Deadline Date: March 31, 2026
The Collab Composite Global Innovation Call invites startups, SMEs in fiber composites, and researchers to present innovative solutions for automated and intelligent quality assessment of composite materials.
The focus of the Innovation Call Cohort 5 is Automated and Intelligent Quality Assessment of Composite Materials, particularly improving inspection and quality assessment processes that are currently performed using manual inspection methods supported by expert judgement. The initiative emphasizes the development of automated or intelligent inspection methods that can detect industrially relevant defect types such as porosity, delamination, fiber-related defects, and out-of-plane damage. It also aims to reduce inspection time and time-to-decision compared to existing workflows while providing repeatable and operator-independent decision support. Solutions must demonstrate a Manufacturing Readiness Level of at least 4, be suitable for EDT-level inspection, be applicable to industrial composite materials, and be demonstrated on physical composite test specimens provided by Saab Aeronautics and Hitachi Energy.
The innovation call is organized by Saab Aeronautics and Hitachi Energy as part of their effort to explore advanced inspection technologies for composite materials used in industrial production environments. Traditional inspection processes rely heavily on manual evaluation and expert judgement, making them resource-intensive and difficult to standardize. Through this initiative, the organizations aim to identify solutions that can introduce automation and intelligent decision-making into inspection workflows.
Participants will be required to demonstrate their proposed solutions on four physical composite test specimens that will be provided by the organizers. The objective is to evaluate the technical feasibility, inspection performance, and industrial applicability of the proposed technologies under realistic conditions. This approach ensures that solutions are not purely theoretical and can function effectively within production-relevant inspection workflows.
The evaluation process will assess applications based on their ability to detect relevant defects, improve inspection efficiency, and provide consistent and reliable results. Emphasis will also be placed on the maturity of the technology and its suitability for integration into industrial production environments. By focusing on these criteria, the call seeks to identify technologies that can realistically support the future of composite material inspection.
The Collab Composite platform offers an opportunity for innovators to collaborate with major industry players and demonstrate how their technologies can contribute to more efficient and reliable quality assessment processes. Through this collaboration, selected participants can showcase solutions that have the potential to drive meaningful improvements in the manufacturing and inspection of composite materials.
For more information, visit Arctic Business.
