the participation of Spanish and European companies in the SME Instrument, a phased financing scheme aimed at SMEs that wish to grow and internationalize their business through a Europe-wide innovation project. As a result, a number of SMEs have obtained financing in phases 1 and 2 of the SME Instrument. Among other examples, it has collaborated in initiatives linked to running shoes that can plan training and prevent injuries, a virtual fitting room for clothing and footwear e-commerce, a smart device that reduces the risk of pressure ulcers, or a robotic system for neurorehabilitation in the patient’s home. Also worth mentioning is our collaboration with a Valencian SME called ONCOVISION in the CAREMiBRAIN project, which focused on the design and clinical validation of an innovative system for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Also of note is the IBV’s engagement with different European administrations to carry out research and innovative technological developments through different public procurement instruments and tenders.
• Particularly noteworthy is the activity with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) which involved the preparation of two studies of anthropometric data of children in Europe. The purpose of this research is to gather measurements and process data on anthropometry and strength in order to obtain updated information for the design of products and environments for children.
• The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has also called on the IBV to develop several web tools (OiRA) that allow companies in different sectors to assess occupational risks with the aim of making healthy workplaces The centre has also participated with two Norwegian companies - INSPIRO and MADE FOR MOVEMENT - in the implementation of phase 1 of MAGIC, the European innovative pre-commercial public procurement project that focuses on the development of innovative technologies for the physical recovery of people who have suffered strokes.
Another of the programmes in which the IBV has played an important role is Erasmus+, the European programme for the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the period 2014-2020. Among the different Erasmus+ itineraries in which it intervened, the centre has garnered great success in Strategic Partnerships, which has resulted in 12 online training actions, 3 of which it led, which provide innovative solutions for training in the professional performance of different groups. Among other examples, we have collaborated on projects that are committed to developing new technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of foot pathologies; improving the quality of life of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their carers and relatives through serious games; optimizing the safety conditions, quality and useful life of artificial turf sports fields; assessing body damage based on biomechanical analysis; applying 3D printing technology in such areas as design and the social and healthcare sector; Innovative technology-based frailty and falls management ; applying virtual reality in stroke rehabilitation processes; and design of human-centred workplaces . Likewise, in the field of Sport, the centre has led the FitWork project which provides occupational risk prevention specialists and sports professionals with an innovative guide to good practices for promoting physical activity in the workplace in an appropriate manner. It also participates in the EMoCS project which seeks to demonstrate the importance of and need for regular sporting activity in and around the workplace, and provides tools and support to help public and private authorities to address Europe’s high level of physical inactivity in this area.
As part of the COSME programme’s commitment to the design of consumer goods geared towards improving the competitiveness of SMEs, the IBV has participated, together with the coordinating company GARVALÍN, in the BIOsenSHOES project whose objective is to develop children’s shoes that provide parents with useful information about their children’s activities and maturation process.
Within the framework of the Interreg Europe programme, the IBV participates in the Inno4Sports project which involves five European regions whose common goal is to improve the implementation and efficiency of the development of programmes that promote clustering as a way to boost innovative value chains in the field of sport.
The IBV is also leading the participation of Valencian region in EIT Health, the largest European organization working to accelerate 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 been participating since then as a Core Partner. It has also been both a Member and Secretary of the Board of Directors of EIT Health Spain. Within the framework of EIT Health’s Education and Innovation calls, the centre has led the AGEFRIENDLY-DESIGN project whose objective is to develop an open and online course to train companies in the ergonomic design of workplaces, taking into account the abilities and specific needs of older workers. It also takes part in 3 other projects: CARE, whose aim is to improve the training of groups of people who care for the elderly; INFINITy, which seeks to launch on the market an ICT solution that facilitates independent living for people with mild cognitive impairment, and VALUE, which focuses on the collaboration of health and administrative staff in the adoption of approaches based on the provision of value-based healthcare. Likewise, in the Acceleration modality, the IBV is involved with European companies in two activities related to exoskeletons that are designed to prevent back pain and to analyse the behavior of Spanish consumers vis-à-vis the design of medical devices.
To conclude the tour, the centre has supported companies in the implementation of projects linked to 3 programmes of different vocation and scope. SOMNOADAS, an initiative within the framework of the IBEROEKA programme, pursues the advancement of drowsiness detection systems in vehicles in order to prevent traffic accidents. The PRYSTINE project, which is part of the ECSEL initiative, aims to develop innovative electronic components for smart mobility. And EXO-RESCUE, a project within the EUROSTARS programme and led by a Spanish company called Gogoa, focuses on the advancement of a new model of exoskeleton to facilitate the emergency tasks carried out by various rescue services, such as firefighters and police.
CONCLUSIONS
These results, the fruit of the work and effort of the entire IBV team during the period 2014-2020, embody our commitment to collaboration in excellence at the European level. As we have demonstrated, the IBV’s participation in European projects has not only meant an economic return from the EU for the centre, but also for the Valencian, Spanish and European companies with which it collaborates. We face the future with optimism and enthusiasm, and we will continue working on the mobilization of new European projects to achieve the strategic objectives that the centre has set itself and to encourage the participation of its related companies and collaborators.
To achieve these results, the IBV has received the support of the Europe Technology Centres call launched by the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation, which aims to promote the participation of Spanish technology centres in Horizon 2020 and to strengthen their capacity to promote the participation of companies in this programme (ECT-2014-0082 and ECT-2016-0241). On the other hand, following the IBV’s positive results in the 7th Framework Programme, it was hired by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology, CDTI, to support and facilitate the participation of Spanish companies in the Horizon 2020 programme in the period 2014-2017.
In a similar fashion, the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness, IVACE, supports the IBV in the implementation of activities designed to enhance its capacity to develop excellence in R&D and to help it to improve its business competitiveness. The following projects, some of which receive co-funding from ERDF, are examples of this support: IMAMCJ/2014/1, IMAMCJ/2015/1, IMAMCJ/2016/1, IMACID/2017/5, IMAMCJ/2018/1, IMAMCJ/2019/1 and IMAMCJ/2020/1.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our thanks go out first of all to Jaime Prat, our dear colleague and deputy director of the centre who was suddenly and unexpectedly taken away from us by COVID-19 in March 2021. From the very beginning of the IBV’s activity, Jaime was a staunch advocate and promoter of the centre’s participation in European programmes. His involvement, commitment, generosity and support to all the employees of the centre who collaborate in our European projects, albeit in their different and complementary fields, is a source of inspiration that is projected to the present day.
Our thanks too, to all the organizations that collaborate in the projects and to the institutional agents involved: The European Commission and its collaborating agencies, EU-OSHA, CEN, EIT Health, Interreg Europe Managing Authority, SEPIE, MINECO, CDTI and IVACE.
• These projects have received funding from the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020) through the following contracts: my-AHA (689592), InKreate (731885), Back-UP (777090), BodyPass (779780) BIONIC (826304), SUaaVE (814999), USER-CHI (875187), DIAMOND (824326), RUNSAFER (672605), CAREMiBRAIN (651145 and 711323), SolDent (650946), VisuaLook (662847), DuoTrainer (710568), i-LiveRest (696939), LiveRest (830134) and MAGIC (687228).
• The studies of anthropometric data of children in Europe have received funding through the European Committee for Standardization, CEN.
• The OiRA tools project (EUOSHA/2017/0023/1) has received funding from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).
• These projects have received funding from the EU Erasmus+ programme 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), TEACH (2018-1-PL01-KA203-051084), Fall-In-Age (2018-1-PTO-1-KA203-047343), TRAIN4HCWORK (2018-1-ES01-KA203-050887), FitWork (579903) and EMoCS (590471).
• The BIOsenSHOES project (699678) has received funding through the EU COSME programme.
• The Inno4Sports project (PGI05481) has received funding through the EU Interreg Europe programme.
• The AGEFRIENDLY-DESIGN (17149), CARE (18256), INFINITy (19342) and VALUE (20328) projects are funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). This EU entity receives support from Horizon 2020, the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
• The SOMNOADAS project has been funded by CDTI (IDI-20150255) and certified by IBEROEKA (IDI-20150255).
• The PRYSTINE project (783190) has received funding through the ECSEL programme.
• The EXO-RESCUE project (E!115182), part of the EUROSTARS programme, receives funding through the National Agencies of the participating countries: CDTI and Innosuisse.
