Large-scale tests in real environments for a resilient and sustainable Swedish industry

The projects are so-called system demonstrators, which are a way to test and demonstrate entire system solutions in a real but limited environment.

The investment is close to SEK 100 million, of which Vinnova accounts for just under SEK 40 million. The remaining funds come from parties participating in the projects.

Less vulnerable industries with their own energy system

One of the projects is the Energihamnen in Malmö. It is a pilot project to develop a sustainable and self-sufficient energy system that will make industries less vulnerable to access to external electricity and gas. A sustainable energy source must generate electricity that can be connected to a battery store where it can be stored. One of the companies in the core group is Texel Energy Storage, which manufactures batteries for energy storage of renewable energy, and which plans to start a larger production in Malmö.

- In the 10-15 year term, we want to have fulfilled the sustainable energy system Energihamnen in Malmö, says Per-Johan Wik at Sustainable Business Hub who is project manager.

Project partners are Sustainable Business Hub, Eon Energilösningar, Texel Energy Storage, Malmö city and Region Skåne.

Sustainable production of spare parts

The second project is about on-demand manufacturing of spare parts for the process industry in northern central Sweden. In order not to risk production being at a standstill, a lot of spare parts are kept in stock today, which means both high storage costs and the fact that everything may not be used.

When spare parts are also shipped from other parts of the world, the environment and climate are negatively affected. Spare parts could be manufactured locally and regionally in a more environmentally and resource-efficient way.

- We want to streamline so that the suppliers can produce when the industry needs it. Manufacturing on demand is nothing new, but we need to work on meeting the need faster with digital tools. We are also looking at production methods that involve more additive manufacturing. If you use 3D printing to produce a product, you only use exactly as much material as you need, says Nicklas Tarantino, at Sustainable Steel Region.

Project partners are Sustainable Steel Region, companies in the steel and manufacturing industry, Karlstad University, Region Dalarna, RISE, Paper Province and Sandvikens municipality.

Actors work together

The projects bring together all actors who have an impact, such as industrial companies, regions, universities and startups, and set up a common objective. In the analysis work, they work actively to capture needs and solutions within the five areas that together form a so-called system perspective: culture and behavior, infrastructure, technology, business models and policy/regulations.