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Expanite®, the Danish surface hardening specialist helped the Swiss watch brand Rado® by developing a hardening process to improve wear and scratch resistance on their titanium high-end watches which retains the designed color. This was once thought impossible.

Given its strength, titanium is remarkably light. When compared to steel in a strength-to-weight ratio, titanium is far superior, as it is as strong as steel but 45% lighter, and thus a material which is in high demand in mission critical designs for aerospace and high-tech medical applications, among others. Although it is also hypoallergenic and resistant to corrosion, titanium is relatively soft and scratches easily. But not anymore: Rado® unveiled the HyperChrome Ultra Light and Tradition Captain Cook MKIII collections crafted among others from hardened titanium!

Where the Tradition Captain Cook MKIII watch has a hardened grade 5 titanium case, the HyperChrome Ultra Light combines high-tech ceramics and hardened titanium in a unique bronze color.

The solutions were developed by Expanite®; by using the superior hardening technology “ExpaniteHardTi”. By diffusing molecules into the surface of titanium in a gaseous process, the titanium becomes almost completely resistant to wear and scratches – while keeping the mechanical and corrosion properties, which defines the extraordinary qualities of titanium. ExpaniteHard-Ti is not a coating process, hence all the draws backs of coating including the risks of spalling and inconsistencies in layers are completely avoided. Furthermore, with the ability to harden both titanium grade 2 and grade 5, the process is suitable in a broad range of applications.

“While hardening of the watch case for the Captain Cook MKIII was relative straight forward, the requirements of the HyperChrome Ultra Light designers and development team from Rado® was quite unique; we basically had to redo and upscale a process which we originally thought was faulty. This had some years back yielded titanium grade 5 in a distinct bronze color, while still reaching scratch resistance beyond what had previously been possible with a diffusion-based hardening technique. Our team of experts solved the case and made this part of the HyperChrome Ultra Light watch reality.”, says CEO Thomas Abel Sandholdt from Expanite®.

About Rado®:

Rado®, part of the Swatch Group that also includes Omega and Longines. Rado® is a globally recognized brand, famous for innovative design and its use of revolutionary materials to create some of the world's most durable watches. Ever since its beginnings in Lengnau, Switzerland, Rado® has had a pioneering spirit, with the brand philosophy "if we can imagine it, we can make it." Rado's design-driven timepieces will surely make you stand apart from the rest. Learn more on www.rado.com

About Expanite

A/S Expanite® offers state-of-the-art solutions for surface hardening treatment of stainless steels and titanium. With Expanite's processes, it is possible to increase the material’s surface hardness tenfold while at the same time maintaining and even increasing its corrosion resistance. Expanite® has a combined development and production facility near Copenhagen, Denmark, and hardening capacity in the US, Germany, China and Korea. Expanite's solutions are flexible and can be introduced directly into a customer’s own production line as part of a licensing arrangement. Learn more on www.expanite.com.

Only one year after successfully launching Expanite’s surface hardening technology for stainless steel in the Chinese market, KERN-LIEBERS and Expanite has signed a joint agreement, which will expand the product offerings available from KERN-LIEBERS´ facility in Taicang, China. The new agreement ensures that all Expanite processes for surface hardening of stainless steel will be available in China from the fall of 2019.

In November 2017, KERN-LIEBERS and Expanite signed the first license agreement which included KERNLIEBERS installing equipment to executing Expanite’s hardening processes for martensitic stainless steels, also referred to as the ExpaniteHigh-T processes, at their Taicang facility near Shanghai, China. Now, approximately one year later, the Parties have agreed to expand the license agreement to also cover Expanite’s processes for austenitic, ferritic and duplex stainless steels, referred to as the ExpaniteLow-T and SuperExpanite processes, and thereby making it possible to offer the complete range of Expanite processes for stainless steel to Chinese and other Asian companies.

“Our China business has had a fantastic start in 2018 and we continue to see tremendous growth potential towards many local and international companies with operations in China. The combination of KERNLIEBERS reputation of supplying parts and heat treatment to the highest quality standards and Expanite’s best-in-class hardening technologies for stainless steel, represents an ideal partnership, which essentially benefits our customers,” Thomas Abel Sandholdt CEO at Expanite explains.

Richard Zhang, CEO of KERN-LIEBERS, Taicang continues, “with extension of our current installation, we will have the capabilities of reaching a much broader range of customers, applications and industries – and we can offer cutting-edge technologies to our customers. We are very proud of being the first in China to have true low-temperature surface hardening solution for stainless steel”.

The new installation is expected to be fully operational during Q4, 2019.

About KERN-LIEBERS

KERN-LIEBERS, a medium-sized family-owned company based in southwest Germany, is a global technology leader for the production of highly complex strip and wire parts, and assemblies. The KERNLIEBERS group of companies develops and manufactures precision products of the highest quality at over 50 locations around the world (www.kern-liebers.com).

About Expanite

Expanite is based on uninterrupted research since 2000 and was founded in 2010 by leading experts in materials and surface hardening. The company is headquartered in Hillerød near Copenhagen and has hardening capacity in the USA, Germany and China. In addition, Expanite's solutions are flexible and can be tailored to be introduced into a customer’s own product line as part of a licensing agreement (www.expanite.com). Contact info If you would like more information about this topic, please contact For KERN-LIEBERS: Richard Zhang, CEO of KERN-LIEBERS in Taicang - richard.zhang@kern-liebers.com.cn, +86 512 5328 3533 For Expanite: Thomas Abel Sandholdt, CEO of Expanite – tsa@expanite.com, +45 20407207.

The EIT RawMaterials Start-up & SME Booster program provides support to start-ups and SMEs to develop innovative products or services that can produce an impact in the raw materials sector or benefit its partners.

As is described in EIT's "Raw Materials and Circular Societies Lighthouse" program, raw, processed and advanced materials, from primary and secondary sources, are the backbone of our economy. A radical shift is required from linear to circular thinking. End-of-life products must be considered as a resource for another cycle, while losses and stocks of unused materials must be minimised and valorised along the value chain.

This aligns perfectly with the focus of Guaranteed which is to use WAAM-technology to repair or rebuild large metal components beyond conventional techniques, thereby prolonging the life of ageing industrial equipment, reducing long lead times and eliminating storage costs.

Denver, CO, USA -  February 6, 2020 – Keystone Tower Systems, Inc. has started construction on its first full industrial-scale tower manufacturing plant in the U.S. The facility will have the capacity to produce towers for wind turbines representing over 1 gigawatt of energy production per year.

The facility utilizes Keystone’s proprietary spiral welding process, enabling fully automated tower manufacturing at ten times the speed of a conventional tower factory, and with substantial improvements in quality and consistency at a lower cost.  The facility, built with support from National Oilwell Varco (NOV), will begin production in a year.  It will supply 80 to 100 meter high towers that are used for today’s multi-megawatt wind turbines.

Eric Smith, CEO of Keystone Tower Systems, states: “We are excited to be moving forward at full speed after securing necessary financing and resources for our factory, including from our existing shareholders.  Plus, adding NOV to the team brings complementary skills and experience, especially with their long-standing experience in operating manufacturing facilities and managing in-field operations.  The entire team is working together to complete the factory and deliver on our first order efficiently and with the highest quality.”

Clay Williams, Chairman & CEO of NOV, commented: "We believe the combination of Keystone's technology portfolio and forward-thinking team with NOV's manufacturing expertise will lead to significant innovation in the wind tower space. We look forward to helping Keystone in their efforts to enable cost-effective wind towers around the world."

Keystone’s initial focus is on manufacturing the current generation of towers in a stationary factory setting, though the machine will be capable of producing large diameter tall towers 170 m in height or greater.  The equipment is designed to be mobile for in-field production of towers at the project site, which significantly lowers the cost of high hub height towers by eliminating transportation constraints.

ABOUT KEYSTONE TOWER SYSTEMS

Keystone Tower Systems is a wind tower technology and manufacturing company with their main office in Denver, Colorado.  Founded in 2011, its technology enables automated production of towers at higher throughput and with higher quality.  Keystone is a venture-capital-backed company with investments from several firms including Finindus NV, the Colorado Impact Fund, and ZOMA Capital.

www.keystonetowersystems.com

ABOUT NOV

National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) is a leading provider of technology, equipment, and services to the global oil and gas industry that supports customers’ full-field drilling, completion, and production needs. Since 1862, NOV has pioneered innovations that improve the cost-effectiveness, efficiency, safety, and environmental impact of oil and gas operations. NOV powers the industry that powers the world.

www.nov.com

ABOUT FININDUS

Finindus is a Belgian investment company backed by ArcelorMittal and the Flemish Region. Finindus invests in growth companies with a specific focus on materials, material processing, sustainable manufacturing and industry 4.0.

www.finindus.be

ABOUT THE COLORADO IMPACT FUND

The Colorado Impact Fund (CIF) is a Denver-based venture capital firm investing in Colorado companies with high-growth, scalable business models and a commitment to make their community better. CIF was created to support a growing entrepreneurial and impact ecosystem throughout the state of Colorado.  CIF manages approximately $80 million of private capital with the Colorado Impact Fund I and the Colorado Impact Bridge Fund.

www.coloradoimpactfund.com.

ABOUT ZOMA CAPITAL

ZOMA Capital is the investment arm for the family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, based in Denver. ZOMA Capital invests in a broad range of market-based sustainable solutions advancing energy, water, and community development in Chile and Colorado. Its global investment portfolio spans multiple asset classes and sectors with an emphasis on addressing environmental and social challenges.

www.zomalab.com/zoma-capital

For further information please contact:

info@keystonetowersystems.com

Westminster, CO, USA - 30 October 2017 – Keystone Tower Systems Inc, a Colorado based technology company, has secured significant growth capital to further support the global roll out of its advanced wind turbine tower manufacturing technology.

Keystone Tower Systems has developed and patented an innovative process for spiral welding conical steel structures, enabling greater production efficiencies. The company is tailoring its spiral welding technology for the production of wind turbine towers. The technology significantly reduces the overall cost of tower manufacturing through increased throughput and lower labor and material costs, resulting in a reduction of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for wind. The first commercial tower production is planned for 2019.

Earlier this year, Keystone partnered with a leading equipment OEM in the steel industry to roll out the technology worldwide. The first phase focuses on licensing its spiral welding technology to existing tower manufacturing plants for conventional dimension towers. In the follow-up phase, they will pursue mobile manufacturing facilities producing large diameter wind towers at the wind farm site, eliminating limitations on the tower diameter imposed by road transport restrictions.

The current investment round is led by a consortium of Keystone’s existing investors together with Finindus, a Belgium based venture capital company funded by ArcelorMittal and the Flemish Region; the Colorado Impact Fund, a Colorado based fund dedicated to supporting Colorado companies that generate consistent investment returns in addition to positive community impact; and Zoma Capital, the investment arm for the family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, based in Denver, which invests in a broad range of market-based sustainable solutions addressing environmental and social problems.

“We are thrilled to bring onboard incredible partners who will help us accelerate our roll-out plan,” Eric Smith, CEO of Keystone Tower Systems, commented on the transaction.

“Steel and welding technology are at the core of the business of one of our shareholders. It is clear that Keystone Tower Systems is a natural fit within our investment focus,” Hans Maenhout, Investment Director at Finindus, commented.

“The Colorado Impact Fund is excited to support Keystone Tower Systems as it develops and commercializes a world-class technology that will further cement Colorado’s position as a leader in the wind energy sector,” said Scott Reich of the Colorado Impact Fund.

Melissa Cheong, Zoma's Chief Investment Officer, remarked, “We are excited to support an innovative Colorado-based business whose technology has the potential to accelerate the adoption of wind power and expand the geographic reach of renewable energy development.”

ABOUT KEYSTONE TOWER SYSTEMS

Keystone Tower Systems, founded in 2010, is a Colorado based company specializing in innovative wind tower manufacturing technologies. It is the only company in the world with the technology to spiral weld wind towers.

www.keystonetowersystems.com

ABOUT FININDUS

Finindus is a Belgian investment company backed by ArcelorMittal and the Flemish Region. Finindus invests in early stage and growth companies, with a specific focus on materials, material processing and sustainable manufacturing.

www.finindus.be

ABOUT COLORADO IMPACT FUND

The Colorado Impact Fund, founded in July 2014, is a venture capital firm dedicated to supporting local Colorado companies that generate consistent investment returns in addition to positive community outcomes. Investors in the Fund include some of Colorado’s most respected executives, families, foundations and corporations, each of whom is committed to making a difference in the State of Colorado and beyond. Targeting investments in the areas of community health, natural resource conservation, education and workforce development and economic development, the Colorado Impact Fund leverages its collective experiences, resources and networks to help Colorado entrepreneurs create exceptional and lasting companies.

www.coloradoimpactfund.com

ABOUT ZOMA CAPITAL

Zoma Capital is the investment arm for the family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, based in Denver. Zoma manages an investment portfolio with strategies in Colorado and in Chile focused on issues of energy, water, community development, workforce development and mental health.

For further information please contact:

Anna Moon, VP of Business Development & Strategy

Email     : info@keystonetowersystems.com

 January 16, 2020

PRESS RELEASE - Collaboration with Leuven based innovator REIN4CED

January 16^th 2020 – Today Accell Group and REIN4CED announced their collaboration on the automated production of high-end carbon fiber bicycle frames for Accell. Mid 2020 the first hardtail mountain bikes with the new technology for Accell’s brand Ghost will be available in Germany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Czech. REIN4CED set up a brand new automated manufacturing facility in Belgium. With the production shift from Asia to Belgium, Accell benefits from significant logistic and sustainability advantages  as well as increased supply chain flexibility and efficiency. Local manufacturing in Europe drastically reduces overseas shipments and storage, resulting in a positive contribution to CO2 emission, faster deliveries and cost savings.

CEO Accell Group Ton Anbeek: "This collaboration matches Accell Group’s global innovation strategy and ambition to increase sustainability in its products. With enhanced durability and safety through local production and maximum performance for our cyclists with the new FEATHER technology. In two words: this innovation is smart and green".

CEO REIN4CED Michaël Callens: "Accell Group is a world leader and pioneer in the bicycle industry and we are proud to work together. REIN4CED developed a new, automated production line for hybrid composite bicycle frames in its production facility in Leuven, Belgium, with an annual production capacity of up to 20.000 frames. Accell and its consumers will benefit from our product as the new FEATHER composite material offers extreme impact resistance. Our hybrid carbon-and-steel fiber composite will deliver the confidence that cyclists deserve in high-end composite bicycle frames. The FEATHER material combines the stiffness and lightweight characteristics of carbon with the toughness of steel".

Background

About FEATHER

FEATHER is a new composite material technology offering extreme impact resistance, which is a revolution in the composites arena. Bicycle frames with FEATHER technology inside increase safety and reliability beyond what is out there today. Adding a dash of steel eliminates the sudden, brittle fracture behavior that numerous cyclists fear. REIN4CED will supply FEATHER frames to leading cycling brands starting mid 2020. FEATHER also attracts interest of automotive and aerospace markets, which require parts and assemblies with consistent material properties including impact resistance.

About Accell Group 

Accell Group is the European market leader in e-bikes and the European number two player in bicycle parts and accessories. Accell Group focuses on the mid-range and higher segments of the market for bicycles and bicycle parts and accessories Our bicycles and related products are sold to dealers and consumers in more than 80 countries worldwide. Well-known bicycle brands in our portfolio include Batavus, Sparta, Koga, Ghost, Haibike, Lapierre, Babboe, Raleigh and Winora. XLC is our brand for bicycle parts and accessories. Accell Group employs approximately 3,300 people across 18 countries. In 2018, we sold around 1.1 million bicycles and recorded a turnover of over € 1 billion.

For more information:

Debbie de Wagenaar, Director Communications, tel: +31 (0)612836103

About REIN4CED

REIN4CED is a Belgian innovative manufacturing company. In its production facility in Leuven, REIN4CED has an annual production capacity of up to 20.000 frames for manufacturing of impact-resistant and lightweight bicycle frames for brands wishing to offer their cyclists maximum performance with enhanced safety and durability. The new breed of carbon fiber bikes are produced on an automated line using thermoplastic composites and REIN4CED's proprietary, impact-resistant “FEATHER” material. REIN4CED allows commercial carbon frame production in Europe for the first time, introducing significant logistic advantages and increased supply chain flexibility and efficiency. Innovation is at the core of REIN4CED, as illustrated by receiving Deloitte's Most Disruptive Innovator award and the Sportech Innovation award. The REIN4CED team of twenty professionals, led by Michaël Callens (CEO), Niels De Greef (COO), Dave Luyckx (CPO), is highly specialized and experienced in composite materials, manufacturing technologies, and diverse industries including cycling, industrial, automotive and aerospace. 

Michaël Callens, CEO & Co-founder, tel: +32 16 14 08 21 – Email: michael.callens@rein4ced.com

Bron: ROB TV

Dit weekend gaat de Tour de France van start in ons land, er zullen in de eerste week ongetwijfeld heel wat renners tegen het asfalt gaan en daarbij hun fietskader breken. Als het van het Leuvense bedrijf REIN4CED afhangt is dat volgend jaar niet meer het geval, zij willen tegen dan maar liefst 20.000 onbreekbare carbonframes op de markt brengen.

Silicon photonics based fiber optic sensing allows for highly accurate, small, robust and cost-efficient structural health monitoring and process control

Ghent (Belgium) - September 10, 2018 – Ghent University (UGent) and imec today announced the incorporation of Sentea, a spin-off from their world leading Photonics Research Group. An initial 1.6 million Euro in funding was raised from Fidimec, Finindus, PMV and QBIC II and the founders. Sentea will develop and market advanced silicon photonics based fiber optic sensing solutions. These will be used to continuously monitor engineering structures for signs of damages that over time could lead to catastrophic failure, as well as to control industrial installations to maximize their efficiency.

According to the new market research report from MarketsandMarkets, the structural health monitoring market is estimated to grow from USD 1.48 billion in 2018 to USD 3.38 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 17.93% between 2018 and 2023. The major factors driving the growth of the structural health monitoring market include concerns about catastrophic failure due to aging infrastructures in the developed countries, stringent government regulations pertaining to the sustainability of structures, and the superior benefits of structural health monitoring. Furthermore, the structural Health Monitoring Market for the Energy vertical is expected to grow at a rate of more than 20% from 2018-2023, owing to various applications such as wind turbines, nuclear power plants and hydropower plants.

“Integrating all optical functions into a single silicon photonics component will allow us to make highly accurate, small and robust fiber optic sensor interrogators. Silicon photonics is also very cost-effective, which makes fiber optic sensing affordable for a wide range of new markets and applications and facilitates universal and continues monitoring of structures”, commented Karsten Verhaegen, CEO of Sentea. “Key potential customers have expressed great interest in Sentea’s solutions, stating that better infrastructure lifetime management and process control makes them more competitive in their respective markets.”

“Sentea builds on state-of-the-art silicon photonics technology IP that has been developed at the Photonics Research Group of imec and the UGent for the past 20 years, a technology in which both organizations are perceived as world-leading,” stated Luc Van den hove, president and Chief Executive Officer at imec. “This firm technology base will provide Sentea a kick-start to develop its sensor technology that is answering an existing need in a broad range of market segments.”

To develop its first products and bring them to market, the company raised 1.6 million Euro in funding from a consortium of investors including Fidimec, Finindus, PMV and QBIC II.

About Structural Health Monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a process in which engineering structures are continuously monitored throughout their lifetime for early signs of damages that over time could lead to catastrophic failure. By detecting any damage early on, and repairing or replacing the damaged part, catastrophic failure and the resulting downtime and huge repair costs can be avoided. A range of SHM solutions, such as fiber optic sensing, have found their way into engineering structures such as wind turbines, nuclear power plants, ships, trains, airplanes, buildings, bridges, dams, tunnels, heavy machinery, blast furnaces and so on.

About fiber optic sensing

Fiber optic sensing is a technology where the sensor itself is a specialty fiber designed such that it can sense pressure and temperature at multiple point along the length of the fiber. An interrogator device then captures the signal of the multiple sensing points in the fiber and interprets the signal into pressure, temperature or other derived parameters (e.g. acceleration or vibration). The inherent advantages of fiber optic sensors such as light weight, small size, passive, low attenuation, immunity to electromagnetic interference, wide bandwidth and environmental ruggedness are heavily used to offset their major disadvantages of high cost of the interrogator. Cost reduction of fiber optic sensor interrogators, together with new trends like IoT, big data and industry 4.0 will boost the utility and demand of fiber optic sensing in SHM and process control even further.

About Silicon Photonics

Silicon photonics allows for major cost savings and a significant increase in capabilities in developing and fabricating optical components. The ability to use standard CMOS manufacturing processes makes silicon photonics commercially very attractive. The sub-micron precision of these standard microelectronic CMOS processes allow for silicon photonics components to integrate a variety of optical functions in a very small chip that consumes far less power than traditional optical components. Decades of experience in making (electronic) chips from silicon as well as the installed base of (silicon) semiconductor manufacturing capacity can be leveraged to build highly integrated low-cost optical components for a variety of applications.

About Sentea

Sentea aspires to be a market leader in advanced fiber optical solutions for structural health and process monitoring. The company was incorporated in 2018 as a spin-off of the Photonics Research Group of Ghent University and imec to commercialize more than a decade of research in silicon photonics and fiber optic sensing. Benefitting from the advantages of silicon photonics, Sentea will develop and market fiber optic sensing interrogators that offer high accuracy, small size and advanced functionality, positioned for deployment in a wide range of applications and markets, hence enabling continuous monitoring of structural integrity to become the standard. Sentea is privately held by a consortium of investors including Fidimec, Finindus, PMV and QBIC II.

Contact: Karsten Verhaegen, CEO, e-mail: karsten.verhaegen@senteatech.com

About imec

Imec is the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The combination of our widely acclaimed leadership in microchip technology and profound software and ICT expertise is what makes us unique. By leveraging our world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of partners across a multitude of industries, we create groundbreaking innovation in application domains such as healthcare, smart cities and mobility, logistics and manufacturing, energy and education.

As a trusted partner for companies, start-ups and universities we bring together more than 4,000 brilliant minds from over 85 nationalities. Imec is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium and has distributed R&D groups at a number of Flemish universities, in the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China, and offices in India and Japan. In 2017, imec's revenue (P&L) totaled 546 million euro. Further information on imec can be found at www.imec-int.com.

Imec is a registered trademark for the activities of IMEC International (a legal entity set up under Belgian law as a "stichting van openbaar nut”), imec Belgium (IMEC vzw supported by the Flemish Government), imec the Netherlands (Stichting IMEC Nederland, part of Holst Centre which is supported by the Dutch Government), imec Taiwan (IMEC Taiwan Co.) and imec China (IMEC Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.) and imec India (Imec India Private Limited), imec Florida (IMEC USA nanoelectronics design center).

Contact: Hanne Degans, Press communications manager, +32 16 28 17 69 // +32 486 06 51 75 // Hanne.Degans@imec.be

About UGent

Ghent University was founded in 1817 and is one of Europe’s leading institutions of higher education and research in the Dutch-speaking region today. It comprises eleven faculties offering education driven by its innovative research in the many scientific disciplines. Located in Flanders, Belgium, the cultural, political, and economic heart of Europe, Ghent University is an active partner in many national and international educational, scientific and industrial collaboration projects.

The Photonics Research Group in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture is one of Europe’s leading groups in the field of photonic integration and silicon photonics. It is associated with imec and hosts 80 researchers including six ERC-grantees. The Photonics Research Group is part of the Center for Nano and Biophotonics – NB-Photonics – a multidisciplinary research and technology transfer platform clustering the resources and knowhow of 23 professors across four different faculties.