PITCCH launches corporate technology challenges with seven major industrial partners

Brussels, February 17th 2021

Summary

›PITCCH, a Horizon 2020 INNOSUP funded pan-European open innovation network, has opened its first corporate challenges.
›Seven large corporations are seeking SME or startup partners on problems spanning AR support, transformer IoT, plastic-free packaging, bio-based fuel additives, advanced tile grout, climate-friendly steam supply, and open building-data platforms.
›SMEs and startups could receive a 25 000 euro award plus up to 40 hours of free consultancy to collaborate with the listed corporations.
›Proposals for this call were accepted until 1 March 2021 and successful applicants move into co-development with the corporate partners.
›The initiative creates useful demand signals but important questions remain about IP, procurement routes, pilot funding and long term commercialisation.

PITCCH first corporate challenges in advanced technologies

A Horizon 2020 INNOSUP funded initiative called PITCCH has published its first set of corporate technology challenges. The project positions itself as a Pan-European Open Innovation Network tasked with connecting large corporations and small and medium enterprises to accelerate development of advanced technology solutions. In this first round, seven major industrial players defined targeted problems where they want external innovators to co-develop solutions.

What PITCCH is and how this round works

PITCCH aims to create structured collaborations between big corporations and SMEs by issuing tightly scoped challenges and matching them with solution providers. Corporations including Aptiv, EFACEC, Procter & Gamble, Repsol, Saint-Gobain, SPIE and Siemens Energy issued challenges that cover digital technologies, industrial biotechnology, advanced materials, micro and nano-electronics and energy technologies. SMEs and startups were invited to submit proposals by 1 March 2021. Successful applicants could receive a 25 000 euro award plus up to 40 hours of consultancy to facilitate partnership and technology positioning.

Horizon 2020 INNOSUP:INNOSUP is a set of actions under Horizon 2020 that supports innovation in SMEs through cross-border collaboration and business support. It prioritises market uptake and corporate–SME linkages rather than basic research.

Open innovation in PITCCH:Open innovation here means companies explicitly look outside their R and D labs for ideas and prototype partners. The model can accelerate problem solving, but practical outcomes depend on governance of IP, procurement pathways and whether a short award and coaching is enough to carry a solution into deployment.

The corporate challenges at a glance

Corporation	Challenge title	Technology area	Desired outcome
Aptiv	Eye See Glasses – Remote Support	Advanced manufacturing and digital technologies	AR wearable for remote, real time technical support and multi person interaction in factories
EFACEC	Smart Digital Transformer Management Solution	Digital technologies and micro and nano-electronics	Cost effective off the shelf IoT hardware for remote monitoring of oil-immersed transformers for retrofit
Procter & Gamble	Plastic-free recyclable packaging for liquid detergents	Advanced materials and nanotechnology	Alternative material or shaped package that is plastic-free, compatible with paper streams and recyclable
Repsol	Bio-indole for gasoline octane booster	Industrial biotechnology	New family of efficient bio-additives alternative to bio-ethers to raise petrol octane beyond RON 100
Saint-Gobain	Tile grout as a ceramic	Advanced materials	Grout that matches ceramic in colour stability, mechanical and fungal/bacterial resistance
Siemens Energy	Climate-friendly process steam supply	Energy technologies	Innovative technologies to deliver a fully climate-friendly steam supply for industrial turbines
SPIE	Open Data systems for building environment	Digital technologies	Open platform to gather, integrate, analyse and visualise building systems data for energy management

Detailed view of each challenge and technical context

Aptiv — Eye See Glasses for remote support

Aptiv seeks a solution that lets technical experts provide remote, real time assistance to technicians on factory floors via wearable devices. The goal is multi person interactions and higher quality of technical guidance to shorten response times and improve product implementation.

Technical considerations for AR remote support:Key engineering challenges include robust low latency video and audio streaming in congested industrial networks, accurate overlay of instructions on moving equipment, user safety and comfort in industrial PPE environments, and integration with enterprise systems such as ticketing and maintenance logs. Data protection and on-premise hosting options matter for factories subject to strict confidentiality rules.

EFACEC — Smart digital transformer management

EFACEC proposes an off the shelf IoT module to monitor oil-immersed transformers for remote condition monitoring. The target is a retrofittable, cost effective sensor and communications package that enables digitalisation of the installed base to support smart grids.

Transformer IoT retrofit challenges:Sensors must survive high voltage and thermal environments and be compatible with oil and tank geometries. Key telemetry includes temperature, dissolved gases, moisture and partial discharge indicators. Solutions must consider explosion safety, electromagnetic interference, industry standards such as IEC, secure firmware update paths and cybersecurity for grid assets.

Procter & Gamble — Plastic-free packaging for liquid detergents

P&G is looking for packaging concepts that eliminate plastic for liquid detergents while remaining recyclable and compatible with existing paper recycling streams.

Material and lifecycle constraints:Liquids require barrier properties to avoid leakage and chemical incompatibility with detergents. Alternatives to plastic include multilayer paper laminates with bio-based barrier coatings, molded fibre containers, or concentrated formats that reduce volume. Recycling infrastructure and contamination of paper streams are practical constraints. Claims about being plastic-free must be verified across supply chains and recycling systems.

Repsol — Bio-indole as a gasoline octane booster

Repsol frames an emissions reduction target driven by raising petrol octane above RON 100 and seeks bio-based additives to replace bio-ethers. The company argues higher octane can reduce CO2 emissions from petrol engine cars.

Fuel octane boosters and trade-offs:Octane boosters increase the resistance of petrol to knock, enabling more efficient engine tuning. Bio-indole refers to a class of benzopyrrole compounds that can act as octane enhancing additives. Development must address fuel stability, material compatibility, emissions impact, production scalability and sustainability of feedstocks. Lifecycle greenhouse gas performance must be demonstrated compared to existing additives.

Saint-Gobain — Tile grout as a ceramic

Saint-Gobain seeks a grout formulation that behaves similarly to ceramic tiles in colour stability, mechanical robustness and resistance to fungi and bacteria to satisfy growing consumer aesthetic and durability demands.

Materials science challenges for grout:Approaches may include polymer modified cements, ceramic-filled formulations, or surface treatments. Suppliers must balance shrinkage, adhesion, thermal expansion and long term colourfastness. Regulatory and health aspects of anti-microbial additives must be addressed.

Siemens Energy — Climate-friendly process steam supply

Siemens Energy wants technologies to replace fossil fuel-fired steam supply with fully climate friendly sources for industrial steam turbines. The company currently uses a mix including concentrated solar power and biomass but seeks complete decarbonisation options.

Options for low carbon steam supply:Potential solutions include electrification of boilers using renewable electricity, integration with concentrated solar thermal, use of sustainably sourced biomass with robust supply chains, and coupling to green hydrogen burners or high temperature heat pumps. System integration, cost, dispatchability and lifecycle emissions are key evaluation criteria.

SPIE — Open data systems for building environments

SPIE seeks an open platform to collect, integrate, analyse and visualise building systems data to improve energy management. The focus is the building sector where a large share of assets underperform in eco-sustainability.

Interoperability and analytics issues:Successful platforms need to ingest data from diverse building automation protocols such as BACnet and Modbus, handle time series data at scale, provide secure APIs, and support interoperable semantics for occupancy, energy meters and HVAC systems. Data privacy, tenant consent and edge versus cloud computation strategies will influence adoption.

Funding, support and application process

SMEs and startups were invited to submit proposals until 1 March 2021. Selected SMEs could receive a 25 000 euro award and up to 40 hours of free consultancy in facilitation, negotiation, moderation, technology advice and positioning. The design aims to reduce barriers for SMEs to test and establish collaborations with the large corporate partners.

What the 25 000 euro award and 40 hours mean in practice:The award is useful as a seed to cover prototype adjustments, travel or small pilots. However integration and industrial deployment typically require larger budgets. The consultancy hours can help with negotiation and positioning, but they do not guarantee a commercial contract or follow-on funding.

Assessment, caveats and critical points

The PITCCH model provides helpful demand signals and a low friction route for SMEs to engage with large buyers. Nonetheless several practical uncertainties deserve scrutiny before claiming large impact from this round.

IP and commercialisation risks:Open innovation can lead to disputes over intellectual property ownership and exploitation rights. SMEs should clarify IP terms before sharing detailed technical data. The call does not itself guarantee procurement or licensing deals. SMEs must negotiate pilot terms and determine who funds scale up beyond the initial award.

Scale and deployment challenges:Corporate pilot projects can stall at integration or compliance stages. For hardware solutions, certification, supply chain and manufacturing scale matter. For software and data platforms, long term support and interoperability with legacy systems are common barriers to adoption.

Public funding versus corporate procurement:Horizon 2020 and INNOSUP funding can de-risk early development but moving from grant backed co-development to a commercial contract requires corporate procurement approvals. The path is not automatic and depends on test results, internal business cases and regulatory requirements.

Practical advice for SMEs and startups

SMEs preparing proposals for corporate challenge calls such as this should be pragmatic and prepare both technically and commercially. Below are practical steps to increase the chance of constructive collaboration and follow through.

Focus on a minimum viable pilot:Design a demonstrator that proves the specific capability the corporation needs. Keep scope tight so the 25 000 euro award can be used to reach a meaningful milestone that can be evaluated in a corporate context.

Clarify IP, data and confidentiality terms early:Request template agreements or an IP framework before detailed exchanges. Define what rights the corporate partner expects and what the SME needs to retain to commercialise elsewhere.

Plan for integration and standards:For industrial solutions, identify relevant standards and integration points with corporate systems. For materials or chemicals, prepare data on regulatory compliance, ageing tests and recyclability or lifecycle metrics.

Think beyond the pilot to business models:Articulate how a pilot could convert to a commercial engagement. Consider supply chain, manufacturing, licensing, or service models and estimate the investment needed to scale.

Implications for the EU innovation ecosystem

Demand-driven challenges can help channel corporate purchasing power into SME-led innovation and encourage cross-border collaboration. A coordinated approach that combines small seed awards, coaching and access to buyers is well aligned with broader EU goals to strengthen industrial competitiveness and green transitions. However to achieve systemic impact the pilot stage must connect to procurement pipelines, standards adoption and access to scale-up finance. Single round awards and short consultancy windows are helpful but insufficient on their own. Monitoring and transparent reporting on pilots that progress to procurement or investment would improve the value of such programmes to the ecosystem.

For SMEs considering engagement, PITCCH presents a usable entry point to test solutions alongside large corporate partners, provided they carefully manage IP, focus on practical pilots and prepare for the investment and operational work required after initial development.