In 2007 Optel has reached good 81 position in national ranking of most innovative enterprises. In Lower Silesia we have achieved third position. 3000 enterprises was valued in this project, among them large companies, but also small and medium enterprises. It was prepared by the Economy Institut of Polish Academy of Sciences, BRE Bank and daily newspaper "Gazeta Prawna". [more...]
    

 Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7)

WINTUR
[FP 7-SME-2008-1]

In-situ wireless monitoring of on- and offshore WINd TURbine blades using energy harvesting technology.

List of Beneficiaries
TWI Ltd UK
Przedsiebiorstwo Badawczo-Produkcyjne Optel sp.Z.o.o (Optel) Poland
Smart Material GmbH (Smart Material) Germany
CEDRAT Technologies (CEDRAT) France
Nexus Engineering Bulgaria 6. EESTI Tuulenergia Assotsiatsioon (Estonian Wind Power Association) (EWPA) Estonia
Wintur AB (Win) Sweden
Solent Composite Systems Ltd (SCS) UK
BCF Designs Ltd (BCF) UK
Southern & Scottish Energy (SSE) UK
ZENON SA Robotics and informatics (Zenon) Greece 
Kauno Technologijos Universiteta s, Prof. Barsauko Ultragarso Mokslo Institutas (KTU)

RAILECT
[FP7-222425]

Development of an ultrasonic technique, sensors and systems for the volumetric examination of alumino-thermic rail welds

List of Beneficiaries
TWI Ltd UK
Optel Sp. z o.o. 
VERMON SA France 
Spree Engineering Ltd Spree UK 
IKnowHow Informatics SA IKH Greece 
Jarvis Plc Jarvis UK 
Kauno technologijos univesiteto Prof. K. Barsausko Ultragarso mokslo insitutas KTU Lithuania
The university of Newcastle Upon Tyne UNUT UK

Background
There are an estimated 11 million site alumino-thermic welds on the European rail network. There are thousands of new welds (estimated at 300,000 to 400,000 annually) being made daily throughout Europe. These welds form the basis of 'continuous welded rail' (CWR) that is a common feature of the European rail system. CWR has, in the main replaced the 'fishplate' rail jointing method and has produced a vast improvement in the quality of ride for passenger trains. 
Although the alumino-thermic welding technique is well proven, it is, none-the-less, a critical safety component of the rail infrastructure and yet these welds are not volumetrically examined in any of the countries in the European Union as there is currently no suitable NDT technique. The irregular weld bead is ground flush on the railhead running face and railhead running side(s). In the UK, France and Germany the proportion of rail breaks attributed to weld failures is similar at about 20% of all rail failures. Although this is proportionally a very small percentage of the total number of welds on the three rail networks, nevertheless it still totals several hundred weld failures annually including those on high speed and high passenger density routes. The consequences of a single failure could result in the derailment causes lost of life and millions of Euros of cost. For example, in the UK, the Hatfield disaster which occurred in 2000, killed four people, injured many more and cost 800 million Euros (see Figure B 1.1.a).

Project Concept
The concept of the project is to produce a "clamp-on" ultrasonic testing device (Figure B 1.1.g) that does an ultrasonic test of the weld, and classifies the weld according to pre-determined quality criteria. The challenge of the inspection of such welds is in the characterisation of the ultrasonic beam behaviour. The beam path will be distorted by the non linearities of the ultrasonic properties of the weld material caused by the grain structure. This will require a careful theoretical study involving advanced finite element analysis. It is likely that the inspection process will require novel development in advanced phased array probes technology and instrumentation. The probes will also have to be automatically deployed, electronically scanned and the beam steered. The signals will need to be interpreted and analysed rapidly, in order to compare defect sizes with acceptance criteria. These will be determined by a detailed Engineering Critical Assessment (ECA) and fatigue testing.

HIDE
[FP7-217762]

HIDE – Homeland Security, Biometric Identification & Personal Detection Ethics 

HIDE is a project promoted by the European Commission (EC) and coordinated by the Centre for Science, Society and Citizenship, an independent research centre based in Rome (IT). 
HIDE aims to establish a platform devoted to monitoring the ethical and privacy implications of biometrics and personal detection technologies. Detection technologies are technologies used to detect something or someone within a security or safety context. Personal Detection Technologies focus specifically on individuals, they include for example CCTV, infrared detectors and thermal imaging, GPS and other Geographical Information Systems (GISs), RFID, MEMS, smart ID cards, transponders, body scanners, etc. Biometrics is the application of technologies that make use of a measurable, physical characteristic or personal behavioural trait in recognizing the identity, or verifying the claimed identity of a previously registered individual. 
Personal detection technologies and biometrics are increasingly interwoven within a variety of applications. Most of these applications seek to create sensor network infrastructures for continuous detection, authentication and identification of individuals within diverse settings ranging from, amongst others, commercial, transport, public locales and border control. Moreover, by developing multimodal signal analyses, these technologies may allow activity recognition, indoor movement monitoring and non-verbal communication cues (body language, facial expressions, speech intonation, etc) which may assist in the prediction of behaviour. In its recent Green Paper on Detection Technologies, the EC argues that personal detection technologies and biometrics are "inherently intrusive" and "their use needs to be carefully analyzed, in order to establish limitations to their intrusiveness where necessary". HIDE meets this call and promotes open conversation between technology, security, ethics and policy experts as well as encouraging public discussions and dialogue. HIDE is based on the values of dialogue, responsibility, and integrity.

Vision statement: We work to make the world a safer and freer place by promoting an open international dialogue on liberty, security and democracy and by building confidence and improving understanding among the main international and transnational actors. We also strives to advance a new and comprehensive, win-win, concept of surveillance technologies by building a new global second-track architecture based on search for common values and shared goals in the global community. 
[...]

Mission statement: HIDE's mission is to set up a platform devoted to ethical and privacy issues of biometrics and personal detection technologies which addresses transnational (European) and international problems. HIDE aims to become the preeminent catalyst for innovative policy solutions to emerging ethical problems in the area of surveillance technologies, especially where collaboration among national and international 

List of Beneficiaries
Centre for Science, Society and Citizenship
ESRC Centre for the Economic and Social aspects of Genomics
Centre for Biomedical Ethics – Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Singapore
Eutelis Consult Italia & Associates S.r.l.
Faculty of Electrical Engineering – University of Ljubljana
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD
International Biometric Group
Optel Ltd.
Sagem Sécurité
The Hastings Center
Zuyd University – Infonomics, New Media & Society

Partners:
CSSC - CERBIC - CESAGen - ESA Comm - HUMANSCAN - IBMG - IBG - IOM - OPTEL - EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF BIOETHICS

A NOVEL INTEGRATED ULTRASONIC BRUSH AND SONICALLY ACTIVATED LOTION TO PROVIDE A FULL SYSTEM APPROACH TO THE ERADICATION OF THE EUROPEAN HEAD LOUSE MENACE

Partners:
A Nelson & Co Limited 
Denman International Limited 
Knoxcris Serv srl (KCS)
PBP Optel Sp. z o.o. 
Laboratorios Lac S.L. 
Diafarm Laboratorios S.A. 
InnowacjaPolska Sp. z o.o. 
Insect Research & Development

 

 Fifth Framework Programme

Program Phare Science & Technology (SCI-TECH II) 
[PL9611-02-06-0005]

"Innovations Centre" in Zlotoryja District

Partners: 
Coordinator: Dr inż. Mieczysław Pluta
Agnieszka Bicz (de domo Krysiak) - IT expert
Starostwo Powiatowe w Złotoryi 
Prof. Wolfgang Grill 
WCTT - Wrocławskie Centrum Transferu Technologii