innovation and regional support: experiences from the...
TRANSCRIPT
METRIC Conference, Brussels,19th March 2015
Innovation and regional support: experiences from the
industry – The case of EFACEC Transportation Systems
Cipriano Lomba, Telecom & Signaling Managing Director
EFACEC Transportation Business Unit
www.efacec.com
Portugal
Agenda
The EFACEC Group – Transportation Business Unit
Recent innovations in EFACEC Transportation offer
RTD projects
RTD projects organization
Critical factors for RTD success
Concluding remarks
EFACEC Group
Created in 1905, in Porto, North of Portugal, private shareholders;
Presence in over 65 countries, more than 3000 employees;
Strong technological competences and industrial facilities in Power Transformers,
Energy Automation/Smart Grids, Medium Voltage Switchgear and Electrical
Mobility;
Long experience and strong technological competencies in turn-key integrated
projects in the sectors of Energy, Transportation, Environment, etc.;
Major industrial facilities in Portugal, Argentina and India;
About 600 M€ turnover, more than 75% outside of Portugal;
Railways, Metros and Light Rail Trams
Roadways and Road Traffic
Core competencies centered on applying IC technologies (R&D,
Engineering, Implementation and After-sales Services) to develop and
implement turn-key customized solutions for Transport / Mobility Systems
Efacec - Transportation Bussiness Unit
Solutions for Light Rail Tram, Metro and Rail Reference Concept - Turnkey solutions
Light Rail and Metro
Algeria: Alger, Oran and Constantine
Brazil: S. Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
Chile: Santiago Metro
Egypt: Cairo
France: Reims
Ireland: Dublin
Italy: Messina
Norway: Bergen
Philippines: Manila
Portugal: Oporto and Lisbon
Singapore: Punggol and Sengkang
Spain: Cadiz, Tenerife and Barcelona
Tunisia: Tunis
Turkey: Bursa
United Kingdom: Nottingham
Heavy Rail & Main Line
Algeria: ANESRIF
Australia: RailCorp
Bosnia: BHRPC
Brazil: CPTM
Iran: RAI
Morocco: ONCF
Malaysia: Klang Valley MRT
Portugal: REFER, CP and Fertagus
Romania: SPIACT
Tunisia: SNCFT
Infrastructures & Comms
Algeria: Algerie Telecom, CEEG, SONATRACH, SONELGAZ
Angola: ENE, Movicel, MSTelcom, Unitel
Morocco: Meditel
Mozambique: EDM, MCEL
Portugal: EDP, Optimus, PT, Vodafone
Successful projects in the 5 continents
Worldwide References Infrastructures, Rail, Metro & Light Rail
TimeKeeper: Integrated Solution for Vehicle Location and Operations
Optimization (Radio/TETRA, Public Information Systems, OCC SW);
TramKeeper: SW Platform for Automated Depot Operation and Management;
AEGIS: SIL-4 Electronic Rail Signaling for Light Rail Trams / Secondary Rail Lines;
EFARail: Integrated Unified Operation and Control Centre SW for Rail
Applications;
SmartRoad: Operations Control Centre SW for Road Monitoring (Security and
Safety) and Telematics.
Recent Innovations in transportation offer
RTD Projects
R&D team of more than 20 full time dedicated resources (annual investment > 1M€);
In recent years, EFACEC has lead several RTD projects to reinforce its technological offer
in transportation systems, being the main initiatives:
IPSILON – Smarter Systems for Tramway Management (2013/14)
- Depot Management System for Light Rail Trams (TramKeeper);
- Demonstration prototype of a “safe” train detector using fiber optic sensors;
MERCURY – Transportation Made Easy (2012)
- Quality-of-Service middleware platform to support the integration of different applications in unified
Operations Control Centers (EFARail);
SMARTCENTER – Platform for Operational and Safety management of Transport Systems (2010)
- Integration platform for Operational and Safety management of Roads / Tunnels (SmartRoad);
PROSINAL – SIL-4 Electronic Signaling System (2009)
– Advanced SIL-4 signaling system for Light Rail Trams and Secondary Railway Lines, using HW&SW COTS
(AEGIS);
RTD Projects Organization
Project Leader: EFACEC Transportation BU
– Industrial company, knows market requirements (functional, technical and economics), defines overall
specifications, will become owner/promoter of the final solution, and takes main investment risks;
Project Partners:
– Universities, R&D Institutions and SMEs partners – bring technological competencies required in specific fields;
– Potential Customers (in some Projects) – contribute with functional specifications, but mainly to host the
implementation of prof-of-concept technological pilots, and to “bring” end-user
requirements/experience/pragmatism;
Financial support from Portuguese RTD Programs / European Funds, but support programs
and level of financing have been reduced in the last years.
RTD Projects – Success critical factors
EFACEC RTD initiatives were mainly structured from Market Needs/Requirements to Technology
Development;
Project consortium “balance” (Market + Industry + Technology + R&D) is critical:
Universities and R&D Institutions enrolment is important to assure the use of more updated
technologies/techniques;
SMEs partners bring focused know-how and innovative technologies that can be decisive for the success
of the project, in terms of final results;
End-customers participation, showed to be very relevant for clear definition of final objectives;
The implementation of technological pilots in real scenarios proved to be decisive for product final
tuning, industrialization aspects and future market acceptance;
Pragmatic definition of the RTD Project main objectives and required resources is very important;
Geographical scale of application of regional innovation results is difficult to achieve, but very
important for industry success.
Concluding Remarks
To be innovative in transport systems at regional level is a challenging task, also because of the global trend for turn-
key integrated contracts from transport customers;
The existence of a large entity that takes the lead in RTD activities and calls for the participation of other
specialized local stakeholders is critical – regional innovative eco-systems in transports;
Enrolment of customers/end-users in RTD projects is very relevant for success;
At regional level, finanial support for RTD Projects is essential, but has become more difficult over recent years;
Participation of an “outsider” large company in European RTD Consortiums in Transportation Systems is becoming
more difficult;
The existence of specific mechanisms at regional level to support industry in developing innovative specialized
technologies for transport systems is very important, but should consider the enrolment of the different local
stakeholders (public entities, transport operators, industry, specialized SMEs, Universities, end-users, …);
The development of more Open European Standards at Interface Level, i.e. to access public domain data, would
stimulate regional specialized innovation on transport systems and increase the possibility of success for innovative
companies, namely SMEs.
