Science and business cooperation between the private company and science organization to create new product with the help of state financial support.
Astra Plc is one of the oldest and largest metal processing companies in Lithuania. The company develops and manufactures stainless steel tanks, containers, pressure vessels and other products for the food, chemical, medical, automotive and other industries. The products created and manufactured by the company are valued not only in Lithuanian, but also in foreign markets.
The company is implementing R&D activities-based project aimed at creating an innovative and highly insulated, lighter tank-semi-trailer from new materials with extremely high mechanical properties - DUPLEX steel. The product will be more competitive in the international markets and will allow to increase company’s turnover. To do so, Astra Plc used financial support “Intelektas. Bendri mokslo-verslo projektai” under the Lithuanian Operational Programme. Under this financial instrument, R&D activities and business cooperation with science organizations are promoted, therefore this project is implemented together with The Lithuanian Energy Institute.
Resources needed
The total value of this project is 1 040 963,20 euro, of which 338 948,20 was financed by ERDF.
Evidence of success
The global tank-semitrailers market is expected to witness a steady growth rate on the back of the growing logistics industry. In addition, due to some reasons including safety and reliability, semi-trailers are also becoming more popular than full trailers, thus it also leads to the increasing usage of it. The company sees this big potential in the tank-semitrailers market and believes that a new product will allow them to enter it.
Potential for learning or transfer
This good practice can be interesting for other regions due to the fact, that it is a case of cooperation between business and competence centre. One of the partners of this project is Lithuanian Energy Institute (LEI) which is an internationally recognized energy-related research, development and innovation (R&D&I) competence centre. LEI has not only the necessary infrastructure to implement project activities but also human resources, that is scientists, that have experience and know-how needed to create the product. Therefore, the financial measure to support science and business cooperation was also very important in this regard.
Tags: Business, Cooperation, Science
