O Porriño - 16 September 2021

PULSATE is a new PAN-European Network that aims to connect many digital innovation hubs in Europe with expertise in laser-based manufacturing technologies In order to reach all those SMEs who want to fit in an Industry 4.0 environment and enter the world of laser-based technologies.

Digitization will radically change and challenge many industries, particularly the EU-based manufacturing industries, where Laser-Based Advanced and Additive Manufacturing (LBAAM) play a key role, providing maximal benefits for flexible manufacturing or highly digitalized environments. PULSATE will particularly focus on sectors with a high impact potential such as medical devices, electronics, automotive, aeronautics, energy and industrial equipment.

PULSATE emerges as an initiative to promote a PAN-European Network designed to boost the adoption of LBAAM manufacturing technologies through the uptake of advanced digital tools, reaching the European SMEs and slightly bigger companies by means of a Digital, proving fully digitised services and thus, enabling new business models based on LBAAM technologies (manufacturing capacity renting, machine as a service, etc.).

PULSATE will connect Digital Innovation Hubs (DHIs), top class Competence Centres, Public Institutions, Standardization Organizations, Financing and Business Development entities through a Single-Entry Point and is built on a solid methodology for operational and financial support to European SMEs, and a vision and mechanism for long term sustainability. This will connect all resources required and provide long- lasting access to LBAAM technologies for SMEs across Europe to assimilate these technologies.

To enable this, PULSATE project brings together a strong consortium comprising six reputable competency centres (AIMEN, FTMC, MTC, SINTEF, Fraunhofer and CEA) with high level expertise in LBAAM and digitization, the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) to support the promotion/acceleration of EU innovative scale-up initiatives, and two highly innovative SMEs (CLESGO & FBA) to establish and support the digital agora platform, maintain a Marketplace of digital services and to manage the mechanisms of financial support to SMEs & slightly bigger companies and the interfaces with DIHs across all Europe.

After a successful launching of the project, the coordinator Pablo M. Romero, from Aimen Centro Tecnologico, stated: “It's exciting to lead this highly competent, involved and committed team, towards an ambitious goal. During the project we will provide high-level support to more than 60 SMEs to boost technology adoption, providing 4 million Euros of direct funding to the companies for proof of concept experiments, and more than 1 million in support services, and that's only the beginning! We aspire to constitute a stable network that stays as the European reference in Laser Based Manufacturing for the next generation of SMEs entering the Digital Single Market”.

PULSATE has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 951998.