The lightweighting value chains across sectors encounters several technical challenges, which if overcome could enable further lightweighting (and related business opportunities) of varied products and technologies, something that has the potential to hugely reduce emissions from related sectors, among other benefits. However, overcoming these challenges on a major scale requires collaboration and interaction along and across different value chains, not taking place sufficiently today because of:
- lack of awareness at SMEs of what exactly large industries in their value chain need in terms of innovations, and how such large corporations could ‘fast track’ adopt proposed innovations.
- limited opportunities for SMEs to test and develop their technologies in existing applications.
- lack of flexible innovation assessment processes at end-users making them poorly equipped to assess the potential of the different solutions offered by SMEs in a way that allows such SMEs to engage with them.
- scarcity of practical methods and techniques for both parties to engage with each other, leveraging the latest innovation practices while operating within existing innovation adoption frameworks.
- limited business environments and communities where both parties can co-develop their solutions.
To do so, AMULET will:
1. Create a unique self-sustainable business framework, inclusive to end-users and SMEs from established industrial supply chains to explore innovative lightweight-driven market opportunities novel to their current businesses under a collaborative approach. In order to become a EU network of reference, the consortium will facilitate three types of activities. Launch 2 Open Calls..
1.2. Technical advice & training. Set up a network of more than 50 experts from academia to provide continuous support in the advanced materials & manufacturing field to all SMEs interested in lightweight. AMULET will define and implement a complete catalogue of technical courses. Technical consulting and dedicated support for developing the winning solutions to a demonstration scale will be also provided, achieving TRL7.
1.3. Business-to-business coaching. Set up a network of more than 50 experts from industry that will give continuous coaching for exploring lightweighting market opportunities in the targeted sectors and bring innovative ideas to a commercial scale. Business consulting and marketing strategy for taking the winning solutions to a market-readiness stage will be also provided, with the aim of achieving future successful commercialization of the up to 13 technological projects.
2. Guarantee the long-term sustainability of AMULET’S lightweight community. To do so, the partnership will engage with the 10 regional administrations by direct intermediation of clusters to:
3. Promote the cluster alliance, its members and stakeholders and its results, within Europe as well as globally, to showcase and reinforce the image of Europe in this field and generate more opportunities for the SMEs and the other cluster members. To do so, AMULET will foster staff exchange while defining and executing a dissemination plan with specific activities targeting different audiences.
