Innovative Projects Propel Advanced Healthcare, Materials Research, and Energy Solutions with NWO Support

Innovative Projects Propel Advanced Healthcare, Materials Research, and Energy Solutions with NWO Support

(IN BRIEF) NWO’s Open Technology Programme is funding six application-oriented projects in the Applied and Engineering Sciences domain with an investment of over 4.9 million euros, supplemented by more than 720,000 euros from industry and other organizations. The projects, which include collaborations with UT researchers in three cases, cover a range of innovative technological applications. Among them, the Wireless Robotic Clot Retrieval (WCR) project is developing a magnetically guided, screw-shaped robot enhanced with a gripper for safely removing blood clots, potentially improving treatments for vascular conditions. Another project introduces a multiprobe AFM cantilever for high-precision electrical measurements in ultra-thin materials, offering new insights into phenomena like Bloch oscillations in twisted bilayer graphene. Additionally, the BATT-AI project focuses on harnessing artificial intelligence to optimize control strategies for large-scale battery systems, aiming to boost market participation and manage energy congestion effectively. The Open Technology Programme promotes interdisciplinary research with the goal of achieving broad societal and scientific benefits.

(PRESS RELEASE) ENSCHEDE, 3-Apr-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — The Open Technology Programme from NWO’s Applied and Engineering Sciences domain is set to fund six application-oriented projects, offering more than 4.9 million euros in support, with an additional contribution exceeding 720,000 euros from industry partners and other organizations. Among these projects, three include collaboration with UT researchers, emphasizing the practical application of research in technological innovation.

One of the projects, Wireless Robotic Clot Retrieval for Vascular Intervention (WCR), is spearheaded by Dr. I.S.M. Khalil from the University of Twente, alongside co-applicants from the same institution and Radboud University Medical Centre. The WCR initiative is developing a wireless robot designed like a small screw that is steered through blood vessels by magnetic fields. This robot, enhanced with a gripper contributed by UT researcher Islam Khalil, aims to securely grasp and remove blood clots, potentially revolutionizing treatments for strokes, heart attacks, and other vascular conditions by making clot removal both safer and more effective.

Another project, A Multiprobe Cantilever for Mesoscopic Transport Measurements of 2D Materials, led by Prof. Dr. H.J.W. Zandvliet, focuses on the development of a novel multiprobe atomic force microscopy cantilever. This specialized tool is engineered to measure electrical transport in ultra-thin materials, allowing UT researcher Harold Zandvliet to observe material behavior at scales of only a few hundred nanometres. This innovative method offers greater flexibility and significant advantages over traditional techniques such as the Hall-bar method and will be used to investigate phenomena like Bloch oscillations in twisted bilayer graphene.

In the project ‘BATT-AI: Large-scale batteries for maximised profit and congestion management using AI’, lead applicant Dr. Z. Qin from TU Delft, in collaboration with UT researcher Dr. Nataly Bañol Arias, is developing advanced control strategies and models. This project is geared toward enabling battery energy storage system owners to tap into new capacity markets and offer multiple services, thereby accelerating the energy transition.

The Open Technology Programme itself, administered by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), is designed to support technical-scientific research that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. By providing companies and other organizations with accessible entry points into research, the programme aims to generate significant societal and scientific impacts through free and unrestricted innovation.

Media Contact:

K.W. Wesselink – Schram MSc (Kees)
Science Communication Officer (available Mon-Fri)
+31 53 489 9311
k.w.wesselink@utwente.nl

SOURCE: University of Twente