LIGHTer News International #3 2020

Lightweight solutions strengthen Swedish competitiveness and growth

News International #3 2020

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Let’s make the autumn creative together!

Autumn has arrived, bringing lots of invitations and news. Although these are unusual times, with a focus on limiting the spread of corona, together we will surely find productive, fun ways to move forward in the field of lightweighting. Contact us if you have ideas or requests on how we can improve our collaboration.

LIGHTer has been invited to represent Sweden in the first meeting of the European Lightweighting Network on 26 November. We are looking forward to strengthening European cooperation around lightweighting.

Our annual large call closed recently, and we were happy to see a record high number of applications - 59 applications with a total budget of 133 MSEK!

As far as international activities go, we are also planning bilateral calls, trade missions, seminars and workshops. We are incredibly grateful for our international network in these uncertain times. Together we are continuing our work digitally and planning for future in-person meetings.

Below, you can read about all the exciting online seminars and workshops we’re offering.

With hopes for a happy and productive autumn!

LIGHTer Management
Cecilia, Christian and Katinka

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European Lightweighting Network

LIGHTer has been invited to represent Sweden at the first meeting of the European Lightweighting Network on 26 November 2020. It will be hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The initiative is part of Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The goal of the meeting is to establish and foster a political exchange of views on national and European perspectives within forward-looking lightweighting technology. The meeting will be organised in three sections: government, business and research. We will be reporting on the resulting discussions in the coming issues of LIGHTer News International.

LIGHTer Academy is awarded renewed funding

We are pleased to announce that LIGHTer Academy has been granted funding for yet another period covering 2020–2022. So watch out for plenty of interesting research topics and news in the coming issues of LIGHTer News International. For this third project period, LIGHTer Academy will focus on sustainability, disruptive technological leaps through multifunctional lightweight research and internationalisation.

Visit our website our website to learn more about LIGHTer Academy.

Possible breakthrough in battery technology explained by Professor Leif Asp from LIGHTer Academy

Professor Leif Asp at Chalmers University of Technology explains how multifunctional carbon fibres can be used in structural batteries to replace regular batteries in tomorrow’s electric vehicles. This research is a collaboration between different members of LIGHTer Academy, among them Professor Dan Zenkert at KTH and Associate Professor Fang Liu at Chalmers. Together, they received the prestigious “Top 10 breakthroughs” award from Physics World in 2018.

Watch the video

Katinka Ernstsson

Katinka Ernstsson is back from her parental leave and is our full-time programme administrator. It is lovely to have her back!

Feel free to contact her with any questions about the programme. She’s happy to answer them or guide you to the right people in our broad network.

E-mail: katinka.ernstsson@ri.se
Phone: +46 70 780 61 40

Swiss-Swedish bilateral calls – funding
available soon

LIGHTer is happy to continue its cooperation with SWII (Swiss-Swedish Innovation Initiative). Together we are preparing a bilateral call. You will be able to apply for funding for projects within material sciences or artificial intelligence. Check back soon on our website for more information about the call.

Visit the SWII website for more information about the initiative.

SMART Eureka 4th call is open

If you have an innovative project idea in advanced manufacturing and you want to form an International Consortium to develop it, you are welcome to participate in the online Proposers' Day Event on 5 November.

You are also welcome to submit your project outlines by Monday, 14 December.

Remember that the project outline (PO) provides a short overview of the concept, the objectives of the project and the partnership, even if you have not entirely finalised them. The PO allows for early advice and feedback from the evaluation. This step is highly recommended, but participants may submit a full project proposal by 24 March without having submitted a PO.

For more information about the call process, visit Smart Eureka’s website or contact Cecilia Ramberg, cecilia.ramberg@ri.se

More information about the call

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International Trade Mission to Switzerland

Last November we had the great honour to welcome a trade mission from Composites United in Switzerland. We are planning to arrange a short series of online meetings between the organisations in Switzerland and Sweden to discuss further cooperation in both business and research. We also plan for a trade mission from Sweden to Switzerland in the autumn of next year.

Contact Christian Olsson for more information at christian.olsson@ri.se
For more information about Composites United, visit their website.

Welcome to the Composites in MedTech forum
24–26 November 2020

We are pleased to inform you about the upcoming online forum “Composites in MedTech.”

“Composites in MedTech” is the global platform for all participants from industry and research in the fields of composites and medical technology.

No matter if SME, start-up, service provider, or research institution, everyone can find suitable participants from all over the world to network and interact with each other.

Members of the Lightweight Membership Programme recieve a discounted price.

PromoCode: PartnerOrganizationLIGHTer (for visitors) reduces the ticket price from 500 Euro to 300 Euro

PromoCode: PartnerEXHIBITORLIGHTer (for exhibitors) reduces the ticket price from 700 Euro to 400 Euro

More information and registration

Welcome to a composite seminar from Chalmers and LIGHTer on 5 March 2021

Welcome to the 5th annual composite seminar co-organized by Chalmers and LIGHTer.

This year we focus on the future lightweight vehicles in different transportation areas. There are many generic issues that must be addressed in order to lower the emissions using lightweight structures. During the day we look forward to extensive and interesting discussions.

We have an exciting programme and we are happy to welcome speakers from many different industrial sectors, such as space, aeronautics, automotive and maritime.

Date: 5 March 2021
Time: 09:30 – 15:45
Location: Virtual Development Laboratory, Chalmers tvärgata 4C, 412 58 Göteborg

Contact person: Katinka Ernstsson, katinka.ernstsson@ri.se +46 70 780 61 40

More information and registration

News from the LIGHTer PhD Network

The LIGHTer PhD Network is our network of over 100 students and alumni within different lightweight disciplines across Sweden. For more information about the network and its activities, please visit our website.

Monthly seminars of LIGHTer PhD Network - Save the date!

25 November, 14:00 - 15:00
Dr Per Mårtensson (Bcomp, Switzerland): From Space and F1 into your daily car
Dr Anton Janson (North Carolina State University): X-ray Computed Tomography - From the Shadows

Upoming PhD defences by LIGHTer PhD students:

Elanghovan Natesan, 29 October, 2020
Links to their online public defence and theses will be available later on our website.

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.