In June 2022, the SPEAR consortium was honoured with the Eureka Innovation Award in the "Best Sustainability Innovation" category at the Global Innovation Summit in Estoril, Portugal. The award, presented by the ITEA programme, recognised the project's measurable contributions to energy efficiency in industrial production. It was a milestone that validated three years of collaborative research across five European countries.
The Eureka Innovation Awards are presented annually to highlight the most impactful projects funded through the Eureka network and its cluster programmes. Competing against initiatives from across the continent, the SPEAR project stood out for its combination of technical innovation and real-world industrial results. The jury specifically noted that the approach of using real device-provided simulation models rather than simplified estimates set the project apart from existing energy management solutions.
What Made the Difference
Several factors contributed to the award. The consortium's ability to demonstrate concrete energy reductions at partner facilities was perhaps the most compelling element. Through the smart selection of energy sources, adaptive process parameters, and peak load management, participating companies achieved energy cost reductions of approximately 10%. Volvo Car Corporation reported a 12% decrease in energy consumption at tested production stations, while Turkish partner KANCA Forging saw an 8% improvement in energy efficiency at its forging plants.
Equally important was the project's focus on practical deployment. Rather than producing purely academic results, the consortium built a working platform that production engineers could use without requiring deep expertise in simulation modelling. The user-centred design approach, combined with integration via the Functional Mock-up Interface standard, ensured that results could be adopted by a wide range of industrial partners.
Lasting Commercial Impact
The award also highlighted the commercial outcomes generated by the project. Sensing and Control Systems, a Spanish partner, gained three new industrial customers as a direct result of capabilities developed during the project and hired an additional staff member. Reeb-Engineering in Germany opened an entirely new business area in virtual commissioning for industrial applications. The Swedish partner AF Industry (now AFRY) incorporated SPEAR results into a commercial virtual commissioning service that provided a competitive differentiator in their market.
These commercial successes demonstrated that publicly funded research can deliver tangible economic returns while simultaneously advancing sustainability objectives. For the ITEA programme, the SPEAR award represented a strong example of its mission to foster international collaboration that produces both scientific excellence and market-ready innovation.
A Broader Context
The recognition came at a particularly relevant moment. With the European Union pushing for greater industrial energy efficiency through initiatives like the European Green Deal, and with the first global energy crisis raising costs across the manufacturing sector, the tools and methods developed by the SPEAR project addressed an urgent and growing need. The consortium's open-source release of core optimisation algorithms after project completion further extended the reach of these results, making them available to companies and research groups beyond the original partnership.
For the 22 partners involved, the Eureka Innovation Award served as both recognition of past achievement and motivation for continued work in the field of industrial energy optimisation. Several consortium members have since applied the knowledge gained in SPEAR to new research initiatives, building on the foundations laid during the project's three-year run.