Competitive and sustainable growth

6.3 Quality of Life and the Health and Safety of Citizens

One of the biggest issues affecting the quality of life and health of the citizens of Europe and the rest of the world is the quality of the air we breathe and the earth’s atmosphere. This is clearly an area where EVITherM’s activities in promoting the latest thermal technology and techniques for the conversion of energy into useful processes and products by industry will have a significant impact on the quality of life of citizens. It is also worth noting that use of improved thermal process, for example in the design of more efficient and cleaner internal combustion and jet engines, have a major role to play in reducing the emission levels from other forms of airborne pollutants, such as particulates, which are known to be linked to various human cancers. This will have a direct impact on the health of citizens.

The development and thermal characterisation of improved glazing and insulation materials for the construction industry and the use of techniques such as CHP systems also benefit citizens. Products with better thermal insulation properties improve the thermal environment in the home and workplace. They also reduce the energy costs of the building thereby freeing up money for other purposes - offering a psychological benefit at the very least.
Improved thermal products and processes also impact on the quality of life, health and safety of citizens in many other ways, such as:
Food processing, storage and distribution all require accurate measurement and control of temperature and the need to use appropriate measurement equipment and techniques in order that food is safe for human consumption
Medical diagnostic techniques relying on accurate thermal mapping of parts of the human body need to use accurate non-contact thermometry techniques to effectively target diseased areas requiring treatment
Advanced thermal imaging systems are needed to enable rescue services to locate citizens trapped in wrecked buildings; police to track suspects from the air in the dark; and safety and environmental protection services to locate potentially dangerous gas or fluid leaks in industrial plant or pipelines
Semiconductor-device manufacturing industries require advanced thermal processes to facilitate the development of new products needed to satisfy the demands of information technology-driven markets
Safe operation of industrial and medical incinerators requires detailed knowledge of combustion processes to ensure that hazardous chemicals such as dioxins are not emitted into the environment.

7 Economic Development and S&T prospects

7.1 Exploitation and Dissemination of Results, IPR

The main outputs of EVITherM are reflected in its objectives, as listed in section 2. These can be summarised by the proposed mission statement of EVITherM which is:

“To facilitate the rapid flow of knowledge between users of thermal technologies in industry, research and teaching institutions and government bodies for the benefit of industrial processes and the environment.”
The exploitation plan is therefore implicit in the business plan of EVITherM, which is detailed in section B11. It describes the mission and the objectives of EVITherM, the intended user groups, provides a SWOT analysis, describes the work plans that will be carried out to set up EVITherM and demonstrates how it will become self-financing within 3 years by means of a gradually increasing income from membership fees, events such as training courses and specific projects and from paid web links and advertising by instrument manufacturers and service providers.
As indicated by the mission statement, the target user group for the activities of EVITherM are industrial and research organisations, in particular SMEs, dealing with thermal metrology issues in their normal business. The focus will naturally be on supporting the specific needs and requirements of European organisations; however, membership of EVITherM will not be restricted to European businesses. Membership will be open to organisations from any nation since this interaction is expected to open up new business opportunities for European members and will also feed useful information on the status and activities of these business sectors back into EVITherM where it can be communicated to the appropriate European organisations. This flow of information from the user group back into EVITherM will also be encouraged from the European members since this is seen as a key mechanism for identifying current and future issues that could require national or European governmental action. In this role EVITherM is expected to be an important sounding board for a range of European industrial issues related to thermal metrology.
The main mechanism for exploiting and disseminating the information and expertise contained within EVITherM will be via its website on the Internet. This is seen as the most appropriate and effective way of communicating with a geographically scattered user group covering a large number of industrial sectors. It offers the benefits of low cost 24 hour, 7 day per week continuous access, ease of updating with new material and requiring minimal time from the user to access the information required. More information on the structure of the proposed website is given in section 3 but it is worth pointing out a key issue that is addressed by the project plan.
The issue is that whilst scientific and technical material will form the core of the information that makes up the EVITherM website this material will be of little value unless it is (i) actually important to industry, (ii) is presented in a way that can be easily understood and made directly applicable to industrial problems and (iii) it can be easily found by an industrial user who will most likely NOT be an expert in the field. To ensure that these issues are addressed the project contains a work package (WP3) designed to ensure that EVITherM can provide the right information at the right level in an easily accessible way to the main industrial sectors affected. The key industrial sectors, and typical application areas, have been identified as follows:
aerospace - jet engine performance and fuel efficiency, thermal imaging systems design
combustion - efficiency of electricity and heat generation systems, industrial incinerators, steel and glass manufacturing plant
construction - development and characterisation of improved thermal insulation materials and high energy efficiency glazing products
engineering - improved material bonding and fabrication techniques, development of high performance composite materials
food and related materials - processing, storage, refrigeration and shipping of perishable food and biological materials
materials manufacture -development of new alloys and improved semiconductor processing techniques
medical - thermal imaging systems for patient monitoring, sterilisation systems
WP3 will identify the key issues, needs and requirements of the main industrial sectors affected by thermal metrology and will ensure that this is reflected in the nature (i.e. type, content and level) of the technical and scientific material produced in WP4 to 9. WP3 will also provide the most widely needed information in the main European languages and also ensure that specific regional requirements are met - for example, a high concentration of SMEs in one region in a particular industrial activity may need specific material in the appropriate language and a contact person in that region to provide support. WP3 will also ensure that the training requirements of industry are identified and provided for by EVITherM - either by databases of existing training courses and providers, or by new training material. It will also ensure that the design of the EVITherM databases as a whole facilitate easy access from an industrial users’ viewpoint. All of these work packages will be led and supported by members with direct experience of the main industry sectors. New industrial representatives will also be recruited as members or advisors throughout the project to ensure that EVITherM adapts to changes in requirements that are expected to occur as the project develops.