THE PULSATE PROJECT, LED BY AIMEN, SUPPORTS THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF LASER-BASED ADVANCED AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY IN SMES

AIMEN Technology Centre leads the PULSATE project, an initiative whose main objective is to establish a pan-European network aimed at promoting SMEs to participate in the Innovation Ecosystem of LBAAM (Additive manufacturing and advanced based on laser technologies). The formula devised will be to connect the Digital Innovation Hubs - DIH with a support structure of knowledge, infrastructures and services aimed at breaking down the obstacles that currently limit small companies to adopt laser technologies. The initiative, which will be developed between 2020 and 2024, has a budget of 8 million euros and is funded by the European Commission within the framework of the H2020 Programme. It also has the support of the public-private association PHOTONICS21.

To achieve this objective, PUSALTE will develop a digital agora, that is, a network that brings together the most relevant organizations in laser technologies, additive manufacturing and digital laser tools. In this way, potential users of these innovative technologies will have a single point in which access a complete catalogue of services. Any European company may access these services provided by PULSATE or make a request for a specific solution.

In addition, the project will allocate more than €4M to finance the execution of 20 experimental technology transfer projects (including development, testing, validation and a market feasibility study), distributed into two open calls, and 42 use cases of laser technology, in two other calls. To do this, PULSATE intends to mobilize more than 200 SMEs to participate in the calls that the consortium will carry out.

The first call, whose application deadline will end on April 22, seeks to support 10 projects consisting of at least one technology supplier and one manufacturing company (both SMEs or slightly larger) in the following fields of activity:

• Laser equipment integration, interoperability and robust automation
• Technology for cost-effective laser-based manufacturing
• First part right and zero-defect laser-based production
• Flexible technology for small to large batches
• From CAD to PLM: data integration and flow

For the selected experiments, this support will be translated into a grant of up to €150k per experiment, as well as the support from the consortium in the different phases of the experiment. Proposals must be submitted here.

The consortium of PULSATE project is made up of six Competence Centres: AIMEN, FTMC, MTC, SINTEF, Fraunhofer and CEA; Fundingbox Accelerator and CLESGO; and an association of the photonics industry - EPIC.

More information at https://www.pulsate.eu/