Living Labs and Digital Social Innovation Group

i2CAT is a pioneer research institution in the adoption of the “quadruple helix” as a model of innovation, creating spaces for research with users, companies, universities and government. That technology transfer goes into the social network to improve quality of life and to help people to learn and develop knowledge and their creative skills.

i2CAT is committed with this innovative model and in 2015 went a step forward creating a Living Lab and Digital Social Innovation Group that pursues these research activities in synergy with other research areas and innovation business units of the centre.

The Group focusses on the research and design of these open and collaborative innovation environments using the most advanced digital technologies.

Thus, it has created the new methods for user engagement through a combination of traditional applied anthropological techniques and new approaches based in user-centred design technoanthropological theories.

Following some of the activities pursued in 2015:

During 2015, i2CAT has maintained its key role in the ICT H2020 Work Programme.

The success in the Horizon 2020 calls for funding during 2015 it is a remarkable achievements. Thanks to the effort and quality research developed by the different areas and departments, i2CAT has obtained 9 new H2020 projects. These are the topics:

• Advanced Cloud Infrastructures and Services
• Smart Cities and Communities
• Experiments and facilities in FIRE+
• Collective Awareness Platforms for sustainability and social innovation
• Research Infrastructures
• Digital Security

Special reference should be make of:

• Advanced 5G Network Infrastructure for the Future Internet: i2CAT gained 4 projects under this topic out of total 18 projects funded by the European Commission. In one of them i2CAT is assuming the coordinator role.
• Technologies for creative industries, social media and convergence: i2CAT is leading this project about immersive TV under this topic.

It is also remarkable that throughout the 2015 i2CAT has participated in 32 R&D European Research and Innovation projects.

CHARISMA

i2CAT coordinates this H2020 project that proposes an intelligent hierarchical routing and paravirtualised architecture.

Fully aligned and committed to the 5G-PPP principles and KPIs, the project brings together 10G-wireless access and 100G fixed optical solutions through an intelligent cloud radio-access-network (C-RAN) and intelligent radio remote head (RRH) platform with IPv6 Trust Node routing featuring very low-latency for the traffic management.

IMMERSIA TV

i2CAT coordinates this H2020 project that aims to create new formats of television, bringing revolutionary ways to watch TV at home. A novel form of broadcast omnidirectional video, content production and delivery that offers end-users a coherent audiovisual experience across head mounted displays, second screens and the traditional TV set, instead of having their attention divided across them.

5G-XHaul

i2CAT leads the Technical coordination of this H2020 project within the 5G-PPP initiative.

Dynamically Reconfigurable Optical-Wireless Backhaul/Fronthaul with Cognitive Control Plane for Small Cells and Cloud-RANs

5G-XHaul proposes a converged optical and wireless network solution able to flexibly connect Small Cells to the core network. Exploiting user mobility, our solution allows the dynamic allocation of network resources to predicted and actual hotspots.

Technology transfer to market

During 2015 i2CAT has set up synergies with the local companies with the aim to design and deploy pre-commercial trials for technological and functional validation purposes.

The entity is coordinating with local partners, public administrations and users, to produce innovative market-oriented technologies and solutions that have an actual and added-value impact in the society and economy.

Following four of the lines that i2CAT is working in:

• Lhings: Monitoring of a network of elevators with a LoRa network.
• Dinube: OPTO solution is a universal contactless solution based on Visible Lights Communications. This is the alternative to NFC, Near Field Communications.
• Cellnex: V2X V2X Arch Project pursues the performance evaluation of IEEE 802.11p Standard of vehicular networks.

• Urbiotica: Support to the Urbiotica network aggregation and the study and evaluation of technologies for Smart Cities LWPAN.
• Sense Fields: Assessment and an improvement proposal of the solution for the traffic monitoring of SenseFields.
• AirFi: A high-precision indoor monitoring and positioning solution based on Visible Light Communciations.

• eHealth Portal, an online platform for medical care and communication between Health professionals and patients, providing personalized health services, created from a close collaboration between the Hospital Sant Joan de Deu of Barcelona and i2CAT.
• Telecremats is a web-based tool that enables professionals to share medical images for the treatment, and remote diagnosis support, in case of burnt patients’ emergency.
  The project has deployed a pilot in eight hospitals of the Health Catalan Institute (ICS).

• Watchity: Development of a platform capable of establishing WebRTC calls between a browser and a media engine, which has to transform the different streams to an HTTP-based streaming format. The whole system has to be integrated with the currently Watchity platform.
  Watchity simplifies the collaborative recording of the event and automates the creation, broadcasting and playback of a multi-camera video –the visual story about the event, using the videos captured in real time from the mobile devices of the attendees.
• Alcatel Lucent:
  • In the MITSU project, it has been developed a communications platform that that can be located in the Cloud and that enables the multimedia content broadcast (HD video, IPTV ...). This allows maintaining heterogeneus networks quality: wireless (WIMAX ...) fiber or a blend of both and keeping the energy efficiency of the devices deployed.
  • Within the NOTTS project, i2CAT investigates the technical problems experienced by service providers of over-the- top multimedia services, proposes realistic solutions, and evaluates these solutions in testbeds and real networks.
    The final goal is to generate technological solutions that involve a new business line for all stakeholders, so that as a result of this project the NOTTS prototype will be provided.