Maintenance and repair work in the aeronautics and construction industries can be both time-consuming and dangerous, which is why an EU project is developing robots that are a cost-effective way to get the job done without exposing workers to potential harm.
What's harder: heating your home in winter or keeping it cool in summer? In Europe's sunnier parts, stopping buildings from soaking up the rays is usually the bigger challenge. Traditional architecture in these areas has come up with a number of ways of coping with the heat, and research and development are taking this skill to the next level.
The EU-funded COOL-Coverings project, for example, has applied cutting-edge technology to create innovative tiles, paints and membranes.
A major challenge facing the European manufacturing sector is how to reduce shaking and vibration in production lines so consumers get better quality end-products. But it is complex and costly to adapt operations already in place.
An EU-funded project has developed a smart “plug-and-produce” solution for industry to transform existing machinery into more accurate tools for today’s modern production lines
Francesco Lollini is 19 years old and just finished high school. He collaborates with the research team from Bologna that runs the TOBI project (TOols for Brain computer Interaction). With the input of potential users such as Francesco, this project aims to develop practical technology for brain-computer interaction (BCI) that will improve the quality of life of disabled people and the effectiveness of rehabilitation.
Millions of Europeans undergo abdominal surgery each year to treat a range of different disorders, from cancer and heart disease to obesity. EU-funded researchers are developing innovative micro-robotics and micro-system technologies to make such surgeries less complicated, invasive and costly.
Surgical procedures have improved rapidly in recent years aided by technology that is gradually making the surgeon's scalpel a thing of the past - increasingly replaced by robotics, miniature devices and innovative procedures that have fewer health risks, speed patient recovery and leave less scarring. But there is always room for further improvement.
Remember high school physics class? Trawling through text books, grappling with complex theories and little, if any, hands-on experimentation. Many students across Europe could be forgiven for describing physics as a boring subject. But that is now set to change thanks to an EU-funded project that is bringing 'inquiry-based learning' (IBL) to the physics classroom.
You may be good at maths, art or sport, but you are probably not great at all three. The same is probably true of the region where you live, where the strengths of local industries rely on a unique combination of resources, knowledge or expertise.
As a major provider of research funding, the European Union is seeking to build on these regional and sectoral strengths in order to drive growth and prosperity across the 28-nation bloc.
An EU-funded cooperation project between India and several EU countries could transform food processing by products into food ingredients and new food products by providing sustainability and competitiveness to the food industry.
Nanotechnology looks certain to be a major source of progress in the future, benefiting society with its advances and boosting Europe’s economy by opening up new commercial possibilities. However, to achieve these gains, nanotechnology researchers need the best tools.
Two linked European projects, FIBLYS and UnivSEM, have risen to the challenge - creating a unique new machine described by one of its developers as a nanotech ‘Swiss Army knife’.
Though we generally accept the fact that chemicals are a fundamental aspect of life today, we still do not understand their long-term effects on human health. An emerging scientific field, called human biomonitoring, measures the concentration of potentially harmful substances in the body.
The EU-funded project COPHES has elaborated a methodology for harnessing this technology throughout Europe. With the twin project DEMOCOPHES it has mapped the presence of certain substances across the EU.
Managing marine research and creating effective synergies between science, policy and industry is a challenge. Yet sustainable marine governance depends on those three sectors forming strategic partnerships.
The EU-funded project MarineTT aims to boost the impact of marine research by assembling marine projects and their outcomes in a knowledge gate and improving information transfer between the three sectors.
Significant progress has been made in the fight against cancer and HIV, two diseases that affect millions of Europeans every year.
The EU-funded APO-SYS project investigated how the genetically programmed process of cell death can be modulated to improve the treatment efficiency of these disorders and, hence, potentially save the lives of millions of patients.
Sea waves can produce very high forces but they also tend to have very low vertical velocities. Exploiting wave energy from these low velocities often requires large generators which are too bulky and expensive for efficient use.
However, a European consortium has developed a prototype that "snaps" energy out of the rise and fall of the swell, allowing for the efficient extraction of energy. With a generator that is relatively small, light and cheap, the prototype is designed to resist corrosion while deployed in water depths of up to 60m.
Researchers within the NAIMIT EU-funded project are testing genetically altered bacteria known as Lactococcus lactis, which is showing promise to produce a valid treatment for Type I diabetes.
Success in these clinical trials already has had profound implications for future innovation and could have a positive impact on human health.
Professor Aharon Gedanken says he dreams of a day when hospitals are infection-free. "We are getting closer to the dream," he says of his EU-funded project, which demonstrated how textiles treated with nanoparticles can kill deadly bacteria.
Plastic films are used for packaging a wide range of products, offering protection against humidity and potential contaminants. Over time, however, these films let in air, diminishing the properties of the packed products. And while multilayer films combining several plastics are often used to improve protection, most of this packaging cannot be recycled.
The researchers behind the EU-funded WHEYLAYER project found a cheese-based biodegradable alternative to conventional multilayer films.
Bluefin tuna is so highly prized that it is being driven to extinction from the high seas due to intensive and often illegal fishing. A European research project has found a way of breeding tuna in captivity, potentially saving the coveted fish.
As a third of the fruit and vegetables Europe consumes are grown in greenhouses, protected horticulture represents a sizeable and growing proportion of the industry.
EUPHOROS project helped cut farmers’ energy requirements by half and provided innovative solutions for reducing water, nutrients and pesticides use and implementing low-energy climate controls.
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most abundant toxins that contaminates food and is deemed to be a 'health risk' by experts. OTA suppresses the immune system and can even cause various forms of cancer in both humans and animals.
The AQUASZERO project has developed low cost adsorbents in the form of granules that can remove arsenic from drinking water. The product can be used in existing water treatment filter cartridges where the arsenic bonds firmly to the AQUASZERO granules. When the granules are saturated they can be safely buried in the ground as inert waste.
