Applied Research Seminar puts research and innovation in modern process control in the spotlight
The staircase auditorium was filled last week as participants attended the first Applied Research Seminar at Helix Lab. More than 90 registered attendees came to hear about research, applications and development in the process industry from speakers with expertise in the field.
The day was built around two current Helix Lab PhD projects, each offering insights into how digital tools are shaping modern process control. Across two sessions, PhD students Oliver Massaad and Gary Simethy presented their research.
The first session was based on Oliver Massaad’s project, on digitalization of High Shear granulation process. In the afternoon, Gary Simethy introduced his project, in which he researches how to optimize microbial fermentation.
Both sessions were complemented by national and international speakers with expertise and experience in their respective fields. Their contributions provided deeper perspectives on the specific challenges discussed and sparked many relevant questions from participants representing both universities and local companies.
“A seminar like this creates a unique opportunity to bring together some of the leading experts in the field and discuss how the latest research on digital tools can be and is currently applied directly in industry. Kalundborg is an ideal place to host a day like this because the newest solutions in process control have a strong and increasing interest for the process industry where research can be applied in practice,” says Kresten Kromphardt, Senior Scientific Consultant at Helix Lab.
Opportunities for joint projects
The strong turnout at the conference may reflect how development in the process industry has become a key topic, particularly in Kalundborg. That is the view of John Bagterp Jørgensen, professor of model-based control at DTU Compute, who also gave a presentation at the event.
“This is an industry that does everything it can to maintain competitiveness and development, and it is extremely important to keep a strong focus on process control. Not least to ensure that large companies remain efficient and competitive. It is important to understand that this does not happen overnight. Educating people takes time,” he says.
For that reason, he also sees clear potential in the opportunities for collaboration that the conference helped create.
“There are not many events of this type, and certainly not events that take place at Europe’s largest biotechnology site. That makes it quite unique. The best part is that industry and academia are brought together. It gives us the opportunity to talk to each other, and hopefully those conversations can lead to joint projects and activities.”
Inspiration and continuous development
In addition to concrete discussions and opportunities for collaboration, the seminar also offered inspiration for participants. Attendees gained practical insights into the activities and working methods used by companies in the Kalundborg process industry, a key motivation for both speakers and participants.
The keynote speaker Peter Vanrolleghem, Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Modelling at Université Laval , found the cross-disciplinary insight particularly motivating.
“At events like this I get to reflect on the development in the process industry and how it has evolved. Twenty-five years ago we could not really work with machine learning, even though we were aware of its potential. Now we can. That shows that this field is in constant evolution,” he says.
Peter Vanrolleghem adds that conferences like this are also an important source of inspiration.
“Listening to other presenters and receiving questions about your own presentation broadens your way of thinking. It is an excellent opportunity to learn what is happening in disciplines other than my own — and perhaps apply some of that in my own research,” he says.
The plan is that the Applied Research Seminar will become an annual event at Helix Lab and a strong initiative supporting the growing scientific community in Kalundborg.