ASCAMM Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ASCAMM Foundation[1] is a Technology Center located near Barcelona, at the Vallès Technology Park[2]. ASCAMM is an active agent within the research and development to innovation value chain, aiming at the increasing of the competitiveness of companies in a wide range of industry-based sectors. The main activities of this non-profit organization are: research and development projects, product and process advanced engineering, specialized technical and professional training, technology transfer and international co-operation initiatives.
The organization currently employs about 100 people, mainly engineering graduates and doctors. Most of the income comes from direct innovation services to Small and Medium Enterprises. The facilities of the technology centre have 6000 m2 of built space with top-level laboratories and equipment (injection moulding machines, machines for microprocessing, pressure die-casting machines, materials laboratory, laser sintering and incremental sheet forming stations, comprehensive CAD/CAM/CAE workstations, complete metalmachining workshops, mechatronics...). In the ASCAMM sphere, 3 technology-based spin-off companies have been created: Neosurgery and Hexascreen, oriented to biomedical engineering applications, and Plastiasite, related to knowledge engineering innovative applications. ASCAMM participates actively as RTD performer in the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union. Likewise, the Center also participates in local (Catalan[3] and Spanish[4]) public funding initiatives.
Main R&D areas
ASCAMM is continuously launching new R&D lines to fit industry necessities and opportunities. In all these initiatives, the Center's efforts focus in the generation of new or improved technologies for their immediate transfer into the corresponding supply chain. In such ever-changing world of technology it’s really difficult to categorize the research areas but ASCAMM has demonstrated a stable activity of pursuing innovation via:
- Materials: polymers, compounds, shape memory alloys, smart materials...
- Processes: rapid manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing, micro manufacturing, automatization, multimaterial and micro-moulding, laser sintering and milling,
- Knowledge: knowledge engineering, collaborative working environments, non-technological innovation approaches, expert systems for industrial processes, knowledge-based engineering, advanced training programmes...
Accreditations
- ASCAMM was the first Catalan organization in obtaining the label of "Technology Center" according the criteria of the DTI (Department of Labour and Industry) of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Regional Government of Catalonia)[5].
- ASCAMM is a CIT (Centre of Innovation and Technology) and an OTRI[6] (Office for the Transfer of Research Results) recognized by the CICYT (Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission for Science and Technology).
Highlighted Memberships
- OPTI Foundation (Monitoring Centre for Industrial Technology Foresight): founder-member and leading centre in industrial design and production technologies.[7]
- Founder-member of FEDIT (Spanish Federation of Innovation and Technology Entities).[8]
- Founder-member of ACT (Association for Technological Cooperation).[9]
- ASERM (Spanish Rapid Manufacturing Association).[10]
