Significant optimization has been achieved on front and back sides of silicon solar cells. However, key aspects remain unoptimized, particularly cell connection fingers and the cell edges. This project addresses these challenges by replacing costly silver with copper in cell connection fingers and enhancing cell performance through innovative edge passivation techniques. Utilizing advanced electroplating processes, we plan to transition from screen printed silver to more cost-efficient copper metallization, ensuring the establishment of diffusion barriers to prevent copper migration. Simultaneously, we aim to revolutionize edge passivation with locally maskless atomic layer deposition, minimizing recombination activity, thus boosting cell efficiency. The aspiration of this endeavour is to drive down the costs and elevate the efficiency of solar energy, aligning with the global sustainability agenda. Tangible objectives, including achieving comparable or better conductivity with copper metallization, successful copper diffusion prevention, and evident cell efficiency improvement, will indicate success. Addressing these significant challenges, the project promises to make strides in the photovoltaic industry, facilitating wider adoption of renewable energy and contributing to climate change mitigation efforts. The resulting innovations and advancements will pave the way towards a sustainable future, powered by improved, cost-effective solar cells.

Wind turbines work in highly variable operational conditions and harsh environments, especially offshore, that can cause expensive operation and maintenance, reaching up to 30% of the overall energy generation cost. Lowering the levelized cost of electricity is the main challenge faced by the wind turbine industry: hence, condition monitoring is a key enabler to avoid shutdowns and reduce operational and maintenance costs, providing a high availability. The most “challenging” component of a wind turbine is the main bearing, responsible for up to 30% failures over 20-year lifetime. Furthermore, current roller main bearing technology faces challenges in scalability, as wind turbines increases in size. To address these challenges, SGRE continuous to develop and explore new technologies, for which its condition monitoring system likewise needs to evolve, as classical vibration monitoring no longer necessarily can be used. Our consortium (SGRE DK, SGRE I&T, AAU) will develop a first ever set of algorithms and methods (A&M) for condition monitoring of new disruptive main bearing technology, aimed for the next generation offshore wind turbines. We will use parametric & non-parametric anomaly detection models and recent advances in machine learning techniques. The condition monitoring system to be developed, which will be implemented in a new full-scale wind turbine prototype, is expected to increase availability, and significantly lower the operational and maintenance cost.

Like the three-headed guardian of the underworld in Greek mythology, Cerberus will provide CO2 storage operators with a powerful gate-keeper tool for monitoring the fate of CO2 in the subsurface and detecting potential breach of containment early. Cerberus offers a solution that will i) facilitate cost-effective and site-specific monitoring strategies for geological CO2 storage projects, ii) enable efficient processing of large monitoring data sets and iii) reduce environmental and monetary risk by providing an automated containment verification and leak detection tool. The tool tackles the unmet need of having a high-definition multiphysics model from reservoir to surface, with strong prediction capabilities, and real-time, automated, low- cost analysis of monitoring datasets. It addresses the technology gap identified in the Green CCUS Roadmap “Towards a Fossil Free Future”. Cerberus have partners from Bifrost and the INNO-CCUS projects and will further liaise with and build on the knowledge from ongoing initiatives within open-source subsurface modelling and advanced machine learning. This will strengthen the connection of Danish CO2 storage research with international community. Cerberus will contribute to making geological CO2 storage in Danish reservoirs attractive for operators and affordable to customers. With a digitalised solution based on open-source software, Cerberus has potential for application in Denmark, the North Sea and globally.

Shock due to trauma, infection and heart attack affects 10 million patients in USA and EU annually. Prof. Johansson at Rigshospitalet has identified a subgroup (20%) of the shocked patients having TOXic catecholamine release to the blood resulting in acute heart failure with >80% mortality rate. The shocked TOX patients can be identified by the biomarker succinic acid > 10nM in the blood enabling targeted treatment with beta1-selective blocker, which according to published observational data, will reduce mortality by 50%. A PCT application has been filed by Rigshospitalet concerning this[WO2022/233994 A1]. The TOX project will validate the 10nM cut-off level of succinic acid to identify TOX in 500 patients with septic shock by mass spectrometry using an existing biobank at Rigshospitalet. A point-of-care biosensor will be developed at DTU Bioengineering that measure succinic acid in plasma in the required nM range to be used in a proof-of-concept trial in 200 TOX patients with septic shock evaluating the effect of beta1-selective blockers vs. placebo on 30-day mortality conducted at Copenhagen University Hospitals. The result of the trial including a Health Technology Assessment conducted by VIVE will be used to implement the TOX test globally through license agreements, partnering or take-over with global diagnostic companies, and MoxieLab ApS, a spin-out from Rigshospitalet, now owning the IP. Roche Diagnostics has already shown interest in the technology.

In the modern digital age, secure communication is paramount for global commerce, governance, and security. While classical cryptographic techniques have been effective, they remain vulnerable to computational advances, especially the forthcoming quantum computing era. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with AES encryption emerges as a formidable, quantum-resistant alternative, but current QKD systems face challenges in scalability, performance, and practicality. CyberQ seeks to develop next-generation QKD systems that address these gaps, providing scalable, affordable, and robust cryptographic solutions. In doing so, CyberQ capitalizes on a business opportunity in the quantum cryptography market, projected to exceed $1 billion by 2030, while also improving security across vital sectors like banking, healthcare, and governmental agencies. This initiative aligns with national and EU strategic priorities, such as the European Quantum Flagship program, the EuroQCI initiative and the Danish strategy for quantum technology where cybersecurity is emphasized. Scientifically, CyberQ's ambition is to advance the Continuous Variable (CV) QKD system to ensure enhanced security and adaptability in intricate quantum networks. The endeavor follows three development paths: intensifying CVQKD system security, refining multi-party protocols for broader network application, and improving system resilience and miniaturization for cost-effectiveness and broad deployment.

Several chronic diseases such as cancer are complicated by cachexia, a debilitating condition characterised by loss of body weight and muscle mass with negative impact on patients' physical, mental, and social well-being. Cancer cachexia affects 80% of cancer patients and is linked with up to 30% of cancer associated deaths. Current treatment approaches fail to address the multifactorial aspect of the condition, are ineffective, and have adverse side effects. The absence of effective therapies and EMA/FDA approved drugs shows how cancer cachexia is still a major unmet medical need. In DAPHEXIA we will address this large unmet medical need by developing the first solution with potential to address the multifaceted cachexia pathology. Our innovative solution builds on the combination of the natural occurring Ghrelin hormone and Neuropeptide Y (NPY: targeting Y5 receptor) in a single dual acting peptide. We will enable the stimulation of different pathways, in a multimodal approach, with the potential to i) increase appetite, ii) decrease energy expenditure, iii) reduce inflammation, while also iv) reducing muscle wasting. Moreover, by describing the metabolic aspects and the mechanism-of-action of our dual concept we will bring new knowledge to the field cancer cachexia for the benifit of the academic society. Finally, we will by DAPHEXIA develop our selected clinical candidate from the current preclinical stage up to the stage of clinical Phase 1.

Aquaculture is globally the fastest growing animal food production sector, but the needs for high quality live feed for early life stages of many fish species is a limiting factor. We will develop methods for sustainable industrial-scale production of novel healthy live feed for fish larvae and juveniles. We will use two terrestrial invertebrates (nematodes and white worms) to replace the widely used, but sub-optimal, Artemia. The project will also develop technologies that increase contents of essential omega-3 fatty acid (HUFA) in live feed and decrease the need for antibiotics in aquaculture. Cryopreservation techniques will be developed to ensure long shelf life and stable supplies. As a spin-out of the project, the universities and partner companies aim to establish industrial mass production of live feeds. We estimate a direct yearly value creation up to 70 mill DKK, assuming a 1% replacement of the existing sales of Artemia worldwide. Indirect value creation through increased profit of fish farmers will potentially be even larger, along with societal benefits through reduced CO2 emissions, reduced use of antibiotics, less exploitation of natural marine resources, and healthier foods for humans. We have built a complete consortium of complementary research groups, live feed producers and aquaculture companies that can take this project all the way to exploitation and commercialization of the results in frame of a new enterprise along with creation of new jobs.

The DeQD project represents a collaborative effort to advance quantum photonic technology, ultimately enabling the creation of synchronized, indistinguishable photons and advancing the fields of optical quantum computing and secure quantum communication. This progress hinges on innovative approaches to quantum material growth and device integration. A single chip housing single-photon sources capable of generating multiple synchronous and indistinguishable photons on demand is a sought-after component in quantum computation and quantum cryptography. Optical quantum computing is a rapidly advancing approach, and deterministic single-photon sources offer a promising avenue for scaling up. Previous work has confirmed the feasibility of this approach, demonstrating that the photon quality is sufficient to achieve quantum advantage. Scaling up to multiple single-photon sources is the next significant milestone, demanding further progress in quantum material growth and device fabrication. The outcome of the DeQD project is a novel method for deterministic growth of quantum dots and integrating them precisely into a photonic structure. Quantum dot growth relies on a molecular beam epitaxy system at DFM, followed by nanofabrication of devices at Sparrow Quantum and optical spectroscopy at NBI.

There are many strong incentives to reduce the use of manual labor in the meat industry: High wage countries such as Denmark are at an obvious disadvantage compared to low wage countries. Even for lower cost countries it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit and retain slaughterhouse staff. Staff turnover is high resulting in costs for training and also for poor product yield and quality. De-boning involves repetitive movements and heavy lifting which can result in health issues and muscular skeletal disorders. The aim is therefor to develop an X-ray 3D imaging solution that can be integrated into robotic solutions at meat processing plants to enable the automation of manual deboning processes. The approach adopted is to use inverse problem solving and deep neural networks to determine the internal distribution of hard and soft tissues in the products, superseding the need for tactile feedback and enabling fast and precise deboning operations that in some respects will result in superior performance, e.g. more precise fat trimming with better yields. The objectives are: To develop X-ray measurement hardware that fast and efficiently can supply X-ray projections at different angles containing information about meat, fat, and bone internal tissue distributions within 1 mm. To develop analysis software to determine the tissue distributions with sufficient speed and accuracy. To develop an application programming interface for robot integrators.

Testing large radio systems, e.g. ships or aircraft, though essential to ensure operational performance, typically requires transporting the tested object to dedicated test sites, which is cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming. Today, there is no fast, cost-efficient and easy solution at scale. The DRONES project aims to develop a novel drone-based solution capable of in-situ radio testing of large objects and electromagnetic (EM) signature characterization, which allows objects to be tested whilst in operation mode. To achieve this purpose, a constellation of drones equipped with low-wind load, high-performance antennas and advanced radio transceivers covering a wide range of frequency band, along with artificial intelligence enabled signal processing and drone-swarm algorithms will be developed. The solution will empower the industry (such as maritime, aerospace, automotive and defense, and associated companies) with enhanced capabilities for evaluating critical electromagnetic systems, paving the way for improved performance and reliability of sensors and communications systems. The DRONES project brings together experts in the fields of antenna measurements (AAU), antenna measurements with drones (QuadSAT), and drone technology (SDU), collaborating closely with key users such as Scandinavian Avionics and FMI. The product will provide drone-based solutions to customers as a service or offer the measurement system to be purchased as an out-of-house testing facility.

The global cement industry emits 7 % of total annual CO2 emissions through the calcination of limestone and by burning fossil fuels. Such processes are known to significantly contribute to climate change. The cement industry must become climate neutral whilst simultaneously satisfying cement demands. The global cement market size reached US$ 363.2 Billion in 2022. The ECem consortium proposes a new solution to this challenge through the development of electric calciner technologies that allow CO2 to be captured, stored, or utilised in a much better way than existing solutions. The total addressable market share for FLS is 18% which gives a business opportunity of 32 to 50 billions EUR. Leading Danish organisations- FLSmidth, the Danish Technological Institute, Aalborg University, and European Energy, as well as the research centre HZDR (DE), SME Plagazi (SE), and Argos (CO) - as one of the most innovative cement producers - will join forces to develop this solution. These companies have the common aim of commercialisation at a later stage and a global roll-out by FLSmidth. A potential transfer of the solutions to other industries such as chemistry, steel, and glass is possible. The ECem consortium is confident that the solution, when globally deployed to cement producers, can prevent at least 100 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year and unlock investments in the range of several billion EUR, while creating at least 4000 new jobs in the medium- to long-term.

Today’s automation by means of robots to a large extent relies on manual processes and case by case programming. Therefore, the establishment of automation solutions usually takes long time and requires high level engineering expertise that needs to be built up during extensive university educations as well as practical experience. This makes the process of deploying solutions slow and expensive. All together this severely limits how companies can adopt robotic solutions cost-efficiently. The aim of this project is to enable robot suppliers to develop products that can capture the knowledge embedded in already running automation solutions and make it available for fast engineering of new efficient automation solutions. The vision is that this can be enabled by products and methods that combine (1) a data infrastructure in which robot data of already established solutions is gathered, (2) a search system by which an operator can find relevant solution elements and (3) methods that allow the operator to connect the found elements into a new robot system. The project will achieve this in a close collaboration between robot suppliers, manufacturing companies, and universities. The project will enable (1) the suppliers to address new business opportunities, (2) the manufacturing companies to faster establish new as well as optimizing already running robot solutions and (3) the universities to create new knowledge in the intersection between digitalization and automation.

In recent years, a fundamentally different form of information processing has emerged that exploits quantum mechanics. Once realized, quantum computers can efficiently solve classes of problems that would take the lifetime of the universe to solve on conventional supercomputers. Developing quantum hardware with sufficiently low noise, and quantum computing architectures tailored to use it, remain central challenges that currently prevent reaching quantum computers at scale, as required for known useful applications. Photonic quantum computing has a comparative advantage over other approaches because it can scale up to large-scale quantum computing by leveraging pre-existing (classical) semi-conductor photonics technology. The main challenge is to realize core building blocks of sufficiently high quality and to devise resource-efficient quantum architectures. Over the past decades, Danish researchers have developed unique photonic quantum hardware based on deterministic photon-emitter interfaces. In FTQP, we will advance these foundational hardware building blocks and propose fault-tolerant quantum computing architectures tailored to them. The co-design of quantum hardware and computing architecture is considered a highly fruitful approach in order to achieve real progress. The proposed project constitutes a new and highly promising approach to scalable quantum computing that fully exploits a true strong-hold position of Danish researchers.

Orbex is developing an end-to-end space launch system comprising Europe’s first reusable launch vehicle, the two-stage microlauncher called 'Prime', and a dedicated spaceport to target the huge new global small satellite market, providing a critical enabling technology for a large number of space-based big data applications contingent on satellite launch. Through innovative design & manufacturing of bio-fuel rocket engines in Denmark, Orbex is delivering a world-leading, green solution for low-cost, regular access to space. Orbex's innovative rocket engine designs feature novel and unique technology that reduces emissions by up to 90% using new fuels and enables launch vehicle recovery and reusability. Our goal is to create a centre of excellent technical leadership in green, modern propulsion system design & production in Denmark. This proposal builds upon the state-of-the-art design and additive manufacturing (AM) capability developed by Orbex under Innobooster, coupled with Force Technologies novel X-ray inspection capability matured under ESA GSTP, to develop and incorporate a robust testing and quality assurance regime for large scale AM parts, which is at the core of Orbex's industrialisation programme for reusable rocket engines. It is anticipated that the proposal will span the formal engine qualification phase up to first test launch and subsequent transitioning to significant industrialisation of engine production in Denmark to support regular launch operation.

The overall goal of the H2-FOAM project is to develop multi-layered asymmetrical nickel foam electrodes with increased surface area towards the membrane and larger pore structures further away from the membrane to facilitate lye, H2, and O2 flowing in three dimensions. This will increase the H2 production efficiency for alkaline electrolysis and at the same time reduce the usage of nickel. The goal is to reduce OPEX by additionally minimum 5% by increasing the H2 formation and reduce CAPEX of the electrodes by minimum 10% (nickel reduction and production processes) for production of green hydrogen using Alkaline Water Electrolysis (AWE). Project results are expected to be implemented in the near future (<2-3 years after termination of the project). The project length is 36 months and will be initiated Q1-2024. The key output of this project will be the ability to fabricate asymmetric nickel foam based on the Mond process utilising nickel CVD carbonyl Ni(CO)4 process capable of fabricating asymmetric nickel foam, i.e. electrodes with smaller pores and higher surface area near the membrane and lager pores further away to facilitate improved flow properties. The H2-FOAM project has immense potential to revolutionise the green H2 and PtX market. Its primary objective is to develop asymmetrical anodes/cathodes that reduce operational expenditures (OPEX) and capital expenditures (CAPEX) for alkaline water electrolysis, while also validating the technology.