Connect SME: Cross-border collaboration

What does ConnectSME stand for?

Brainport Smart District is one of the six testing grounds in the Netherlands and Flanders that participate in ConnectSME. The aim is to stimulate innovation trajectories of SMEs and SMEs to bring their innovations to the market faster and thus maximize CO2 reductions.

In order to achieve the European climate targets, it is important that sustainable technological innovations find their way to the market more quickly. For many SMEs and SMEs developing sustainable technologies in Flanders and the Netherlands, it is difficult to bridge the so-called ‘Vallei of Death’. A significant amount of capital is often required to bring the innovative product to commercial scale, while potential customers do not yet dare to invest in the innovative products. In addition, it is important to select the right technologies that will maximize CO2 reductions in the long term.

How does it work?

With a consortium of six living labs and two clusters, the ConnectSME project facilitates demonstration projects for sustainable technological innovations in Flanders and the South of the Netherlands. The living labs provide a development and demonstration environment for innovative technologies, according to a user-oriented, open innovation ecosystem.

Selected SMEs and SMEs receive vouchers with which they receive advice and the opportunity to demonstrate and develop their innovation in this physical test environment. By removing barriers to cross-border cooperation, ConnectSME wants to improve the market introduction opportunities of innovative technologies in the border region of Flanders-Netherlands.

Who can participate?

The ConnectSME project focuses on Flemish and Dutch SMEs and SMEs.

Do you recognize yourself in the points below?

Then be sure to register:

You are active in the border region. More information at www.grensregio.eu
You develop technology that promotes CO2 reduction and climate objectives
With your technology you focus on energy or is related to it
You have already developed your innovation and are looking for a way to scale it
Your innovation is new in the border region

Read more?

Download the flyer about ConnectSME with more information or contact Martijn de Kort.

EIGENAAR PROJECT

ConnectSME

PARTNERS

Thorsite (VITO), Snowball en Green Energy Park in Vlaanderen

The Green Village (TU Delft), Future Energy Lab Metalot (TU Eindhoven) en Brainport Smart District in Nederland

PROGRAMMALIJNEN

Wijk met energie

MEER INFORMATIE

grensregio.eu/projecten/connectsme

The greenhouse homes of CC-Studio

KasCo is a circular residential area in which food, energy and living go hand in hand. Here, you can live in a low-energy home in a greenhouse with fresh fruit and vegetable just outside your door.

The frame of the greenhouse home is made of wood and can be taken apart. Separating the bearing frame and the inside layout makes the house extremely adaptive. This allows residents to create a unique, personalised home within the uniform shell.

The wind and waterproof shell offers many additional benefits: breathing outer walls, ample outside space in the greenhouse and integration of plants (urban farming). And the concept is already a reality: the first KasCo has been built in Amsterdam.

The feasibility of the proposal is currently being investigated. If the outcome is positive, the proposal may well become a reality.

OWNER PROJECT

CC-Studio

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

participation | healthy district | district with energy

FOR MORE INFORMATION

kasco.cc

Smart Living with Solarix

Tomorrow’s built-up environments, like in Brainport Smart District, present many challenges: everything must be greener, healthier and smarter. While technology offers many possibilities, it is not the only answer for the future.

There must be a mix of beauty, data and clever use of space, linking city, building and humans. This is what Solarix does. We transform solar energy into design, give buildings an identity and create value for the environment.

Solarix believes in a future in which all outer walls generate energy. That is why Solarix develops beautiful, sustainable, innovative and multifunctional walls.

Solarix is a wall system that minimises depletion of natural resources (sustainable materials and lighting, recyclable) and maximises potential (sustainable energy, data). In fact it is more than just a wall system: it is about designing technology and the energy transition in a way that is attractive for people – it’s an example of a dynamic urban development.

The feasibility of the proposal is currently being investigated. If the outcome is positive, the proposal may well become a reality.

OWNER PROJECT

Studio Solarix

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

digital district | district with energy

FOR MORE INFORMATION

CASA students build experimental house

CASA 1.0

CASA 1.0: Innovation galore in social housing

CASA 1.0 is the first building to be built and delivered in The district of the future (2021). The complex consists of three innovative and social rental apartments. CASA stands for Comfortable, Affordable, Sustainable Alternative and was developed by a team of students from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). The students set the ambition of realizing a comfortable, affordable and sustainable alternative to social housing. The idea came from Antoine Post, a physics student. Despite hearing a lot about sustainable developments, he did not see this reflected in average housing. Together with other students, he decided to give shape to the ideas of designing a sustainable home. They founded the student team CASA and developed and built CASA 1.0 together with the Eindhoven construction company Hurks and housing corporation Woonbedrijf.

Preventing peak loads

The concrete-free complex – made of steel and fully reusable wood – has an innovative climate system. The secret behind this can be found under the house: namely a 104-cubic-metre water basin. The heat pump extracts heat from the house in summer, which is then used to heat the basin under the house. That heat is then used in the cold winter months to heat the entire house. Thanks to this system, there is no excess energy in summer or shortage in winter. Peak load on the electricity grid is thus prevented. The energy used by the heat pump comes from the energy roof, which generates both electricity and heat via a solar panel and solar water heater. CASA 1.0 thus effectively consists of three zero-meg houses.

The service core

The heating and various technologies come together in the heart of the house: the service core. To allow all systems to communicate and control each other, Team CASA designed its own control technology. CASA 1.0 consists of modular units with a minimal use of glue. This minimizes demolition costs and optimizes the re-use of materials. Concrete is deliberately not used because of its environmental impact. Thanks to the Smart Construction principle, material consumption, waste, and CO2 emissions during construction have been reduced.

Continuation in The district of the future

The concept of CASA 1.0 is now being further developed by Integer Technologies, a start-up by former students of the Eindhoven University of Technology. Woonbedrijf wants to realize several ‘CASA complexes’ in The district of the future.

More info on the home and technology can be found on the site of Integer Technologies.

You can also visit the site of Team CASA to see what projects the students are working on now.

OWNER PROJECT

Team CASA

PARTNERS

among the partners municipality of Helmond, ZonMw, and many others

PROGRAMME LINES

Circular district | digital district | district with energy

FOR MORE INFORMATION

www.teamcasa.nl | www.integer-technologies.nl

Urban vision UNStudio

The urban vision developed by UNStudio features a number of strips running from north to south that divide the area into several zones, each with a different building density. Shared facilities can be created in the district, such as kitchens, gardens, reading rooms and gyms. There will also be a mix of residential and work, with decentralised business space with offices and shared work spaces aimed at innovative collaborations. In the heart of the district will be a park of some 12 hectares with gardens, natural landscape and sports grounds. The park will be collectively owned by the users: everybody can become a member. At the fringes of the districts there will be 80 hectares for growing food (high-tech agriculture), water storage, nature and energy generation. Read the urban vision here (pdf).See our 3D visualisation here.

Read the urban vision here

See our 3D-visualisation.

OWNER PROJECT

UNStudio

PARTNERS

UNStudio, Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners, Metabolic, UNSense, Habidatum

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

PDF OF THE URBAN VISION

PLOTS LAB

Residents draw up joint plan for forty plots

In the autumn of 2018 we started looking for our first residents by calling for DIY plot pioneers to come forward. In this first ‘living lab’ 31 households are currently co-creating the first BSD district. They have found a location where they want to live together. The size of the plots is matched to the personal and shared (living) wishes of the future group of residents and their budgets. The plots project offers future residents a great deal of freedom, but we also expect them to take responsibility. The residents themselves are the initiators and therefore responsible for the realisation of their individual .collective dream spaces. This means they will have to think about and deal with water storage, energy-generating homes and public or shared green spaces. Watch our video

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OWNER PROJECT

Brainport Smart District

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Only for participants more information is available.

Net energy generating homes

Net energy generating living aims for a self-sufficient residential district. That is to say that the district generates all the energy it consumes.

In fact, more energy than is needed for heating, hot water and all electrical equipment in and around the house. The residents can use the extra energy for example to charge their electric car. It is important that the surplus energy is stored and shared with other residents, so that no energy is lost and there is always enough energy available for every single household within the district. Every house has its own circular home battery. These batteries are collected to a collective ‘smart grid’, in which the residents can share energy throughout the district. Using smart software, ‘off-grid’ demand and supply are matched the best way possible. By clever matching of generation, storage and consumption the district is fully self-sufficient in terms of energy. In this clip director René Beks talks about the houses.

The feasibility of the proposal is currently being investigated. If the outcome is positive, the proposal may well become a reality.

OWNER PROJECT

Hendriks Coppelmans Bouwgroep

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

district with energy | mobile district

FOR MORE INFORMATION

hendrikscoppelmans.nl/plusopdemeterwonen

Category: District with energy

Connect SME: Cross-border collaboration

What does ConnectSME stand for?

EIGENAAR PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMMALIJNEN

MEER INFORMATIE

The greenhouse homes of CC-Studio

The greenhouse homes of CC-Studio

OWNER PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Smart Living with Solarix

Smart Living with Solarix

OWNER PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

CASA 1.0

CASA 1.0: Innovation galore in social housing

Preventing peak loads

The service core

Continuation in The district of the future

OWNER PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Urban vision UNStudio

OWNER PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

PLOTS LAB

Residents draw up joint plan for forty plots

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OWNER PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Net energy generating homes

Net energy generating homes

Net energy generating living aims for a self-sufficient residential district. That is to say that the district generates all the energy it consumes.

OWNER PROJECT

PARTNERS

PROGRAMME LINES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact

Press

Partners

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