LIGHTer News International #4 2020

Lightweight solutions strengthen Swedish competitiveness and growth

News International #4 2020

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Thank you!

2020 has been a different year indeed, and now Christmas holidays are waiting for most of us. During the year, we have all had to think and act differently. We have seen organisations that have joined forces to find new ways of working together. We want to thank all the people in LIGHTer's network for all your work despite the challenges we have faced. For us, it is a great pleasure to work with you.

The amount of appplications in this year's call was record high, and competition was fierce between many good project applications. A little further down you can see which projects have been approved in this year's round.

Internationally, we are continuing working with our contacts within Europe. We have had the benefit to start two new cooperations with Germany and Spain respectively, you can read more about these later on. We are really happy to notice that even more organisations in Europe are interested in LIGHTer and inspired to work in the same way.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - see you in 2021!

LIGHTer Management
Cecilia, Christian and Katinka

Resource Efficient Vehicles Conference 2021

The first multidisciplinary conference on Resource Efficient Vehicles – rev2021 – will be held online on 14 – 16 June 2021.
This vehicle-centric conference aims to bring together participants from academia, industry and public agencies to discuss research from all relevant fields connected to resource efficiency in all motorised modes of transport and interdependent surrounding systems.
The conference is organised by the Centre for ECO2 Vehicle Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

Read more and register

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Do you have products or services to sell to the UN?

On 25-26 January the UN is organising the Nordic UN Procurement Seminar.
The seminar is a unique meeting place, offering Nordic companies, from all type of industries and sectors, the opportunity to engage in person with UN procurement officers and suppliers to the UN. The UN is a large global system that purchases a wide range of goods and services.

In 2019, the UN procured for almost 20 billion USD.
The two-day seminar gathers on average 250 participants and is a vital platform for both SMEs and large enterprises to promote their solutions and conduct business with the UN.

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European Lightweighting Network

LIGHTer had the honour to represent Sweden in the first meeting of the European Lightweighting Network on 26 November. It was hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The purpose was to set up and foster a political exchange of views on national and European perspectives in the forward-looking lightweighting technology.
LIGHTer really appreciates the possibility to further strengthening the competitiveness within European lightweighting technology.

In the aftermath of the meeting we have been contacted by several countries in order to strengthen our cooperation.

The next gathering within the European Lightweighting Network is at the Lightweighting Summit at Hannover Messe on 13 April 2021.

Calls for international projects

The Swedish Research and Innovation Agency, Vinnova, has two ongoing or upcoming calls for international cooperation that we would like to promote:

German-Swedish Call for joint R&D projects by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
The aim of the call is to create the conditions to initiate joint R&D projects to develop products, technology-based services or methods within all technological and application areas. The call opens in February 2021. Read more about the call on Vinnova's website.

Staff exchange for applied AI-research 2.0
In this call, you can apply for a grant for staff exchange between Sweden and France, Germany, Canada, US or Brazil, in order to increase the organization´s AI competence and initiate long-term cooperation. Please note that submitted applications are assessed on an ongoing basis during the announcement. There are four application deadlines 2021: 29 January, 26 February, 31 March, 30 September.
Read more on Vinnova's website.

News from the LIGHTer PhD Network

On 19 November, 11 PhD students recieved their exams within the course LIGHTer - Lightweight materials and design, 6hp.
The next course will start in the beginning of 2021. The course is still open for registration. If you are interested in taking the course, please e-mail Fang Liu, fang.liu@chalmers.se

The management team of LIGHTer PhD Network wishes everybody in LIGHTer a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Upcoming digital LIGHTer PhD Network Seminars 2021:
27 January 2021 at 14:00–15:00
24 February 2021 at 14:00–15:00
24 March 2021 at 14:00–15:00
28 April 2021 at 14:00–15:00
26 May 2021 at 14:00–15:00

More information about the seminars

Sweden's capability to develop world-leading expertise within lightweight technology will be decisive for Swedish industries' competitiveness, growth and possibilities to reach the UN’s sustainable development goals. LIGHTer is creating essential collaborations within lightweight: cross-disciplinary, cross-industry sectors that are focused, innovative and efficient.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or opinions on the newsletter or its contents.

Funding for the programme is being provided by Vinnova, the Swedish Energy Agency and Formas.