The RECREATE partners gathered for the second time at a consortium meeting on 15th and 16th November 2022 in Bilbao, Spain. GAIKER, the local project partner, hosted the meeting in the impressive Bizkaia Science and Technology Park.
The first day’s activities revolved around Work Packages (WP) 1, 2 and 3. Gianmarco Grifini, the project coordinator from POLIMI, opened the meeting and introduced the meeting agenda.
Nicoletta Picone and Luca Gentilini from Cobat Compositi (COBAT), together with Volker Mathes from AVK and Si Lu and Stefan Caba from EDAG, presented the first WP1 deliverable, entitled “Mapping and Assessment of Complex End-Of-Life (Eol) Composite Waste Streams”. The deliverable is of a public nature and includes an analysis of the European composites market, current composite recycling practices in Europe, an analysis of the legislative framework, and different sector analyses such as wind energy and the naval and aerospace industries.
Falco Lehman from Fraunhofer, leader of WP2 introduced the contents of reusing and remanufacturing of EoL composite structures and presented their results from the non-destructive testing (NDT). Johannes Ziegler (IRIS) presented their preliminary results coming from trials using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). Marco Diani (POLIMI) presented Task 2.3 from WP2, which included a presentation of the existing software tools for the Decision Support System (DSS), which will be further developed to meet the needs of the project. Stefano Turri (POLIMI) presented the progress on WP3, which deals with recycling and reprocessing of materials from non-reusable parts. Within the scope of WP3, Davide Delfrate (POLIMI) presented Task 3.1, which deals with the electro-fragmentation process, which will enable a better understanding of the influence of the different process parameters on the output material.
In the afternoon, Jurij Giacomelli from Giacomelli media (G_MEDIA), who is the leader of WP8, presented their first two deliverables, the Public Awareness, Engagement and Dissemination Strategy Plan and the Dissemination Action Plan, which introduced participants to a dissemination workshop, in which the partners contributed in three areas. First, they provided their solutions to defining a positioning statement explaining the unique value proposition of RECREATE. A stakeholder mapping exercise followed; the participants listed the key stakeholders of their respective organisations who might have an interest in the project’s results and might at the same time contribute a positive impact to the overall accomplishment of the project. In the third part of the workshop, the partners got to know the communication tools developed for the project, including the logo and the stylebook, the project website, and social media appearances. They also learned about the internal communication platform accessible on the website under “Partners Area”.
In the final activity of the day the participants came back to the contents of the first work package, and discussed its findings and the final steps required to conclude Tasks 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, which are currently still in progress.
After the productive working session, the partners ended their day at a restaurant in Bilbao’s city centre, enjoying a dinner with exquisite Basque cuisine.
On the second day, the participants continued a fruitful discussion on the topics of the tasks that are nearing their conclusion, mainly focusing on WP1. Stefan Caba and Si Lu from EDAG presented the collection of first inputs, and the inclusive state-of-the-art technical specifications that will be used in Work Packages 2 to 5. They also presented the intermediate and final common key performance indicators (KPIs) and individual demo case KPIs that they had collected during several workshops that they conducted with demo case leaders and other relevant partners.
The programme continued with Giacomelli media leading a risk identification workshop in order to finalise the project’s initial risk management plan.
The project coordinator, Gianmarco Griffini from Politecnico di Milano, made an overview of the project management topics. He presented the quality assurance plan and explained the project organizational scheme and internal communication procedures and practices. As the project activities include health and safety issues (dangerous chemicals and processes), the partners approved an external ethics advisor, Dr. Elena Mossali from the Lombardy Association Intelligent Factory (AFIL), who has extensive experience in understanding AI ethics and project health and safety aspects, as well as personal data processing.
A tour of the GAIKER premises concluded the meeting’s programme, where partners could get to know the work processes and laboratories.
Presentations, photos and other materials are already available in the partners area under the folder “Consortium meeting – Bilbao 2022”.
