FVG Cohesion and Development Fund: New Tools and Opportunities for companies

Thanks to the funding provided through the Cohesion and Development Fund of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Area Science Park has launched several initiatives:

• Increased experimental and demonstration equipment available at the 4 Nodes of the IP4FVG Digital Innovation Hub;
• Implementation of the 2nd “Test4Digitalization” call;
• Expansion and consolidation of services at the Orfeo Data Centre;
• Creation of an experimental station for the Hydrogen Valley.

INCREASED EXPERIMENTAL AND DEMONSTRATION EQUIPMENT AT IP4FVG NODES

The ARGO PSC IP4 DIMOSTRATORI project involves investments for the acquisition of hardware and software equipment and the procurement of supplies for developing new customised demonstration applications to support and integrate the ongoing activities of the Industry Platform 4 FVG.

The IoT – Internet of Things Node in Amaro is being upgraded with:

• A demonstration system for the retrofit of industrial machines using 4.0 technologies;
• IoT and Edge Gateway architecture, including new sensors, for interfacing with the equipment already available at the Node;
• A software licence for developing a new use case linked to the creation of a “Virtual Factory”

For the DAAI– Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence Node in Udine, investments are planned for the development of two new use cases focused on data collection and analysis through:

• Implementation of a new control and management system for the robotic arm already present in the laboratory;
• Provision of a tool for image analysis using Artificial Intelligence.

For the DOS– Data Optimization & Simulation – Node in Trieste, investments are planned to increase software and hardware resources for:

• Demonstrative cases linked to immersive and mixed reality technologies;
• Creation of a scaled demonstrative replica of key construction site management processes in the context of Construction 4.0.

The total funding granted amounts to €115,900, €93,392.22 of which had been allocated on 23 December 2022. The contracts are currently in the execution phase.

CALL FOR FUNDING TO SUPPORT THE INTRODUCTION AND EXPERIMENTATION OF INNOVATIVE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS FOR COMPANIES AND START-UPS

“Test4Digitalization – 2nd Call” is an Area Science Park initiative as part of the IP4FVG regional digital innovation hub‘s activities. This intervention involves the launch of a new edition of the call, with a funding of €400,000, to support the implementation of “Demo, Test, and Validation” projects for innovative digital systems and technologies under real operating conditions. These projects are to be carried out by Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises active in the manufacturing and construction sector and in cultural and creative industries, supported by qualified ICT consulting providers, through a project-based approach that allows for small-scale experimentation.

Contacts:
contatti@ip4fvg.it
www.ip4fvg.it

EXPANSION AND CONSOLIDATION OF SERVICES AT THE ORFEO DATA CENTRE

The ARGO PSC PT DATA CENTER project involves expanding and consolidating services at the Orfeo Data Centre in response to increasing demands for computational resources for artificial intelligence algorithms in the health sector (genomics), particularly in managing and storing data generated by sequencers working in the Genomics and Epigenomics Laboratory. The project aims to boost the infrastructure’s performance in two specific areas: storage capacity and connectivity.

In terms of storage, the aim is to boost performance in the following manner:

• Expanding third-tier storage by acquiring a number of high-capacity disks (12TB) to fully utilize the current system;
• Adding a fourth tier of storage by acquiring a tape library, allowing data that needs to be kept for over five years and with a size that significantly exceeds current storage capacities to be archived;
• Expanding the recently acquired backup unit to ensure greater online backup capacity.

The following is planned for connectivity:

• Acquiring two new servers equipped with graphical interfaces to ensure effective routing within the data centre.
• Procuring network devices to boost connectivity to/from the data centre.
• Acquiring 10Gbit fibre network devices to connect the remote backup units installed at the Padriciano campus to a 10Gbit network and use the backup unit with an adequate bandwidth.

CREATING AN EXPERIMENTAL STATION FOR THE HYDROGEN VALLEY

A new experimental station is being developed within the innovative materials platform, for analysing industrial catalysts, coupled with advanced spectroscopy techniques, specifically infrared and X-ray spectroscopy. This initiative aims to increase the resources available for research and innovation in order to develop the regional industrial sector.

The station, described in the ARGO PSC PT HV project (CUP J97G22000350002), will allow analysis of the gas/solid interface reaction mechanism, while simultaneously collecting infrared (IR) data and soft XAS data.

The application of this “in operando spectroscopy” technique is expected to be in the fields of energy production and storage. Therefore, this experimental station fits the Hydrogen Valley project perfectly, with a possible significant impact not only on academic users but also on industrial stakeholders.

Equipment required:

• A pair of ultra-high vacuum (UHV) compatible chemical reactors that allow for NEXAFS measurements during chemical reactions (Reactors);
• DRIFT setup + Cell for IR: An experimental system that includes an IR source and a detector, plus the necessary optics for completing DRIFT measurements (Spectrometer);
• A system of ultra-thin silicon membranes, transparent to X-rays, obtained via lithography on wafers of specific dimensions (Membranes);
• A set of voltage/current power supplies for the UHV system;
• A four-glove glovebox for catalyst activation in a controlled atmosphere;
• A quadrupole residual gas analyser for analysing reaction products;
• A UHV-compatible X,Y,Z,THETA manipulator with ultra-high vacuum for micrometric positioning of samples;
• A picoammeter system for measuring the small electrical signals that compose NEXAFS spectra.