Eindhoven Engine, the accelerator for innovation projects, welcomes four projects with a focus on energy and health technology: Brain for Buildings, NEON EE, GEM-stage and VIPNOM. The four projects will carry out research worth a total budget of over 11 million euros, with Eindhoven Engine contributing 1.4 million euros. The investment for the Eindhoven Engine OpenCall 2021 comes from the Brainport Region Deal.

The projects can continue to develop under the wings of Eindhoven Engine and get their innovations to market faster. In addition, they will work together at the Eindhoven Engine co-location on the TU/e Campus to help build the internal community.

Brain for Buildings – Automating Performance Assurance Climate Installations

The first OpenCall 2021 project is called Brain for Buildings. The goal is to develop a self-learning module that can monitor and diagnose climate systems in large buildings. This will enable a climate system to perform better; for instance, lower energy consumption, better thermal comfort and better air quality. More efficient maintenance is also possible. The module will be used as an add-on for the Building Energy Management System (BEMS) of offices. The partners in this project are AirTeq, ArtEnergy,  Avans, BAM, Building G100, CEO, ChessWise, DWA, DYSECO, Kropman, Peutz, Renor, Royal HaskoningDHV, Sensing 360, Strukton, TNO, TU Eindhoven and WOI.

NEON EE – New Energy Outlook for the Netherlands Eindhoven Engine

The second project is NEON EE, part of the NEON research program that focuses on the societal challenges of climate change, clean energy and smart mobility. The models, or digital twins, being developed provide information on ways to reduce CO₂. With the information acquired, research is being conducted into a low-carbon future through realistic and cost-effective ways. NEON EE will enable these models to be brought to market even faster. Within Eindhoven Engine, several parties will test the tooling, nourishing it with more and more data and therefore enabling it to present an even more realistic picture. Partners in this project are Fontys, Lightyear, TU Eindhoven and Zenmo.

GEM stage – Demonstration of Green Energy Mill stage

Large events, such as festivals, consume more electricity than the main grid can supply. As a result, festivals rely on generators that consume up to 130,000 liters of diesel per event. With more than 12,000 large outdoor events in Western Europe each year, it is essential to find ways to reduce this waste and pollution. The GEM tower has been developed to change this. This tall tower is a large battery that controls the storage and distribution of renewable wind and solar energy. In this project, GEM-stage wants to complete the supply of renewable sources in the GEM-stage by adding hydrogen. The partners are DENS, Double2, Flexotels, TU Eindhoven, and ZAPConcepts.

VIPNOM – VIrtual Position NOise Measurement

VIPNOM focuses on the further development of methods to measure noise. Noise is the second largest harmful environmental factor in Europe and claims a million healthy years of life each year due to stress and sleep disturbances. To effectively combat unwanted noise, it is important to be able to measure it. Today, noise is measured by placing microphones at relevant locations. With microphone arrays at central locations, noise levels at several desired locations can also be measured simultaneously. To date, similar measurement methods have been developed. In order to accurately measure noise levels, VIPNOM will further develop, optimize and implement these methods. The resulting algorithms will be tested in the living labs Stratumseind and Strijp-S. GNResound, Sorama and TU Eindhoven are the partners in this collaboration.

Common goal: accelerate innovation

For OpenCall 2021, which calls for projects to come up with innovative proposals that address societal challenges, Eindhoven Engine selected four projects following an evaluation based on predefined criteria by a team of independent experts.

Bert Pauli, chairman of the supervisory board of Eindhoven Engine, is pleased: “Our criteria focus on how innovations can be brought to market faster and more successfully. Only high-quality project proposals are honored. You notice that partners and consortia increasingly find their way to Eindhoven Engine and come up with excellent proposals in order to benefit to the fullest extent from our co-location and potential cross-sector collaborations.”

“The projects at Eindhoven Engine have a common goal: to accelerate innovation in the Brainport region.”

–  Maarten Steinbuch

Katja Pahnke and Maarten Steinbuch, directors of Eindhoven Engine, agree wholeheartedly. Steinbuch: “The projects at Eindhoven Engine have a common goal: to accelerate innovation in the Brainport region. They achieve this with research into high-quality technological solutions, facilitated by Eindhoven Engine. And these solutions answer the societal challenges facing our generation and environment.” This is also reflected in the themes of these projects: energy and medical technology. “In view of the relaxations that are increasingly being introduced in the Netherlands,” adds Katja Pahnke, “we are ready to welcome these and also the ongoing projects at our co-location of Eindhoven Engine on the TU/e Campus.”