Applied Research
Applied Research
We’re where a sustainable industrial future meets the advanced technology to make it a reality. The diverse perspectives we bring to a problem reflect our expertise across a broad variety of industries and our strategic partnerships with the businesses, government agencies, and research bodies driving innovation in sustainability.
Resource Recovery
New technologies are emerging that can be used to recover and recapture the embedded value typically lost when products reach the end of their life cycle. A large focus of our research explores this area, where digital data technologies can be leveraged to inform smooth production, recovery, and remanufacturing of common consumer goods.
Focus areas:
- Sustainable design
- Digital integration of design and manufacturing
- Intelligent product support or process data collection
- Lifecycle engineering, management, and remanufacturing
- Intelligent product support or process data collection
- Design for re-X
Sustainable Manufacturing
Advanced technology and intelligent decision-making can realize new efficiencies and reduced risk within a production process, resulting in more cost-effective, less wasteful manufacturing. Our research approach to manufacturing is scalable, considering systems-level decisions on the one hand and product design and materials on the other.
Focus areas:
- Resource management, energy, and efficiency
- Environmentally-friendly production, materials, and suppliers
- Analytics, machine learning, and decision analysis
- Smart and connected factories
- Autonomous systems
- System-wide monitoring
Energy Systems
Industry consumes vast amounts of energy. Our research in this area seeks to counter this trend by applying methods to reduce the energy consumed in the production, distribution, use, and disposal of products and industrial materials. Technologies include intelligent sensing and control, optimization, and modelling techniques for buildings and energy systems.
Focus areas:
- New technology commercialization
- Microgrid control and integration
- Building and process energy analytics
- Advanced energy conversion and storage systems
- Waste-to-X technologies
- Alternative and renewable fuels and power systems
Transportation and Mobility
The rise of smart cities and increasingly connected transport networks demand new technology platforms, like autonomous vehicles, sensors and components, software, and communication tools. We are exploring practical applications of these that will enable more intelligent and effective mobility systems.
Focus areas:
- Intelligent or smart transportation technologies and systems
- Vehicle health monitoring technologies
- Fleet logistics systems
- Autonomous transport for people and goods