Announcing winners of the second SmartX Europe funding call
The SmartX team is pleased to announce winners of the second funding call, selected from 27 strong applications by a group of 11 external experts on the Selection Committee. A total of ten different projects submitted by 21 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from ten European countries have been awarded a grant of 1.011.050€ in total, distributed in installments during the 12-month programme. (See also: Winners of the first SmartX call)
Here are the ten winning projects and their goals, organised by partnership size.
E-POT is a 12-month joint project (January 2021 – January 2022) by four SMEs (BlueGriot and IMATTEC from France with Bamboo and Emisys from Belgium) that aims to develop a smart underwear innovation for potty training, which would help children wake up before wetting their bed. The idea driving the solution is that after wearing the smart underwear for a month, the brain will get used to the wake-up call trigger and the child will no longer wet his or her bed in the future.
Asthmaware comes from three Dutch SMEs (ItoM Medical, Panton, and Transfercompany). The project will last 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022. Asthma in children is a serious and growing problem: one in ten children suffers from asthma and almost 40% of them struggle to keep the condition under control. Children often find it difficult to assess their asthma and unconsciously adapt to a worsening situation. Asthmaware is being developed to help both children and their parents monitor and assess asthma by measuring shortness of breath during sleep.
KiTT is a next generation wearable motion tracker, developed by three SMEs (Footfalls & Heartbeats from the UK, Ioetec also from the UK, and Revolve from Poland). It contains an advanced textile sensor, which monitors joint movement in real time, within a breathable knee sleeve. KiTT can track a wide range of exercises and movements both indoors and outdoors. Aimed at the sports/fitness and physiotherapy markets. KiTT is especially valuable for athletes recovering from injuries, giving them and physiotherapists an accurate, seamless way to track recovery and return to play without uncomfortable equipment that could make the injury worse. The project will last 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022.
RVheat is proposed by two SMEs: ComSensus from Slovenia and Embro from Germany. The 12-month project (January 2021 – January 2022) intends to integrate smart textiles in the interior of caravans and motorhomes in order to create a hands-free heating ecosystem, able to improve and balance the thermal perception, energy efficiency, and comfort of the living conditions without any manual intervention of users. The RVheat system will be fed by different data coming from vehicle sensors and autonomously adapt the temperature inside the vehicle, in accordance with the information received.
Close’n’cool by two Italian SMEs (Knitronix and Remmy) is a consumer health & safety product (project duration June 2020 – September 2021). Thanks to the combination of temperature and pressure-sensing smart fabrics sewn into a car seat or stroller cover with digital logic, the product will maximise air circulation under a child’s body and alert distracted parents of young children to dangerous conditions, e.g. overheating.
Matscale is a 12-month joint project (January 2021 – January 2022) by one SME (Herkula from Belgium) and one startup (Germany-based Incoretex). They are developing a high-precision, all-textile pressure sensor technology for implementation in mattresses. It combines innovative, pressure-sensitive materials and an intelligent textile sensor concept. This sensor enables the digitisation of flexible surfaces without negatively affecting comfort or breathability, opening up numerous possibilities.
SenseGlove Nova comes from two SMEs (Select Fashion from Germany and SenseGlove from the Netherlands). In January 2021, SenseGlove launched their new haptic glove for industrial VR training: SenseGlove Nova. In contrast to SenseGlove’s previous haptic glove that has an exoskeleton form factor, this solution features a textile “softglove” base, made to provide comfort and ease of use. Nova is designed to interface seamlessly with SenseGlove’s functionalities: tracking, vibrotactile feedback, and force feedback. The project will last 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022.
Marina Race by Spanish SME Marina Racewear incorporates biometric sensors into the underwear of competition automobile pilots regulated by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). The solution provides real-time or deferred data on the behaviour of the driver’s body during the race in order to improve athlete performance or detect potential accident risks. The project will last 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022.
Iosoftsleep 4.0 by Têxteis Penedo from Portugal aims to develop a smart heating blanket with embedded electronic components, able to actively and autonomously control the temperature according to the needs of users in three different and independent areas. The goal is to ensure the optimal balance between thermal insulation, breathability, flexibility, and lightness. The project will last 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022.
Sensomuscle proposed by Spanish SME Austral is a solution focused on muscle recovery and designed with athletes in mind. Just as there are aids to improve training, there are also aids and tips to improve and accelerate recovery after a physical effort, so athletes can train again sooner. The solution aims to shorten recovery time, helping athletes return to training sooner and better control the entire cycle of sports activity. The project will last 12 months, from January 2021 to January 2022.
