New research environments for sustainable and digital transformation are emerging. In the competence centres, universities and companies will jointly conduct excellent research and education in areas that are important for sustainable industry and digital social transformation. In total, the universities, companies, and Vinnova are investing SEK 1 billion in the first five years, to strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness. The goal is for new knowledge and ground-breaking technology to be developed, disseminated, and used to speed up the transition. The investment will also contribute to attracting cutting-edge expertise for world-leading research and development in Sweden.
The investment will also contribute to attracting cutting-edge expertise for world-leading research and development in Sweden.
In total, Vinnova invests SEK 387 million in these competence centres over five years with a possible extension for another five years. In addition to this funding, the participating universities and companies contribute an equal amount of funding each. Four out of eleven newly decided competence centres that receive funding belong to Lund University:
Integrated Sensors and Adaptive Technology for Sustainable Products and Manufacturing (Sentio)
A competence center focused on integrated sensor technology that enables digital real-time optimization of industrial products and production processes for a sustainable industry. The center will engage researchers across LTH with excellence in knowledge of the production industry, nanomaterial fabrication, in-operando characterization with machine learning for adaptive control and statistical signal processing, software interfacing and process, cost and sustainability analysis.
Project manager: Anders Mikkelsen
“We have gathered a fascinating combination of interdisciplinary skills to go all the way from nanosensors to sustainable industrial production and products,” says Anders Mikkelsen.
Advanced Chip Technology (ACT)
A competence center for developing processes and methods for developing semiconductor components.
ACT gathers semiconductor actors in Sweden to research and develop Advanced Chip Technology for future eligibility requirements. We focus on industrial needs in areas where technology and knowledge are in demand by utilizing our scientific excellence mixed with commercial potential. We want to be an attractive partner within the European Chips Act who, with our strengths, contributes to European activities while at the same time gaining access to technology and knowledge in the areas where Sweden has a weaker position.
Next-generation communication and computational infrastructures and applications (NextG2Com)
The overarching goal of NEXTG2COM is to build sustainable state-of-the-art intelligent network solutions, to solve complex and advanced use cases that are not supported by current communication network technologies. The aim is a paradigm shift from the pipeline network infrastructure as offered by 5G, into future fully integrated general-purpose platforms, utilizing recent machine learning (ML) advancements for the next generation of communication and computational infrastructures and applications.
Advanced Computing for Sustainable Thermal Management in Industry (AdTherM)
The Competence centre AdTherM targets analyses of thermal processes in industrial applications, including thermo- and electrochemical energy conversion activities. Most challenges for the industry in this area are generic and based on the same physical mechanisms. To develop this field of research, both experiments and models need to be improved and coordinated. AdTherM is a platform centered around the models and methods used to evaluate, analyze, and develop thermal industrial systems. This includes validation of models against experiments and applied modeling at various lengths and time scales.
In addition to these, there is already an existing competence center:
Centre for III Nitride Semiconductor Technology (C3NiT)
A competence center that aims to establish a platform for generating and exploiting cutting-edge research in III-nitride semiconductors for the next generation of power and high-frequency electronics, through a combination of scientific excellence and industrial relevance.
The centre of competence consists of a consortium with parties from different sectors with a common vision and objective which is based on excellent research and where the knowledge that is developed in the environment can be used by business and society. The centre shall stimulate cooperation between parties from business, academia, and public actors.
The research conducted at the centres is a collaboration between Lund University and several other partners within other universities, the industry, and the public sector.