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Research & Development Request

HORIZON-CL3-2021-DRS-01-05 partner search: Spanish engineering company looks for partners to join an international consortium to develop fast deployed mobile laboratory and lead the infrastructure laboratories.

Country of Origin: Spain
Reference Number: RDES20210628001
Publication Date: 30 July 2021

Summary

Spain based engineering company looks for partners to join an international consortium to develop fast deployed mobile laboratory to apply next HE CL3 call. Sought partner must be from EU or associated countries would lead an Infrastructure Work Package and be the designers and manufacturers of mobile infrastructure for laboratories, containers/shelters, flexible tents, equipment associated with safety and operation, electrical generation, biodecontamination and biowaste management.

Description

Spanish engineering company specialized in providing innovative solutions on security, defense and environment sectors is looking for partners to join an international consortium formed by entities from Belgium, Poland, Greece, Denmark and Spain.

The recent pandemic has highlighted the challenge of detect and quickly identify pathogens during outbreaks, especially in remote areas and in the absence of specialized laboratories. Therefore, there is a need for a rapid diagnostic capability close to the crisis-hit area ensuring a fast, reliable, and ambiguous detection and identification of infectious agents. The system needs to be rapidly deployable, light, compact and mobile so it can be moved easily from one mission site to another. The laboratory infrastructures will integrate energy generation and waste management, environmentally friendly. Such a mobile lab would be able to perform a variety of detection, contamination mapping, and monitoring tasks autonomously while respecting safety and security requirements ensuring results integrity for a wide spectrum of biological agents.

The project aims to:

●	Conduct an exhaustive review of solutions existing today both in structures and designs of mobile laboratories. 

●	Carry out an extensive evaluation and manufacturing of sampling, detection, and identification new technologies to achieve TRL 6-8 at project ending. 

●	Strategies to orchestrate mobile lab capacities in the EU, and improvements in the management of trained staff in Europe to increase the actual diagnostic capacity as close as possible to the crisis area.

The project intends to find new sequencing technologies to help detect emerging agents and possible viral mutations that could represent a significant leap in terms of speed and cost. Communication can also be enhanced through the integration of satellite technology so data can be transferred in real time to decision makers enabling higher quality action and retrospective analysis to take place.   

The project will serve as a basis for a new European network of remote, scalable, and mobile warning systems that can be deployed during emerging pandemics. Such capability will be enhanced in the project by involving national and regional entities in charge of managing sanitary crisis to strengthen the European operational readiness and response plans. 

The partnership: The project already included/foreseen in the consortium:

•	Project Management and coordination

•	Data communication

•	Research and investigation centres: State of the art (SOTA) & Evaluation of quality management systems (Military and civilian). Development, improvement, and integration of novel diagnostic and research technologies. Detection and identification of infectious agents, diagnostic tests, monitoring and mapping of contamination.

•	First responders and representatives of local or regional authorities: Enhanced field data communication to decision-making authorities. Development of enhanced and secured field communication and geo positioning protocols

•	Training: Improvements in the management of trained staff in Europe. Crisis management and regional exercises preparation and execution

•	Dissemination and exploitation

The programme HORIZON-CL3-2021-DRS-01-06: Fast deployed mobile laboratories to enhance situational awareness for pandemics and emerging infectious diseases.

EUR 4 million per project. 2 Projects will be funded. Innovation Action 

They are looking for SME (from EU country or associated countries) which could lead the WP of infrastructure. The partner could be the designers and manufacturers of mobile infrastructure for laboratories, containers / shelters, flexible tents, equipment associated with safety and operation (HVAC, bio filters, security cabinets ...), electrical generation, bio decontamination and biowaste management.

Official deadline for the call: 23 November 2021

Deadline for the EoI: 15 September 2021

Anticipated duration of the project: 36 Months

Advantages and Innovations

Inventory and comparison of existing mobile laboratories, including heavy structures (both military and civilian) and light self-sustained systems, evaluation of quality management systems for maintenance, validation and testing. 

New (mobile laboratory) solutions for the fast, reliable and unambiguous detection and identification of infectious agents, diagnostic tests, monitoring and mapping of contamination and enhanced field data communication to decision-making authorities. 

Strategies to orchestrate mobile laboratory capacities in the EU, and improvements in the management of trained staff in Europe.

Stage Of Development

Proposal under development

Stage Of Development Comment

The starting point of the technology is a TRL 4.

Requested partner

Designers and manufacturers of mobile infrastructure for laboratories, containers / shelters, flexible tents, equipment associated with safety and operation (HVAC, bio filters, security cabinets ...), electrical generation, bio decontamination and biowaste management.

•     The type of partner sought: Industry

•     The tasks to be performed by the partner sought

1.	Mobile laboratory solution

2.	Determine the structural features/characteristics of the deployable laboratory capability

3.	Design and construction of the laboratory infrastructures

4.	Electronics and Computing: Bio-molecular hybrid devices for detection (arrays, biochips), bio-computing (biological models, bio-data treatment)

5.	Power capability. Adequate internal power requirements to support all instruments simultaneously

6.	Both external and internal; rapid internal decontamination capability

•     Multiple types of partners and partnerships can be considered. The tasks to be performed by the partner sought should be consistent with the type(s) of partnership discussed in the summary, the description and other profile fields.