#	Pagina
attuale pagina	/open-h2020/projects/217221/results.html

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SIESTA-PRO (Advance atomic-scale simulation solutions)

Teaser

Summary

The business opportunity detected at SIMUNE is that currently no company offers support and complementary software tools for an open-source scientific code to cover all the needs of the industrial field. This combination of solutions (services and products) includes professional support, guarantee, tools and usability comparable, or even better, than existing commercial alternatives. SIMUNE takes as a starting point a scientific atomistic simulation code developed by the founders of SIMUNE; a popular, prestigious and widely used DFT atomistic simulation open source software in the scientific community named SIESTA. SIMUNE has focused its efforts in developing product and commercial strategy taking advantage of the SME Instrument program.

The main strategy for SIMUNE has focused on promoting and extending capabilities of using (high power) computing for scientific research purposes through complex software tools. While this objective must be achieved in a profitable business manner, it is ultimately the same driver in principle as existing objectives in the general scientific community; more knowledge sharing to advance in new scientific discoveries that will translate into advantages for our society. Atomistic simulation can provide insight to challenging problems that our current society faces such as diseases, environmental issues and other challenges that prevent higher quality of life in general. After all everything that exists (we see
and touch) is formed by atomic structures, so clearly understanding and controlling the properties of matter may help improve our way of life in all different aspects. While experimental approaches of science have worked through history to result in great advances, trial and error approaches are slow and very costly. Calculating and anticipating properties of atomic structures is an effective way that will allow to shortcut the path (and costs) to successful results in the laboratory. It is this principle that presents a great potential for socio-economic impact of SIMUNE\'s work in our society. The closer we get to SIMUNE\'s objectives as a company, the greater the impact will produce in our society.

The objectives set for the current business plan duration of the SME Instrument project are to revise at SIMUNE and initiate the execution of the updated plan to become a profitable company while contributing to the scientific community. SIMUNE\'s ultimate long term goal is to adopt open source scientific software tools to improve their functionality and guarantee the longevity for academics and industry users. All this while maintaining a profitable status as a company and expanding its customer base and product offering.

Work performed

SIMUNE Atomistics has been working on different fronts to achieve a clear roadmap for its future as a successful company.

Technical Feasibility Study: State of the Art and SWOT
Identification of market players, potential customers and demand.
Product definition and future product roadmap.
Sales distribution agreements and long-term sales strategy.
Company image and branding

Results and potential impact. For the duration of the SME Instrument project SIMUNE not only has executed a feasibility study and updated its business plan, but also has developed such plan taking steps towards a profitable business. As of today SIMUNE has closed agreements with distributors in different regions of the world and has materialized sales from its service offering (consulting services), as well as co-developed post processing tools that are bringing revenue to SIMUNE already. As a result of the feasibility study SIMUNE has devoted its efforts to three industrial segments of the market; Automotive industry, Chemical Industry and Energy industry. Based on this decision SIMUNE has carefully chosen commercial alliances to begin marketing its services, obtaining customer contracts during the last quarter of 2018. During 2018 SIMUNE has invested in the co-development of post processing software tools that are already bringing licensing revenue during 2019. During the first quarter of 2019 SIMUNE continues producing sales from its consulting services while developing its Atomistic Simulation Advanced Platform (ASAP) software solution. These positive results are tangible proof of feasibility for the business plan and the concepts described in our proposal as long term goals.

Thanks to the opportunity given by the SME Instrument (Phase I) program SIMUNE has been able to review and update its business strategy to produce results in a very short period of time. Financing from SME has been crucial to the process, already showing SIMUNE\'s business.

Final results

During the past 2 years SIMUNE has worked a plan to update the core code of SIESTA (scientific atomistic simulation software) obtaining government funding to collaborate with several institutions where key developers where identified (founders of SIESTA and main contributors). SIMUNE has also invested 500.000 EUR (from 2016 to 2019) in development of the core code of SIESTA and some other areas that we will discuss further in this document. A total of 1M EUR is being invested in SIESTA and SIMUE\'s ASAP solution to produce the most efficient and flexible Atomistic Simulation software in the market. As it happens today in all industries, brand name and presence in digital media can play an important role in potential userâ€™s perception, beyond the actual service or product offered by a single company. This is another important area where SIMUNE has worked intensively during the past few months, improving the image and visibility of the brand name for the company and its flagship software ASAP-SIESTA. In this process SIMUNE has observed competing companies to provide a way to measure efforts and effectiveness of different marketing efforts. SIMUNE has put into motion a plan to promote its company name using schemes such as Google ad words, Google analytics, LinkedIn, Twitter and other digital channels of dissemination. A revamped version of SIMUNE\'s web site has been launched, offering new support services and interactive ways to share knowledge from advanced developers and users in different areas of expertise for the atomistic simulation software codes supported.