Port accessThe Port of Bilbao continues to consolidate its position as a benchmark in innovation within the port-logistics sector, driving an ecosystem of open innovation through collaboration among the different players with a view to providing innovative solutions to the challenges facing the sector, and thereby improving its competitiveness and its economic, social and environmental sustainability.
As a result, eleven innovative ideas backed by Bilbao PortLab, the innovation hub of the Port of Bilbao, have been approved in the General Ideas category of the third call of the Ports 4.0 programme. This brings to 36 the number of innovation proposals co-funded by Ports 4.0 which use the Port of Bilbao as a living lab for developing their ideas in a real test environment.
The eleven proposals backed by Bilbao PortLab and approved in this call will now have the opportunity to take their innovations from TRL 1-2 to TRL 3 by conducting a proof of concept. They will receive a grant of 15,000 euros to implement new products, services or processes, or to improve existing technologies with innovative components, applicable to the port-logistics sector in areas such as logistics efficiency, environmental and energy sustainability, security, digitisation of processes and smart platforms, amongst others.
The eleven ideas approved are as follows:
- ESTREM, a partner in the EKINBARRI initiative of Cebek, will generate an AI tool that improves commitment and productivity in companies, thereby reducing absenteeism.
- HUPI will create a system for assessing and predicting the impact of port activities on specific environmental indicators (turbidity, chlorophyll and hydrocarbons), representative of maritime biodiversity, in real time, based on satellite images and AI engines.
- 360GASES, in collaboration with Fagor Ederlan, will develop a proof of concept of a fuel cell based high power electric generator.
- AOTECH, in collaboration with SLP, will develop an IoT platform for real-time monitoring of the quality of bulk goods in loading/unloading operations.
- ZENIT SOLAR will develop a proof of concept of an end-to-end solution designed to address port-specific energy challenges, promoting efficiency, sustainability and potential collaboration among the different companies within the port environment.
- WE ARE CLICKERS, specialised in AI, will develop an innovative tool designed to significantly improve data quality and availability.
- FOLLOW INSPIRATION, a company based in Portugal, will develop an autonomous mobile robot designed to operate effectively in extreme conditions, and more specifically in cold temperatures, enabling optimal operation of the robot inside cold rooms, warehouses and factories with refrigeration systems.
- SBS will develop and implement a CO2 capture plant on vessels using HECO technology, which uses alkaline waste to capture CO2
- AUZIKER will develop canine training baits for the detection of Fentanyl, which will enable drug detection dogs to be trained easily and, above all, safely. This avoids the risks of training with the drug directly, achieving better trained dogs and increased security for the police when making seizures.
- BIRZIPLASTIK will develop a system for revalorising plastic waste from the port into new recycled raw material.
- ASIMOB will combine LiDAR and Artificial Vision to obtain a solution to determine how a special transport unit of any given size will affect the road infrastructure on which it is to be transported. The technology would indicate which elements are limiting the passage, with a view to analysing the feasibility of modifying the infrastructure and its repercussions.
About Bilbao PortLab
Bilbao PortLab is the innovation hub of the Port of Bilbao, created to facilitate the transition towards a smarter, more flexible and more sustainable port. With an ecosystem of more than 1,400 players, Bilbao PortLab acts as a catalyst for innovation, facilitating projects and connections between the challenges facing companies in the port community and innovative solutions. These projects, prototypes and pilots are further developed using the Port of Bilbao as a Living Lab, a real test environment, with experts, data, machinery, space and other resources made available as well as the support of various funding calls.
About Ports 4.0.
The objective of the Ports 4.0. capital fund, managed by Puertos del Estado / The Spanish State Ports Authority, is to attract innovation to the port sector, enabling entrepreneurs, researchers, startups, university spin-offs, small and medium-sized technology companies and large corporations to learn about and meet the challenges facing the port-logistics sector. The fund seeks to promote the development of innovative technological solutions, whether products, services or processes, through the application of new enabling technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, with the end goal of improving the competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability, decarbonisation and security of the Spanish logistics-port sector and boosting its process of digitisation.
