On 1 January Karlstad University launched three research and development projects as part of Academy for Smart Specialisation, a partnership between the university and Region Värmland aiming to renew regional industry and strengthen research. It involves research in two prioritised areas, advanced manufacturing and solar energy systems solutions.
The University and Region Värmland partnership platform Academy for Smart Specialisation is designed to be a meeting-place for researchers, companies, public actors, financiers and entrepreneurs to support international competitiveness of research and industry. The three projects launched are part of this effort.
Solar cell research
The aim of the project is to cooperate with regional industries to create new products and services in the area of solar cell-generated electricity and strengthen cooperation between regional companies and international groups. The project contributes to regional competitiveness and increases the use of solar electricity, which means reduced carbon emission.
“We want regional companies to participate actively in the project. To this end we will carry out a study of potential partners and arrange a meeting to develop ideas in the solar energy field,” says Markus Rinio, professor of physics. The overriding goal is to attract more Swedish companies to join the production chain of silicon solar cell systems. Several companies have already shown interest in cooperating with the project.
AT lab and 3D printing
The project goal is to install and start a laboratory for Additive Manufacturing (AT lab) at Karlstad University for the purpose of using it as a meeting place between academia and regional companies, thus creating opportunities for knowledge transfer and environments where big, small and mid-sized companies can develop knowledge, products and services in conjunction with the university in the form of workshops, seminars and pilot projects.
“This project is intended to install and launch a laboratory at Karlstad University, which can create an arena of knowledge and technology transfer in cooperation with the industry,” says Pavel Krakhmalev, professor of materials science.
Lean factory and production efficiency
Karlstad Lean Factory is a recently established development and meeting environment for industry at Karlstad University.
“The starting-point of the planned pre-study is that sustainable innovation incentives build on a combination of a company’s product development capacity and resource efficient processes”, says Leo De Vin, professor of manufacturing engineering. “We will, for instance, map the needs of small and mid-size companies with the aim of stimulating operational development in the manufacturing industry and create innovation capacity.”
The three projects are part of the research group CMM, Characterizing and Modeling of Materials, which involves researchers from the disciplinary fields of materials engineering, materials physics, strength of materials and manufacturing engineering. The overriding goal of the three new projects is to develop the competitiveness of regional industry, in conjunction with companies.
