CIRCE is a research Centre founded in 1993 with the support of the University of Zaragoza, to create and develop innovative solutions and scientific/technical knowledge and transfer them to the business sector in the field of energy.

CIRCE’s mission is to drive forward improvements in energy efficiency and to spread the use of renewable energy by means of the development of R+D+i (Research, Development and Innovation) activities and formative actions that respond to the needs of national and international producers, thereby contributing to sustainable development.

Objectives

Circe's mission consists of the following objectives:

To improve competitiveness of national companies by means of the improvement of their energy processes.
To develop and apply new technologies that improve energy efficiency and facilitate the diffusion of renewable energy.
To develop internationally acclaimed training programmes in energy.
To encourage and promote the improvement of energy efficiency… CIRCE boasts high-tech R+D systems to recognized and certified standards. These infrastructures make it possible to offer a good quality, efficient innovation service, in close contact with real businesses, as well as promoting the generation of new knowledge. View each of our labs to see the facilities and activities available.

Renewable Energy Integration Laboratory

R+D+i activities performed in the Renewable Energy Integration Lab take place in the field of connection to the electric grid of renewable generation systems, storage and micro-grids, as well as developing applications with which to improve grid quality and electric vehicle charging.

Its facilities make it possible to try out new electronic power configurations by associating different renewable energy sources and storage systems, and by connecting them to weak grids or direct current microgeneration systems, among other activities.

Its facilities are located in three different places: Micro-grid, located in the CIRCE building;…. -R+D+i privately financed contracted projects for the enhancement of the scientific and technical capabilities of CIRCE:
-R+D activities for processes, products and services to increase efficiency; Innovation for radical or substantial changes to production, processes, products and services.
Technological advice services: studies intended for the improvement of strategic planning in businesses and Administrative departments; design of experimental plants, technological demonstrations and pilot plants, measuring, social economic analysis, techno-economics or matters concerning legislation etc.
Standardized technical help and other laboratory services: testing, calibrating, analysis, detection.
-R+D+i projects in collaboration with public finance: R+D+i projects in collaboration with businesses and other organisations to obtain results that can be commercialized or that represent progress in the state of the art.
-Strategic alliances to improve collaboration with organisations by means of framework…. Yes. service.

Research for defense and security

Photorealistic aerial images, high-precision measurements of satellite orbits, a look beneath the Earth's surface,  air surveillance through the utilization of TV and radio stations – just a few examples of the remarkable capabilities of radar. Due to its unique capabilities – independence from weather and daylight, long-range, high sensitivity to range rate changes and the generation of high resolution images – radar is now an indispensable tool for military and civilian applications.

The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR has focused on the fine-tuning of existing radar systems and the development of groundbreaking new radar technology for over 50 years and has therefore shaped the history of radar for more than half of the time that has passed since it was first patented by Christian Hülsmeyer in 1904.

The Institute

The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR develops concepts, methods and… State-of-the-art technology

With its space observation radar TIRA, comprehensive facilities for analog and digital printed circuit board technology, measurement capability into the terahertz range, several anechoic chambers, vehicles equipped with radar systems and an ultra-light aircraft for airborne radar surveillance the institute offers excellent possibilities not only for developing modern electromagnetic sensor systems, but also for training technical and scientific personnel.

More details you may find here: http://www.fhr.fraunhofer.de/en/the-institute/technical-equipment.html
. Business Units

Fraunhofer FHR supports its customers and partners through its ability to develop innovative products in six business units. The business units are continuously adapted in line with the respective market situation.
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The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology is a privately owned non-profit research centre specialized on bridging the gap between basic academic research and experimental industrial development. Although officially founded in 2010, its roots go back into the early 90s with predecessor organizations growing over time and merging with others. With approximately 200 of highly skilled and motivated employees and expertise from our currently 18 scientific partners acib offers a multi-disciplinary team of experts in the fields of biocatalysis, enzyme technology, protein engineering, (bio)polymers, metabolic modeling, bioprocess engineering, synthetic biology and cell engineering,... The main locations are in Austria (Vienna, Graz, Tulln, Linz, Innsbruck) with additional locations in Germany, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Poland, Taiwan and New Zealand.

We provide research and innovation to SMEs in the field of (industrial) biotechnology, which includes various other sectors:
- Energy: Application of… We have state-of-the-art equipment owned by acib worth >8 million Euros (acquisition costs) and through framework contracts with our 18 scientific partners (universities and research institutions in Austria and beyond) access much more and provide these for R&D projects.

We have equipment in the field of
- bioreactors (for pro- and eukaryotes)
- protein purification (HPLC, UHPLC, ÄKTA, etc.)
- analysis (GC-MS, Caliper Bioanalyzer, Nano DSC, Zetasizer NanoZS, LUMiSizer, Real-time PCR, Raman Station, etc.)
- microscopes (light, inverted, fluorescence, yeast tetrad dissection, etc.)
- photometers, plate readers, microarrayscanners (different spectra, different systems)
- robots (pipett robots, picking robots, etc.)
- software licenses (3DM clients, CLC Genomic Workbench, Matlab, etc.)
- and many more within acib (and many many more accessible through our scientific partners)
- ...

Currently the www.acib.at homepage is being renewed and in the near future all equipment should be accessible through…. acib provides several different services to the Industry:
+ contract research in all areas (from R&D to production and analysis)
+ extensive literature studies and IP search
+ consulting for funded research
+ professional project management for (funded) projects
+ professional dissemination activities
+ organization of events and conferences
+ training courses (theoretical and 'hands-on')
+ partner search
+ looking for technologies
+ 'acib task force' => solving problems for companies at their place
+ flexible and tailored solutions for the industries needs

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The Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon (INA) is an interdisciplinary research institute located in the “Campus Río Ebro” at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). 

INA is dedicated to R&D in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Its activities are based on manufacturing and processing micro and nanoscaled structures (10-6 m and 10-9 m respectively) and studying their applications, in collaboration with companies and technological institutes from different areas and countries.

INA has high-level experts of different disciplines: Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Biochemistry and Medicine, which allows the Institute to perform a multidisciplinary research using all branches of knowledge to address nanoscience. Almost 140 researchers (67PhDs and 18 qualified technicians) work at INA. In addition, there is a Transfer and Promotion Office that supports the R&D activity. The goal of this office is to forge links between companies and the Institute.

Mission and Vision of INA

The mission of the Institute of… Located within INA is the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, LMA.

LMA is a unique initiative at national and international levels aimed at providing the Industrial and Scientific communities with the most advanced infrastructures in Nanofabrication, Local Probe and Electron Microscopy for the observation, characterization, nanopatterning and handling of materials at atomic and molecular scale.

All LMA instruments and the expertise of the scientists and technical staff involved are offered to researchers from other public and private research centers and also to professionals from industrial sectors at national and international levels.

The available infrastructures at LMA are divided in the following areas:

Dual Beam, SEM, XPS, and XRD areas

Infrastructures:

Cryogenic Dual Beam Nova 200
Dual Beam Helios Nanolab 600 and 650
Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope SEM-Quanta FEG 250, ESEM
Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope CSEM-FEG INSPECT 50
XRD: Bruker D8 Advance High…. INA-LMA offers its instruments and support to different industrial sectors. Some of the most representative industrial sectors for which LMA performs a variety of microscopic and analytical services are the followings:

Biotechnology, Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Industry

Characterization of functionalized nanoparticles.
Characterization of different types of biomaterials and biological samples.
Characterization of the plasmonic behavior for optical applications in biotechnology.
Contamination and particle identification. Particle sizing. Surface and interface analysis.
Chemical composition and structure of C/N/O based samples.
Shape memory alloys: brackets for dental and stents for medical applications.

Chemical Industry

Characterization of new materials.
Contaminant particle identification.
Characterization of nanopaints, adhesives and general coatings for a wide variety of industrial applications.
Characterization of thin films and surface…. Yes. service.

With more than 415 employees and more than 19,500 m² net floor space the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT is worldwide one of the most important development and contract research institutes of its specific field. The activities cover a wide range of areas such as the development of new laser beam sources and components, precise laser based metrology, testing technology and industrial laser processes. This includes laser cutting, caving, drilling, welding and soldering as well as surface treatment, micro processing and rapid manufacturing.

Furthermore, the Fraunhofer ILT is engaged in laser plant technology, process control, modelling and simulation as well as in the entire system technology. We offer feasibility studies, process qualification and laser integration in customer specific manufacturing lines.
Frauhofer ILT provides infrastructure in manufacturing from laser sources and processing heads to complete laser-based manufacturing systems at laboratory level and at industrial level. For analyses of materials, the ILT offers the complete metallurgical and biological analysis facilities as well as a number of state of the art microscopes from laser scanning devices to electron scanning microscopes.
. At Fraunhofer ILT, projects range from community research via public-private partnerships to fully confidential contract research.
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The C2N micro-nano-technology facility is a 2800m² iso4 cleanroom located in Paris. The C2N expertise covers requirements such as delivery of MBE or MOVPE grown materials, micro and nano technologies, and also analysis.

It belongs to the network Renatech. Renatech is the French network of high-end facilities in the field of micro & nanotechnology coordinated by CNRS. Its objective is to allow the research and industry to benefit from competitive and world-class infrastructure for carrying out research and R&D projects. That requires top level equipment in micro and nanotechnologies

Within the framework of the Renatech network, C2N supports more than hundred external projects every year, the technological investigation being developed in C2N while the project leader belongs to another lab. C2N process specialists evaluate the feasibility of the project, and define the technology to be exploited or to be developed in order to deliver the required structures or to perform high-end analysis.

The C2N… Equipments are distributed in several "resources" listed below, some equipments being freely operated by any user after a qualifying training, while others are under restricted access.

Four main resources have been defined :

Generic Processing Technologies (lithography, etching, deposition, back end, characterization)
Advanced technologies (Ebeam lithography, ICP,etching, ALD, SEM)
Growth (MOCVD, MBE)
Structural analysis (DRX, TEM)
Optical analysis (FTIR)

. Technological service: OPEN-ACCESS fabrication service of micro and nanosystems for research and all industries.

R&D project collaboration with leading-edge tools and instrumentation

Client oriented advices: identification of the relevant technological solutions

On-site training capabilities: training the customers' staff for autonomous of high-end instruments

Services on demand:

Technological state of the art
Partnerships identification
Identification of funding opportunities

 
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Centre for functional and surface-functionalized glasses (acronym FunGlass) is newly created centre of excellence in the framework of Horizon 2020 project - Spreading the excellence and widening participation (H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2; Topic WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017 Teaming Phase 2, project number 739566). Its establishment is based on upgrade of the existing Centre of excellence for ceramics, glass and silicate materials (CEKSiM, created in 2012). The Centre is created in cooperation with the project partners´ institutions and their leading experts in glass science and technology in Europe, namely (in alphabetical order) prof. Bernardo from the Universita degli Studi di Padova (Italy), prof. Boccaccini from the Friedrich – Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany), prof. Durán from the Instituto de Ceramica y Vidrio Madrid (Spain), and prof. Wondraczek from the Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena (Germany). The Centre is located at Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovakia… In the last 6 years the Centre was successful in obtaining a significant amount of funding from ERDF and other sources (including industrial cooperation).  As a result of these activities, today CEKSiM has at its hands an up-to-date research infrastructure:

Sample preparation

State of the art powder processing line, laboratory scale, including:

Planetary Mill, Fritsch Pulverisette 5,
Vibratory Micro, Mill Fritsch Pulversiette 0,

State of the art ceramographic facilities, laboratory scale, including:

Precision Saw, Buehler IsoMet® 5000,
Diamond Saw, Buehler AbrasiMatic® 300 Abrasive Cutter,
Lapping equipment/Grinder-Polisher, Buehler EcoMet 300Pro
Automatic polisher EcoMet/AutoMet 300 Grinder-Polisher,
Vibration polishing Buehler Vibromet,

Other:

JEOL JFC-1300 „AUTO Sputter Coater“,
JEOL JEC-520 „Carbon Coater“,
House built equipment for preparation of glass microspheres by flame synthesis,
Laboratory Tape Caster, DrBlade

Heat treatment and glass…. The industrial based research is related to the needs of local and regional glass production and technology problems. The actual services for industrial partners are DSC analysis, TGA analysis, SEM analysis, measurement of the mechanical and physical properties of the glasses. The Centre offers also the following services:

Determination of the chemical composition of inorganic non-metalic materials
Determination of the content of dissolved elements in water
Determination of the chemical resistance of silicate glasses
Corrosion testing and monitoring of chemical resistance of inorganic materials
Corrosion tests with advanced ceramic materials under hydrothermal conditions
Vicker hardness test
Microstructural analysis of inorganic non-metallic materials
UV-VIS-NIR (absorption) spectroscopy
Raman spectroscopy
Electrical and electrochemical properties of materials
Thermal properties of materials
Melting of glass-forming melts under laboratory conditions
Measurement of physical…. Yes. service.

As a leading institute for resource-efficient production within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, with over 600 staff members, Fraunhofer IWU is an important R&D partner for the automotive/ vehicle, machine tool and mechanical engineering industries. Strong collaborations with European stakeholders are in:

Manufacturing processes such as forming, joining, machining (cutting) including machine tools and automation
Additive manufacturing
Acoustical solutions for industry
Lightweight design (metal foam, fibres, sheet metals)
Functional surfaces and micro manufacturing

Innovation at Fraunhofer IWU is grouped into three areas:

 Mechatronics and Lightweight Structures including

Adaptronics and acoustics
Medical engineering
Additive manufacturing
Functionally-integrated lightweight structures
Functional textiles
Applied polymers/plastics processing

Forming and Joining Technologies including

Sheet metal forming
Hydroforming
Hot bulk metal forming
… Forming machine tools

Clutch-controlled screw press
Die rolling machine
Cross rolling machine
Spin extrusion machine
Several hydraulic presses with press forces ranging from 50 kN to 16,000 kN
Two hydroforming presses (4,000 bar; press force: 15,000/50,000 kN)
Profile rolling machines
Rotary swaging machine
Pulsed power generator for electromagnetic forming
Precision forming machines for micro hot embossing
Testing station for high speed micro-forming

Machine tool thermal behaviour testing equipment (including a thermal cell to generate defined variable ambient conditions)

Additive Manufacturing: Laser Beam Melting

Several laser beam melting systems  

Robotics and assembly engineering

Car body construction plant for assembling car doors including different robot clamping fixtures
HRI experimenting platform including different heavy-duty KUKA robots  

Production Management/ Factory Planning

Laser scanner for 2D/3D detection of building outlines….
Innovation Services
Access to newest knowledge and technologies with expertise in solving industry problems
Applied research experts
Skills training and workshops for companies
Technology and process optimisation
Technology and knowledge transfer
Prototype development
Iterative and participative design

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The LTM technology center is one of the 5 French centers associated in the Renatech network. The LTM technology center in located in Grenoble - France. Its 1200m² cleanroom area is divided in two parts : 500 m² are located on the 200-300 mm LETI's platform. Developments of technological process are developed there on 200 mm and 300 mm Si wafers for projects in micro or nanoelectronics and photonics. The other 700 m² area is named "Plateforme Technologique Amont" (PTA) or Center for upstream research. Its objective is to provide to academic laboratories or industrial companies a set-up of technological equipments and associated processes which are compatible with various materials and substrate sizes from few mm² up to 100 mm wafers. Main objective of the LTM center is to provide a rapid and simple access to the platform.  Academic or  industrial users can be trained to be able to use the equipments, or can ask to the center staff to provide the technological process service.
The equipments of PTA are composed of all the standard tools for technological processes in terms of growth, deposition (E-beam, PVD, LPCVD, PECVD...), etching, lithography (e-Beam, optical UV and DUV, Nanoimprint...) and associated characterizations. Specific equipements usually devoted to MEMs and NEMs fabrication are also available, such as Chemical Mechanical Planarization. About 30 tools are present in the cleanroom with specifications at the state of the art. The equipment list is available on www.pta-grenoble.com website.

The 200-300 mm equipments platform is composed of two plasma etching clusters, one epitaxy cluster for III-V compounds growth, and a set of physico-chemical characterization tools such as XPS, Ellipsometry, Micro-PL, micro-raman...) The particularity of these tools is that wafers can be characterized directly after etching or deposition process without any oxydation, by using vacuum carriers. information on theses equipements can be consulted on the www.ltmlab.fr website.
. The LTM technology center provides various services for any academic or industrial customer who would like to perform a R&D project. The objective can be the identification of technological solutions, the experimentation of new processes, or the demonstration of the fabrication of a new device. The customer's staff can be trained for an autonomous use of the equipments, The center staff can also provide a service to develop and realize technological processes or complete flow chart. the customers can contact the center on the renatech website. After a discussion with the center director, the specifications will be established and a quotation will be proposed. Main objective is to provide a rapid access to the equipements or realization. 
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Laser and Engineering technologies cluster LITEK was established in 2011 but cooperation between science and SMEs continues for more than 20 years already. Today LITEK unifies 16 companies and organizations working in photonics and engineering field. LITEK cluster has strong connections with more than 50 companies and 10 RTOs working in fields of optoelectronic components, including optical materials and lasers and more than 80 companies working in engineering sector. LITEK has Research and training center with laboratories, clean-rooms & offices.

Overall goal of the cluster is to create the dynamic center of action, which would have a fully integrated chain of researchers, suppliers, manufacturers and retailers and, which would improve the international competitiveness of laser and laser-related engineering technologies as well as the knowledge and wealth of SMEs.

LITEK provides research services to Lithuanian and foreign companies. Using during researches obtained knowledge, specialist of LITEK… As it was mentioned, LITEK has Research and training centre with laboratories, ISO7 clean-rooms & offices with different equipment. LITEK research and training centre has UV-VIS-IR spectrometer, spherical/aspherical lens polishing equipment, fiber laser technology processing equipment, analytical equipment, 3D printing workstation, optical coating station, various program software, spectrum analyzers, lasers, CNC precise machining bar and other.

More information [email protected] or
. Laser & Engineering Technologies cluster LITEK provides a variety of services: perform designing, experimental production and testing high power and energy laser systems, fiber lasers; carry out prototypes, modeling services; develop technologies for multi-layer coating for optical components; provide flat optics and crystal polishing services and other photonics and/or engineering sector related activity.

More information [email protected] or
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