Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ACTPHAST 4.0 (ACceleraTing PHotonics innovAtion for SME’s: a one STop-shop-incubator)

Teaser

ACTPHAST 4.0 is a unique European one-stop-shop innovation incubator in photonics, which is being funded by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 Framework , and which combines the state-of-the-art expertise and technologies of 24 leading research institutes in...

Summary

ACTPHAST 4.0 is a unique European one-stop-shop innovation incubator in photonics, which is being funded by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 Framework , and which combines the state-of-the-art expertise and technologies of 24 leading research institutes in photonics from across 13 European countries, to make them available to any European company – with a particular emphasis on SMEs – for the purposes of solving critical innovation challenges in the companies’ new product development activities through innovation projects. The costs of the photonics innovation projects are subsidized by ACTPHAST 4.0 on the basis that they will have a substantial impact on the business growth of the supported companies, and the overall digitization of European industry.

Why Europe needs to act fast?
There is a real sense of urgency for digital transformation of European industry. At the heart of this digital revolution lies Photonics, a key digital technology for future prosperity and societal well-being.
Photonics / optics – the science and technology of harnessing light - is everywhere around us now, yet we are only at the beginning of what is possible. Photonics technologies will be used to launch all sorts of new and better products in wide-ranging end-user industries from sustainable energy and environmental safety, to healthcare and wearables, to intelligent transport and communications systems, as well as being a key digital technology for the transformation of production methods and new business models in European manufacturing.

Why ACTPHAST 4.0?
While there are 5.000 photonics companies already in Europe, these companies do not always have access to the most advanced photonics technologies to build and scale next generation market-leading products. In addition, there are many more “non-photonics” companies that could benefit hugely from “photonics-enablement” but who are faced with even greater obstacles in determining the optimal pathways for deploying photonics technologies in their products, let alone gaining access to state-of-the-art expertise and technology platforms. There are an estimated 16.000 large-scale companies (LSCs) and more than 2 million SMEs in the EU in industry / manufacturing. The wider adoption and deployment of photonics technologies by these companies will not only ensure that they themselves thrive in the new digital era, bolstering the growth in revenues and jobs in Europe, but will also help the creation of an integrated innovation ecosystem within the EU for European photonics, bolstering the global competitiveness of Europe.
ACTPHAST 4.0 has been established as a European one-stop-shop photonics innovation incubator specifically to overcome the critical innovation roadblocks faced by such companies. ACTPHAST 4.0 bridges the gap for companies, and takes a huge amount of the risk out of innovating with photonics, by finding and mobilising the right experts and technologies from amongst the ACTPHAST 4.0 Partners comprising nearly 200 experts across 7 Technology Platforms, fully trained and ready to support companies. ACTPHAST 4.0 funds all of the extensive technology, business and financial coaching activities of its experts with the companies, and creates dedicated task forces of the best-matched experts to carry out deep innovation projects with those companies who emerge as the most promising. In return, the companies must demonstrate that they are fully committed to their innovation project in terms of human and financial resources, and have a strong probability of achieving a substantial business impact as a result in terms of increased employment, revenues and/or venture capital.
ACTPHAST 4.0 is particularly geared towards rapid innovation projects of typically 6 months’ duration, with low administrative burden on companies and up to 100% subsidy for SMEs (50% for large-scale companies), averaging out at 40K€ per innovation project. The application process is fully sup

Work performed

In its first 18 months of operation up to mid-2019, ACTPHAST 4.0 has delivered the following quantitative impact .
• 58 innovation project potentials of companies have qualified for receipt of targeted technology and business by ACTPHAST 4.0;
• 27 projects have so far been fully approved and contracted for deep innovation support, involving 25 different companies. The deep innovation projects are well-diversified as follows:
o 13 different European countries
o 93% SMEs
o 63% “non-photonics companies” from 8 different industry sectors
o 63% involve a cross-border innovation project
o 56% represent a new R&I collaboration between the company and the research institutes
o 44% represent first-time EU-funded innovation activity for the companies
o 36% represent first-time photonics innovation for the companies
o Average advancement of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 2 TRLs per innovation project, typically from TRL3 (experimental proof of concept) to TRL5 (technology validated in an industrially-relevant environment)
o 20% of projects are already targeting a further transfer of their prototypes from ACTPHAST 4.0 to the European photonics pilot lines and mass manufacturing for scaling up
o An overall leverage factor of 2 on the total Research & Innovation expenditure by European companies through the projects
o The supported companies are projecting substantial business growth as a direct result of their ACTPHAST 4.0 innovation activity, with a total of 186M€ in new revenues, 13M€ in new venture capital and 167 new EU jobs over the next 5 years
o Overall satisfaction levels of 4 (Very Good) out of 5 from the supported companies.
Profiles of the supported companies, as well as video testimonials, can be found on the ACTPHAST 4.0 public website at www.actphast.eu.
In addition, during the first 18-month period, ACTPHAST 4.0 has also carried out a range of activities which further exploit the EU value-add of the innovation incubator:
• Extensive general awareness-building with European industry with over 8.500 website visitors, 1.600 movie views, 65.000 Twitter impressions and 385 Twitter followers, including close collaboration on outreach with the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN);
• Organization of the highly successful European Photonics Venture Forum (EPVF) in Barcelona with 39 top VC and corporate investors and 31 companies from 15 countries in attendance, with 100% positive response post-event to the creation of valuable contacts by all attendees;
• Advanced discussions with 6 European regions that have been identified as excellent “first mover” candidates to explore and develop best practices for collaboration on co-funding of photonics innovation activities between the European and regional levels, with the Flanders region already implementing a scheme based on the ACTPHAST model for photonics innovation support of local SMEs.

Final results

What does the future hold?
Over the remaining 30 months of its current funding, ACTPHAST 4.0 will continue to build on its success to date in delivering on its strategic mission as a one-stop-shop photonics innovation incubator for Europe, and meeting or exceeding the achievement of its highly ambitious range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as illustrated below. This will mean further scaling-up of the volume of companies supported whilst maintaining the high quality and timeliness in the support levels currently being provided.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.actphast.eu.