Modular construction sector counts on INEGI to innovate in the field of materials

A new cluster is being born in Portugal for the global supply of the modular construction sector, in response to the growing needs of the market in terms of housing, university residences, hotels and health infrastructure. Boosting the competitiveness of this sector is, therefore, the objective of the innovation agenda «R2UTechnologies - modular systems», one of the 23 innovation agendas, supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which count with INEGI's contribution.

This project gathers 29 companies and 48 R&D partners, who come together to develop new technologies for more efficient, faster and «intelligent» production, and to create differentiating products with high added value.

INEGI's team of specialists will contribute with skills in terms of composite materials, lighter and with high performance. More specifically, explains one of those responsible for the project at INEGI, Ricardo Rocha, "we are going to develop and optimize innovative thermoforming processes. This pioneering concept allows, in a single shot, to generate a composite material consisting of several layers, unlike the traditional process that only allows thermoforming only one layer of raw material per shot”.

At the same time, the Institute will collaborate in the development, testing and implementation of a predictive model for calculating transport costs and CO2 emissions, throughout the different phases of the modular construction process. The model will be based on simulation and machine learning techniques, as well as the team's knowledge of logistics and transport.

With a total investment of €177M, it is financed by the European Union through the Next Generation EU and the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), under the operational program Capitalization and Business Innovation.