Partner 1: (Project Coordinator): TACORE, S.L. (Spain)

Tacore, S.L., based in Vilagarcía de Arousa (Spain), was established in 1982. Initially specialising in the dairy, meat and metal graphic industries, the firm gradually moved into the design and manufacture of equipment for the fish processing industry, canning plants and post-fishing processing. Nowadays Tacore´s staff is composed of 30 people and its annual turnover is around € 4´3 million. Tacore’s core business sector is Machinery for the canning, which includes the construction of complete tuna processing plants using leading edge technology in cutting, cooking, cleaning steaks, with on-going control of yield and production with the help of applied computing systems. Examples of Tacore systems that have been developed over the last few years include sardine and tuna processing lines set up in Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico and Chile, complete automation of finished product stores in metal graphics, processing systems, engineering studies for turnkey plants for fishing or canning companies and the manufacture of diverse turnkey semi-preserve plants in Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country, Spain.

Role in the project:

Project coordinator and project manager.
Leader of WP7 and WP1.
SMEs beneficiary: providing requirements, testing the developed solution, dissemination and exploitation of project results.

Partner 2: S.C. Tehnoprod Plast S.R.L. (Romania)

S.C. Tehnoprod Plast S.R.L. (TEHN) was founded in 1996 as a private company with mixed capital Romanian-German. The main activity of Tehnoprod Plast is the production and commercialization of low voltage electric appliances (plugs, cords, adaptors). Since 2004, Tehnoprod Plast has a certified quality management system according to ISO 9001:2000. Tehnoprod Plast exports in countries such as Germany, Holland, Greece, Sweden, Spain, South Arabia, Indonesia under the brand GB GEBRO. Products are certified for conformity (VDE, TÜV, KEMA, ÖVE, SEMKO, DEMKO, FIMKO). In Romania, our products are distributed in warehouses such as: Praktiker, Selgros, Cora, Ambient, Vasion. The range of products commercialised by Tehnoprod Plast can be seen at www.gb-gebro.de.

Role in the project:

SMEs beneficiary: providing requirements, testing the developed solution, dissemination and exploitation of project results.

Partner 3: Innovation Engineering S.r.l. (Italy)

Innovation Engineering S.r.l. (INNEN) is a private company, headquartered in Rome – Italy, focused on supporting organisational and technological innovation through advanced IT solutions and methodologies. To be successful within an organisation, innovation needs to be supported by information technology, either embedded in the final product/service or used during its production or delivery: Innovation Engineering focuses on robust methodologies and IT solutions to drive innovation, through the search, manage and analyse information that should be translated into knowledge, the jet fuel of innovation. The company is therefore specialised in providing IT comprehensive solutions, mainly based on Java language and Open Source, focused on facilitating the innovation process; with such regard, the company specialises on IT tools based on advanced data mining technologies for public and non-public domain, and on formal methodologies such as QFD (Quality Function Deployment), to support knowledge discovery and evaluation. The Innovation Engineering team couples a longstanding expertise in the development of IT solutions, with a consolidated knowledge in project management, corporate R&D and Innovation strategic planning and development, that allows to manage the innovation process without losing the “voice of the customer”, as well as making the best usage of internal and external knowledge applying at the best the Open Innovation paradigm.

Role in the project:

SMEs beneficiary: providing requirements, testing the developed solution, dissemination and exploitation of project results.

Partner 4: Battocchio S.R.L. (Italy)

It’s an Italian private company operating in the Electromechanical sector focused on products with an high technological level. Battocchio began his business producing special resistive tracks for radio and TV reception. The industrial process involved the layered application of carbon graphite and silver conductive film. Developments in production and product diversification soon led to the manufacture of potentiometers, surface shielding components and a variety of plastic containers. Moreover Battocchio became highly specialized in professional graphic, so in the early 80s started manufacturing membrane keyboards for automation systems and personalized electronic control equipment. Thanks to his skilled staff and thanks to the closed collaboration with customers, Battocchio can offer really competitive and qualified products. Nowadays the products must be user-friendly and perfectly suited to market demand. Battocchio has the know-how to give the best performance in electronic and mechanical fields and to supply turnkey solutions to the customers. Battocchio’ s products include not only membrane keyboards, but also electronic control equipments, plastic and metal cases, electronic contacts. Battocchio has been collaborating since many years in aircraft field, where production has to meet Boeing and Airbus requirements.

Role in the project:

SMEs beneficiary: providing requirements, testing the developed solution, dissemination and exploitation of project results.

Partner 5: FH-Kufstein University of Applied Science (Austria)

The FHS Kufstein Tirol Buildings GmbH (FH-KU), a university of Applied Science, carries out research projects with SMEs and public institutions as part of its national and international research activities. As a seed crystal of technology in the cross border region of the Alps (Northern Tyrol in Austria, South Bavaria in Germany) we are building a regional network of small and medium sized enterprises, focusing on the fields of information systems and business processes. FH-Kufstein is already involved in various applied research projects with regional, national and international partners. On a European level FH-Kufstein is participating in a project for the support of research intensive tasks of SME in the marketing domain (AMI-SME, Contract-No. 005875), a project the support of business processes in tourist destinations (ALADDIN, Contract-No. COOP-CT-2005) and a project for the support of conceptual development of new products for SME (KNOW-IT, Contract-No. 042640). Additionally, FH Kufstein has established cooperation to approximately 100 universities and research institutions as well as contacts with national and European sponsoring organizations in order to strengthen the international and multicultural aspect of the organization.
The FH Kufstein will take the role as Technical Manager of the TECH-IT-EASY project as well as the WP leading of Design of the exemplary approach as well as the evaluation. This will include work e.g. in the analysis and the specification phase of the project, the iterative validation of the requirements throughout the project and even more. The core aspect of the work of FH Kufstein will be coordination and managing the RDT partners as well as the contact to coordinator of the project.

Role in the project:

RTD performer, leading WP 6 and Technical Manager, mainly involved in the conceptual definition of the requirements for the ontology development, and in the testing and validation of the application, plus in the technical management and coordination of the project.

Partner 6: Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (UTCN) (www.utcluj.ro) is one of the leading universities in Romania, with 650 academic staffs and researches and over 12000 students, with a history of over 90 years. It comprises 9 faculties: Automation and Computer Science, Electronics and Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Installations, Architecture and Urban Planning, Machine Building, Mechanical Engineering, Material Science and Engineering. Scientific research is an essential preoccupation of the academic and research staff of the University. The practical results of the research activity are reflected in numerous contracts and projects with domestic and international financing. In this project, the research group “Engineering of Competitive Design and Development” (ICPD), with the lab “Engineering and Management of Innovation” (www.cert.utcluj.ro/icpd) will be involved. The team has an extensive experience in research projects concerning to development of expert systems for product and process innovation.

Role in the project:

RTD performer, leading WP 5, mainly involved in the development of the overall project IT solution

Partner 7: The Open University-Knowledge Media Institute of Milton Keynes (United Kingdom)

The Open University is the UK’s largest and most innovative education and training organisation. It leads the world in the large-scale application of technology to learning. There are some 160,000 people currently studying with the Open University, including professional development programmes in management, education, health and social welfare, manufacturing and computer applications. More than 70% of OU students come from an industrial background and remain in full-time employment throughout their studies. The OU has pioneered a system of study - OU supported open learning - that brings its courses and other study materials within the reach of the entire adult population of the UK. OU courses are available to all residents of the European Union, and in some other countries where we work with local partners - for example; Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ethiopia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Knowledge Media Institute has been, and is, involved in EU funded projects in the areas of semantic web, ontologies, organisational learning, exploring cultural heritage, knowledge modelling, applying knowledge systems technology to engineering design and providing knowledge services over the web. Current and previous projects include ENRICH (FP4), CIPHER and CLOCKWORK (FP5) and X-MEDIA, LUISA and NEON (FP6), Pharos (FP7), SILVER (EPSRC/DTI), Eurogene (eContent Plus).

Role in the project:

RTD performer, leading WP 4, involved in the development of the ontology

Partner 8: CIAOTECH Srl (Italy)

CiaoTech S.r.l. (CTECH) is the Italian branch of the PNO Group, the largest company in Europe specialised in grants consulting and technology transfer services with more than 500 Employees located in 40 Offices in 14 European Countries.  CIAOTECH is specifically focused in Innovation Management, providing support services to private and public organisations in Product and Process Innovation, Technology Transfer, IT solutions and support for research and development projects. Headquartered in Italy (Rome, Milan, Pescara, Udine), CiaoTech S.r.l. is made up of a pool of professional engineers with consolidated experience in international working environments (Europe, Latin America, USA) and Grant Advisors specialised in consultancy services for grants submission and negotiation, project management, and dissemination actions.
Set up in 2002, CiaoTech is a high-growth knowledge intensive company, doubling its turnover each year and expanding its operation in the whole Europe. The growth of Ciaotech can be explained by the innovative and specific services that the company offers, by supporting Industrial and Research organisations in defining and implementing their innovation and research strategies, through the usage of advanced methodologies and ICT solutions oriented. Moreover, thanks to its multidisciplinary expertise, Ciaotech has developed a specific expertise in setting up complex international technology transfer consortium and networks. The experience of the CiaoTech team can be attributed to the strong involvement in R&D activities conducted with highly qualified European Companies and Research Centers (University of Rome, University of Naples, Institute Fraunhofer, Finmeccanica Spa, Microsoft Corporation, HP, Intel, Procter & Gamble, Dow Chemicals, Rentokil, Ineos, Heinz, Repsol, Endesa, Finmeccanica Group Companies, Telecom Italia, CERN).

Role in the project:

RTD performer, leading WP 2 and WP3, involved in the market and SMEs requirement analysis, and in the conceptual development of the knowledge domain