Competitive and sustainable growth

2.4 Risks involved in achieving the aims of EVITherM

By focusing on thermal metrology issues across a broad range of industries and countries EVITherM will be an institution that has no equivalent in Europe today. It will meet a clearly defined and expressed need of industry and so the risks of competition in the market place are minimal. There are however at least two areas of risk:

The institute is virtual and will only be effective in achieving its goals if it is promoted widely and then used by large numbers of engineers and scientists across industry, universities and scientific/technical institutes

The issues of proprietary interest may limit the willingness of businesses and institutions to become involved at the right level of openness and involvement that is necessary to give real benefits to members.

It is therefore essential that EVITherM attracts the widest spectrum of users across Europe. To achieve this the project plan includes work (Work package 2) focused on raising awareness of and marketing the institute with the aim of developing user membership. One of the specific activities in this work package will be to work with the suppliers of thermal equipment and services, who have the largest involvement with metrology users in industry. The aim is to incorporate a trade directory with co-operative link arrangements to EVITherM. This will ensure that EVITherM is able to connect with the core users and continue to attract new members.

The possible concerns of industry about disclosure of proprietary knowledge will be addressed by:

Developing a procedure enabling organisations to submit information in an appropriate way (open or restricted)

Devising mechanisms for maintaining strict impartiality and confidentiality.

3 Workplan

3.1 Business Plan

3.1.1 Objective

The objective of the EVITherM project is to develop an independent, self-supporting Virtual Institute to service the needs of knowledge transfer between the users of thermal processes in industry and European thermal metrology research institutions and other centres of excellence in this field. The Institute will service both the needs of industry, in ensuring that the most up-to-date best practice information and support is available in thermal matters, and inform research and governmental bodies of the research needs of industry, now and in the future.

This section addresses two issues. Firstly it provides the rationale and business basis for the ensuing independent business entity of EVITherM as a financially self-supporting institution, and secondly it provides the detailed Workplan of the EC-funded development project to create EVITherM.

3.1.1.1 Mission

The proposed mission statement for the EVITherM business 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 business rationale for EVITherM comes from the deep need for improved communication from research institutions to all levels of industry. The Community Growth programme is aimed at breaking down barriers to communication, which has been discerned as typical of European industries in contrast to those of the Far East and the United States. EVITherM is an innovative development that will create the right medium to facilitate much-needed communication and dissemination on thermal measurement and technology matters. And on a Europe-wide scale never seen before.

3.1.2 Market

The users of EVITherM will be research institutions and government bodies and technologists, development engineers, managers and workers in industry. Whereas Europe has a well developed thermal metrology research institution network it has no major focal point in thermal technology, neither in learning institutions nor technological qualifications. There is no obvious route for people in industry to obtain information or support or to gain access to best practice and the latest metrological research on thermal topics.

Why should industry need this sort of support for thermal technology? The answer is twofold. Firstly, temperature is a ubiquitous although largely intangible parameter. In excess of 60% of the manufacturing processes used in industry across Europe depend for their efficiency and yield upon the effective control of temperature. It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 such processes in European industry with a similar number of technologists and workers who are responsible for them. Of course at any one time the majority of these processes may be operating satisfactorily but it is when yields drop or when new processes are planned that a thermal technology resource is essential. Currently engineers often appeal to equipment suppliers to advise them as best they can but while this sort of information is good and practical it is neither necessarily up to date nor authoritative.
Secondly, it is more often true today that the training of engineers and technologists does not include a detailed study of thermal technologies. Since industry is so dependent on these it is a surprising and largely unrecognised situation. Thermal technology is very much a foundation technology that is sometimes covered in physics and engineering qualifications. More usually it is ousted by the proliferation of new technologies; information science, media studies, environment etc. The result is that many of the engineers and technologists in industry do not have an adequate background in thermal physics to support the needs of industry nor do they have a route to address this learning need or to update their knowledge of the state of the art in these technologies.
It is also true to say, for different reasons, that thermal institutions and governmental industrial bodies do not have effective links with this very diverse and fragmented population of technologists in industry who are responsible for thermal processes. Headline liaisons with industry on specific projects are common but an integrated and subcutaneous knowledge infrastructure on the current and future needs of thermal technologies in industries does not exist.
Here then is the market for EVITherM — a huge number of technologists in industry with responsibilities for thermal processes, the network of thermal metrology research institutions across Europe, teaching institutions and governmental and industry bodies.

3.1.3 Strategy

EVITherM will service this market via an Internet platform that provides for the needs of all its users. Moreover, the business entity will need to be independent, impartial and authoritative. The legal form has not been decided but it will most likely be a non-profit making Trust or Charity that is chosen to reflect impartiality in a European business context. It will have to gain the trust of all of its users across the boundaries of member states and the proprietary interests of businesses.

3.1.3.1 Services

The proposed EVITherM Internet platform is illustrated in the EVITherM Internet Platform Outline diagram below. There are three levels of access providing different sources of information.

Access to the FIRST LEVEL would be free of charge and provide a fast, direct, uncluttered and simple interface using non-elitist language. Information would be provided about EVITherM, the services it provides to members and details of and a route to instant membership. There would be information on conferences and meetings on thermal topics as well as a directory to suppliers of thermal equipment, products and services. All of these items, including a front page thermal science news headline list, would be free but information would be restricted at an early stage, thus requiring the customer to provide an e-mail address for further information. This would provide a marketing channel to future members.
Access to the SECOND LEVEL would be by membership password only. Here would be the main information point with a large database of information accessible by a number of windows. The information contained will cover, as a minimum, the following topics:
Six thermal technology areas:

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  Thermal conductivity and diffusivity
  
• 
  Expansivity and density
  
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  Emissivity
  
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  Thermal analysis, specific heat
  
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  Contact thermometry
  
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  Non-contact thermometry
  

Within each of these areas would be:

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  Best practice guides on methods and measurements
  
• 
  Notice board and news groups
  
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  An information and help e-mail hot line
  
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  Research Institutions and resources
  
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  Members list and interests
  
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  Industry sector links and contacts
  
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  Reports on conferences and papers
  
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  Thermal bibliography
  
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  News Page of current topics in thermal research
  
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  Thermal product directory
  
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  References to relevant standards
  
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  Health and safety
  

All of this information would be held on one database but could be searched by any of the following categories: -

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  Industrial sector (metals, semiconductors, building, medical etc)
  
• 
  Thermal parameter
  
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  Material
  
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  Research institution
  
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  Resource (equipment, technique, expertise)
  
• 
  Supplier
  
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  Equipment
  
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  Conference
  
• 
  Subject
  

Information would be provided by a blend of sources, by links to existing sites, by e-mail to experts or resources, by texts and articles, some written where necessary. Data again would be a blend of material already existing on the Internet and qualified data collected for EVITherM. All the information would be carefully reviewed for quality and authority. Where links to other knowledge databases incur costs a suitable - hopefully, preferential - rate would be negotiated and built into the membership fee structure. The emphasis would be on providing the most up to date authoritative information as rapidly and widely as possible. The e-mail hot line using SMS messaging to EVITherM staff, would allow urgent technical issues to be passed on to the most suitable experts rapidly.

A regular e-mail newsletter would also be published to members, with a digest of current information. The majority of information would be in English but where regional and cultural factors demand, some information would be translated into regional languages.
The THIRD LEVEL would be an area concentrating on member interactions. Here material would be provided and links made to training topics at all levels of thermal technology from fundamentals, through techniques and methods (for example thermal analysis by calorimetry or microthermal analysis). A partner search option would allow members to advertise needs for IPR or development partners. There would also be a news group specifically focused on the current and future needs of industry in these technologies. Similarly, research institutions could test interest in new areas of technology