LEKATECH (Finland) was founded in 2018 with the purpose to develop and commercialize its patented radical innovation, the electric hammer technology (LEH). Besides being the main commercialization partner in the project, Lekatech acts as project coordinator. Lekatech’s multidisciplinary team consists of people with proven experience and expertise in the industry. The team possesses technical knowhow dominance, commercial and strategic knowhow, as well as global project management skills. Lekatech offers its prototype Electric Hammer (TRL7) and brings in know-how, technical background and its facility for further development of additional functionalities, validation, upgrading and commercialization.
KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (Poland) is a worldwide leading company in the copper mining industry. It perfectly represents the underground mining user side. KGHM is involved in the extraction and processing of valuable natural resources within the largest European deposits of copper ore located in the southwestern part of Poland. KGHM ensures the project’s alignment to the realistic needs of product-users from the underground mining side and provides a piloting environment for LEH where the solution can be validated and enhanced based on user, technical and commercial requirements. KGHM biggest contribution is the piloting phase. Further it will provide Lekatech with a platform to commercially assess and validate market entry possibilities.
MNLT Innovations P.C. (Greece) was founded and established in 2018, as a spin-off of Monolithos Catalysts Ltd. The successful growth of the latter as a Research and Innovation (R&I) entity in the area of catalysis and recycling, formed the base of MNLT’ s excellence, which in turn aims to provide support to individuals and businesses that want to materialize their innovative ideas. Supported by its collaboration with multiple partners, MNLT brings multi-year knowledge and expertise in the field of industrial minerals and metals, materials and energy. Having a complete understanding of the above segments, MNLT provides first-class services that cover the whole process towards the development of a business, from the ideation stage to the successful entry in the market, as well as continuous monitoring and support. The cornerstone of its business solutions includes business/product development, sourcing and minerals trading and life-cycle assessment (LCA). Focusing on its customers’ needs, it also offers explicit, tailor-made solutions. MNLT’s role in ECHO is the environmental assessment of LEH . In addition, MNLT will have a significant contribution to drive in collaboration with Lekatech within the market entry strategy and business development, hereby opening up markets and enabling commercialization and upscaling possibilities for LEH.
ISMC is a national cluster working with more than 60 SMEs and large industries across the complete mining value chain in the full national Spanish geography, and integrating about 15 Universities, Competence Centers and regional governments bodies, to ensure the full approach to the catalyst of industrial innovation. The cluster aims at joining efforts and attracting relevant actors in the mining sector and its associated services all across the national territory. At local, national and European level, clusters have proved as an effective instrument to promote innovation in different sectors, particularly when they relate to regional smart specialisation strategies. ISMC’s main contribution focuses on leading Dissemination, Communication, and Wider Society Learning actions where it will actively bring companies from the field of extraction of mineral resources to ensure dissemination of project results as well as creating opportunities for upscaling and market replication by facilitating commercial meetings and workshops. Further it will coordinate a pilot in Spain in which LEH can be tested and validated in open-pit environment in collaboration with a to-be-selected piloting organization.
Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland) is the leading scientific and academic center in Poland. The University has confirmed its competence and research potential by cooperating with renowned representatives of the business world on a domestic and international level, continuously contributing to the integration of the knowledge triangle. WUST has access to numerous accredited laboratories, including the ones allowing evaluation of ‘CE’ signature compliance of the products introduced to the market. It consists of 13 faculties, including the most significant from the point of view of the ECHO project – the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Faculty of Pure and Applied Mathematics, and the Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining, and Geology, together with an informal, interdisciplinary and inter-faculty research group focused on problems related to the incorporation of the trending technologies in disciplines of Environmental Engineering, Mining, and Energy – Digital Mining Center which provides knowledge and skills of about 20 researchers already experienced in international, complex projects, related to open-pit, and underground mining, mining machinery condition monitoring & maintenance, and mining machinery diagnostics and vibroacoustics. WUST is responsible for Commercial Viable Product Deployment and Enhancement and ensuring that LEH will incorporate functional, technical, and user requirements into its system design according to the requirements analysis. It play a significant role in the dissemination of the knowledge used and created in the project, and coordination of the pilot with KGHM in Poland. As a scientific leader in ECHO, it contribute to educational outcomes and is responsible for publishing scientific articles. It has the necessary competence and experience to aid social media outreach, and co-create workshops for wider society learning.