EUROPEAN COMMISSION
MEMO
Brussels, 10 March 2014
From lab to market: 3 research projects that led to hightech spin-offs
Today the European Women Innovator Award was awarded to Ana Maiques
@ana_maiques. Ms Maiques said: "To be a top innovator, you have to be able to do
cutting edge science – but also take it to market." (read her post on Vice President Neelie
Kroes' blog).
This is exactly what she has done with her spin-off company Neuroelectrics
@Neuroelectrics which develops revolutionary brain devices. This success story was made
possible with investment from the European Union through the FET programme.
Neuroelectrics has been created to commercialise technologies developed within the EUfunded project HIVE.
€2.7 billion for Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) under Horizon 2020
Research in the next generation of technologies is key for Europe’s competitiveness. This
is why €2.7 billion will be invested in Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) under the
new research programme Horizon 2020 #H2020 (2014-2020). This represents a nearly
threefold increase in budget compared to the previous research programme, FP7. FET
actions are part of the Excellent science pillar of Horizon 2020.
3 FET success stories @fet_eu #FET_eu
1) Revolutionary mobile brain devices. Want to monitor and stimulate your
neurons' activities at home? It is possible with Neuroelectrics, a spin-off of the hightech SME Starlab based in Barcelona. This company commercialises two revolutionary
brain devices developed with EU research funding.
The first medical tool, Enobio, is a wearable and wireless sensor
system for the recording of electroencephalography (EEG). EEG is
commonly used for the detection of epileptic episodes and for the
study of sleep disorders. It has also a great potential for detecting
neurodegenerative diseases, for stroke rehabilitation and for nonverbal communication. With Enobio, EEG is mobile and monitoring
can be done at home.
The second device, Starstim, is a wireless brain stimulator. Brain
function can be modified by applying a weak electrical current
using contact electrodes placed over the scalp (transcranial).
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This stimulation can relieve pain (migraine headache, multiple sclerosis pain, fibromyalgia,
etc) and could be used for depression treatment, post stroke rehabilitation and cognitive
enhancement. Data recorded by the two products is directly available on a computer via a
wireless connection.
These new brain technologies were designed, developed and tested within the project
HIVE. €2.3 million of EU funding was invested in this project to advance state-of-the-art in
fundamental neuroscience research, neurology diagnosis and therapy. On top of groundbreaking medical progress, the project led to the creation of the promising spin-off
Neuroelectrics, which is going international with a branch in the USA.
2) A smartphone app for crowd safety. Imagine that you are at a festival: there
is a mass panic, where should you go to be safe? There is an app to tell you. The
system has already been tested during the Olympic Games 2012 in London (City of
London Police app), the Vienna City Marathon in 2012 (crowd density visualisation video –
picture below) and, more recently, the investiture of Prince Willem Alexander in 2013 in
Amsterdam (30 APPril app) that was used by more than 70 000 people.
The app – which is adapted for each
event – allows users to receive updated
information on the best way to go to a
specific place and, at the same time
and with their prior approval, to send
data on their movements to the
organisers. The event emergency team
can then be informed in real time
about the crowd behaviours and its
density. In case of a dangerous
situation, messages are sent to users
to coordinate their movements.
Research leading to the app was
carried out within the SOCIONICAL project, which was awarded €5.3 million of EU funding.
The general vision of the project was to develop an understanding of how complex
systems of interconnected electronic devices and humans interact, and how this leads to
an intelligent, useful behaviour. The project crossed the boundaries between different
scientific disciplines (physics, computer science, mathematics, social sciences and even
humanities), addressing modelling techniques, simulation experiments and analytical
methods.
SOCIONICAL resulted in the creation of a spin-off based in Germany, SIS Software, which
commercialises social information solutions. The team started with emergency
management and events, and wants to expand the concept to tourism and marketing.
Read this interview of Paul Lukowicz, coordinator of SOCIONICAL and scientific advisor at
SIS Software.
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3) Virtual characters with human facial emotions. Fancy slipping into the role of your
favourite 3D character and control its facial expressions with your own? Do it with
Faceshift @faceshift. This spin-off has developed the first facial tracking technology that
allows users to animate virtual avatars by moving their own face in front of a camera. The
software is used for TV and movie production, commercials and video games. The team,
which has a strong academic and international background, believes that technology
should enable creativity, that it should be at the same time simple and powerful, and that
it should be accessible to everyone.
Faceshift technology is based on the results of the TANGO project, which received €2.8
million of EU funding. While motion synthesis techniques mainly focus on physical factors,
TANGO explored the universe of non-verbal emotional interactions. Emotional interactions
were studied quantitatively in detail and were transferred in technical systems simulating
realistic emotional interactive behaviour. The obtained experimental results and
mathematical analysis led to a new generation of technical devices establishing emotional
communication between humans and machines.
Watch their video
Discover other FP7 FET projects
Interested in applying? Participant portal
Contacts
Email: comm-kroes@ec.europa.eu Tel: +32.229.57361 Twitter: @RyanHeathEU
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