Funding and partners

Cardiff University is one of the ten largest universities in the UK and a member of the Russell Group of research intensive universities. The University has a range of academic excellence which is directly relevant to the present project, as set out below. Involvement of CU is through:

• Sustainable Places Research Institute, a unique institute in the UK, working with partners from the public and private sector to create a network of city-region 'live-labs' to promote new adaptive knowledge sharing and exchange on future city infrastructures and progress smart innovations and interventions which lead to sustainable growth in both physical and socio-economic spatial structures.
• The Institute of Energy specialises on Renewable Energy and on Smart Grids of the future, generation sources and enabling technologies for systems integration. The institute has on-going relationships, taking the form of collaborations, with companies such as BP, DNV, NASA, Rolls Royce and RWE npower.
• The Institute of Sustainable Engineering specialises in digital buildings that exhibit lifelong resilience and adaptability to their environment, usage and occupancy, enabled by (a) smart materials and products, (b) integrated design and manufacturing systems, and (c) total lifecycle approaches. The institute spans six main research themes: smart materials and products; virtual manufacturing and supply chain management; building intelligence; building resilience; energy and sustainability; and comfort, health and well-being.

CEA is a 15000 employees French research organisation which R&D activities cover topics ranging from civil and military applications of Nuclear power to renewable energy, software engineering, fundamental physics and biology. In BIM4VET, two institutes are involved : CEA LIST and CEA LITEN. The CEA LIST is the Laboratory of applied research on software-intensive technologies. With a staff of approximately 650 people, the LIST is a key software systems and technology research center working in three areas with vital societal and economic implications: Embedded systems, Interactive systems, Signal detection and processing. With the strong project-centred culture of its researchers and engineers, the LIST performs research work in partnership with the major industrial players in the nuclear, automotive, aeronautical, defence and medical fields and thus investigate and develop innovative solutions corresponding to their requirements. The CEA LITEN (Laboratory for Innovation in New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials) is one of Europe's newest and most important research centres in the new energy technology field. Involved in 350 research partnership contracts every year, LITEN works hand in hand with French industry. It is one of the CEA laboratories with the most patents - more than 100 new applications filed in 2010 and a portfolio of 500 international patents. Liten's research activities are focused on solar energy, low-energy buildings, future transport applications (hydrogen, fuel cells and batteries), as well as nanomaterials for energy and methods guaranteeing their safe use.

The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) is a mission-driven Research and Technology Organization (RTO) that develops advanced technologies and delivers innovative products and services to industry and society. As a major engine of the diversification and growth of Luxembourg’s economy through innovation, LIST supports the deployment of a number of solutions to a wide range of sectors, including energy, IT, telecommunications, environment, agriculture, and advanced manufacturing at national and European level. Thanks to its location in an exceptional collaborative environment, namely the Belval Innovation Campus, LIST accelerates time to market by maximizing synergies with different actors, including the university, the national funding agency and industrial clusters.