The GEAR-UP Project held its 3rd General Assembly from 27 to 29 October in Buskerud, Norway. The meeting was hosted by Aker Solutions and 3D Production AS and coordinated by SINTEF Manufacturing, bringing together partners from across Europe to review progress, showcase demonstrators, and align the next steps for integrating circularity, digitalisation, and advanced manufacturing in turbine and structural component production.
Technovative Solutions Ltd (TVS) was represented by Sayedur Rahman, Senior Electronics Engineer at TVS. He contributed to key discussions on digital systems, traceability, and the integration of Digital Product Passport concepts. We had the opportunity to get his insights into the meeting and the project’s overall progress:
1. How would you describe your overall experience attending the 3rd General Assembly of the GEAR-UP Project?
Sayedur: The 3rd General Assembly of the GEAR-UP project provided a clear view of how the different work packages are converging and how the technical, digital, and circularity aspects are being aligned. It was also a good opportunity to reconnect with partners, clarify interfaces between tasks, and ensure that our work at Technovative Solutions is well integrated into the wider project roadmap.
2. Did you attend or contribute to any specific technical sessions or demonstrations?
Sayedur: Yes, I attended several of the technical sessions and demonstrations. In particular, I followed the sessions related to:
- The use of recycled materials in turbine and structural components, and
- The demonstrations of additive manufacturing workflows linked to digital design and process monitoring.
From the Technovative Solutions’ end, I contributed to the discussions where digitalisation, data flows, and integration of traceability/DPP-related information were relevant to the demonstrated processes.
3. Were there any challenges or opportunities discussed regarding recycled stainless steel, aluminium, or fibre-reinforced plastic materials?
Sayedur: Yes. Several partners highlighted both technical challenges and opportunities regarding the use of recycled stainless steel, aluminium, and fibre-reinforced plastics. Challenges such as material variability, quality consistency, and process parameter tuning for additive manufacturing were discussed. At the same time, there was a strong emphasis on the opportunity to reduce environmental impact and to demonstrate that high-performance components can be produced from recycled feedstock if supported by robust process control, characterisation, and digital traceability. For us, this reinforced the importance of linking material provenance and process data to downstream digital tools such as digital twins and product passports.
4. How did the demonstrations of hydroturbine production and 3D printing capabilities reflect the project’s research objectives?
Sayedur: The demonstrations were closely aligned with the research objectives. They showed how recycled materials can be used in complex and safety-relevant components, including turbine parts.
They also demonstrated how additive manufacturing and advanced machining can be combined in a hybrid process chain. Another important aspect was the capture of production, quality, and process data for simulation, optimisation, and life-cycle assessment.
Overall, these demonstrations helped translate the project’s goals on circularity, digitalisation, and advanced manufacturing into tangible and practical examples that partners could see and discuss.
5. How did Technovative Solutions’ participation and presentation contribute to the discussions or outcomes of the assembly?
Sayedur: Our participation added the digital and systems integration perspective. We helped clarify how project tools and data sources can be connected within a coherent digital architecture. We also emphasised the importance of traceability and structured data, especially for supporting Digital Product Passports and regulatory expectations.
Our inputs also helped the technical demonstrations to concrete use cases in platform integration and data exchange, and visualisation.
This ensured that discussions were not only about individual processes or materials, but also about how the resulting data and knowledge can be embedded into an operational digital ecosystem.
6. Were there any discussions or demonstrations that were directly connected to Technovative Solutions’ expertise, such as digital systems, traceability, or DPP integration?
Sayedur: Yes, several discussions were directly aligned with our expertise:
- Sessions where partners discussed data models, interfaces between tools, and requirements for traceability.
- Exchanges on how to structure information for future Digital Product Passport (DPP) use, including material provenance, process parameters, and sustainability indicators.
- Conversations on how to represent process chains and product configurations within a digital twin or platform environment.
In these areas, Technovative Solutions was able to contribute by outlining practical approaches for data structuring, integration, and compliance-ready information flows.
7. How is the project progressing toward its goals of integrating circularity, digital twins, and simulation into additive manufacturing processes?
Sayedur: From my perspective, the project is progressing well towards these goals:
- On circularity, partners are now moving beyond concept discussions and showing concrete use of recycled materials in relevant components.
- On digital twins and simulation, initial models and workflows are being aligned with real manufacturing data, which is essential for credible, useful twins.
- The additive manufacturing process chains are increasingly being described in a way that supports both simulation and traceability (e.g. linking build parameters, post-processing, and inspection results).
There is still work to do to fully harmonise data formats and interfaces, but the direction is clear and the 3rd General Assembly showed that the different strands are converging.
8. From your perspective, what are the most promising outcomes expected before the next General Assembly?
Sayedur: Before the next General Assembly, I expect several promising outcomes:
- Demonstrations showing end-to-end process chains using recycled materials, from design to final part validation.
- A clearer digital architecture and initial integrated workflows that connect data from production, testing, and simulation through shared models and interfaces.
- Further progress on traceability and DPP-ready data structures, positioning the project outputs to be relevant for future regulatory and industrial requirements.
- Stronger use cases and KPIs that quantify the benefits of combining circular materials with advanced digital and simulation tools.
I think these outcomes should make it easier to show the project’s value not only scientifically, but also from an industrial and regulatory perspective.
About the GEAR-UP Project
GEAR-UP (Green Engineering, Analysis, & Reskilling for Unbounded Production) is a European initiative designed to reshape modern manufacturing through sustainable design, advanced simulation, and the integration of recycled materials into high-performance applications. It aims to help industries use recycled materials like stainless steel, aluminium alloys, and fibre-reinforced plastics in high-performance products.
Technovative Solutions’ Role in the GEAR-UP Project
Technovative Solutions Ltd (TVS) provides the digital backbone of the GEAR-UP platform. Using its expertise in data architecture, traceability systems, and Digital Product Passport (DPP) technologies, TVS contributes to several strategic areas of the project.
One of the key responsibilities is designing the GEAR-UP platform’s reference architecture. This includes structuring how data flows between tools, how information is collected from various stages of the additive manufacturing chain, and how digital systems interact with simulation models and material characterisation workflows. TVS is also involved in defining semantic concepts and data models so partners can exchange information consistently and in a machine-readable format.
TVS is also extending its existing DPP platform to support new features. In GEAR-UP, the platform will track material origin, process parameters, sustainability indicators, and circularity performance. These features will be important for future regulations and for proving the benefits of using recycled materials.
The GEAR-UP Project is funded by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA); Grant agreement ID: 101178484.
