Dear E-LASS member,
Due to the Corona pandemic, we have decided to postpone the upcoming E-LASS event in Vlissingen, Netherlands, planned for 22-23 June. The new date we plan for is 15-16 September, with the same set-up as before, starting with an industry tour from the Schiphol airport at lunch the 15 Sept, followed by a seminar day the 16 Sept. Please reserve the new dates in your calendars.
In the EU project RAMSSES, one aim is to strengthen the E-LASS network and to increase member value. E-LASS is identified in the project as “the sustainable network” that interacts with and supports the maritime lightweight business and has the potential to do so also in the future, including overseeing the RAMSSES heritage. To this end, we have developed some ideas that we think will increase member value. We would appreciate very much your feed-back on these ideas. You are also welcomed to suggest other concepts you think could be interesting for the E-LASS community.
Ideas
- RAMSSES will provide our website, e-lass.eu, a material, component and test data base, together with a library of relevant literature. E-LASS will manage the continued administration and input. A protocol for submission of data will be developed within RAMSSES and put on the E-LASS website.
- SARGASSO is an open innovation platform for maritime businesses, developed and hosted by RISE. It is accessible for all networks involved, free of charge, and is already in use at the E-LASS website. Within the RAMSSES project will be developed an E-LASS search engine for E-LASS in order to help the network members approach specific groups of companies/organizations with a request for technical support or project development. Input format for using the search engine and the Innovation platform will be developed within RAMSSES and put on the E-LASS website.
- Members of E-LASS are offered to add new networks to SARGASSO, which will increase the potential support of lightweight shipbuilding. A format and requirements for connecting networks to SARGASSO will be developed within RAMSSES and put on the E-LASS website.
- To facilitate using E-LASS for research project information dissemination, an easy-to-use formal request document will be created, clearly stating input/output obligations, simplifying for E-LASS members to include the E-LASS dissemination support in their project proposal. The document will be developed within RAMSSES and published on the E-LASS website.
- Lightweight materials and lightweight ship design are parts of a global development towards sustainable shipping. In order to bring the lightweight perspective more clearly into the discussion, the E-LASS event scope will be broadened to include other areas related to fossil free/sustainable shipping that directly or indirectly support the use of lightweight materials. We therefore suggest organizing E-LASS events that support fossil free /sustainable shipping, in general, where the lightweight perspective will be brought in, but where other technical issues might get most of the attention. The concept will be tested and evaluated in the forthcoming year.
- Today there are three national lightweight networks based on the E-LASS idea to support lightweight innovation and share lightweight information: in Sweden, in Germany and in The Netherlands. We suggest providing national groups the possibility to share information with the E-LASS community through the E-LASS website, thereby increasing the visibility of the national lightweight initiatives and facilitating collaboration on a European level.
All input from you is welcome.
Further E-LASS information:
- Our member GMI has decided to generously share (for free) a newly published chapter on “Bonded Repair of Composite Structures” from the Springer book “Revolutionizing Aircraft Materials and Processes”.
- Alexander Hertzberg has decided to move on to new adventures in the RISE group and has been replaced by Rebecca Möller, whom you may contact for administrative matters in the future.