The program Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA enters its
second year with perspectives for being continued.

The program Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA in the Honor of Peter Wallenberg Sr., which instituted Chairs at Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) so that Swedish professors cooperated with Brazil, now proceeds to its second stage. Created in the early 2015, aiming to further the bilateral cooperation in research, education and innovation in technologies in the aeronautic sector, the program has already brought to Brazil its first professor, Petter Krus, from Linköping University.

Krus has been to São José dos Campos (SP), the city hosting the ITA, for several times in the past 16 months, and shall still return to Brazil more times, until 2018. This year, in early October, it is the second visiting professor’s turn: Dan Henningson, from the Royal Institute of Technology. The third faculty member, Tomas Grönstedt, from the Chalmers University of Technology, is expected to arrive late in the same month. Both should return more times until 2019 (See interview with the professors below).

The initiative is developed in the ambit of INNOVAIR, a platform hosting all the relevant stakeholders in Sweden and which aims to strengthen the ties with the academia, the government and the industry in Brazil, strengthening the exchange of innovation and of advanced technologies in the aeronautic sector.

The vice-president for research of KTH, Arne Johansson, believes that the program provides possibilities for new and exciting collaborations between Sweden and Brazil in the aeronautic area. “This is an initiative that may originate long-term relationships and cooperation projects of fundamental and applied nature. The exchanges between ITA and KTH, at different academic levels, will enrich both environments and facilitate the industrial cooperation between Sweden and Brazil,” he stresses.

According to the ITA Rector, Anderson Correia, the research chairs are important to the institution and have yielded good feedbacks from the students. “These chairs are very common in foreign universities and ITA has invested in this since last year. We started with the Embraer Chair, in 2015, when we brought professor Carlos Cesnik, an ex-ITA student and currently a professor at Michigan University. At the end of the first semester, with professorPetter Krus’s visit, we consolidated the first incursion in the program Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA in the Honor of Peter Wallenberg Sr. and later in the same year, we launched an International Teaching Chair on Small Satellite Platforms, with the support from Thales Alenia Space (TAS),” he summarizes.

For him, ITA only has to gain by bringing foreign professors to spend a relevant period at the institution. “The strategy allows bringing people with close ties with the industry and with other research institutions, as was the case of Petter Krus, who has very good relationships with Saab and with other Brazilian universities. The professors of research chairs who have come to ITA so far have interacted very well with the institution, with the students and with other faculty members.”

The rector explains that the professors of the program Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA remain at the institution, overall, between two and six months. “Here, they are dedicated to tasks such as supervising students, participating in research groups and supervising dissertations. They also teach mini-courses and develop joint papers with other faculty members and graduate students.”

As stated by Correia, all the research chairs, including that of the INNOVAIR program, have work plans with established deadlines. Each of them has a local instructing professor, who organizes the meetings with research groups, takes steps towards socializing the visitor, introducing him/her to the institution routine and providing a bridge with students and with other faculty members.

“For the students, it is a unique opportunity: firstly, of having lessons in English and improving the use of technical terms in their research areas; secondly, of being in contact with a different culture. The interaction with the visiting professors in the corridors and during the common meals also enriches the students’ day-to-day,” says Correia.

For the deputy vice-president of External Affairs of Linköping University, Peter Värbrand, the program development will allow concrete outcomes in research, education and innovation for both sides. “This increases the international visibility of our institution, and does it with a strategic partner, Saab. Another benefit is that it allows building a long-term collaboration with key institutions in Brazil, such as ITA.”

Värbrand remarks that Linköping University has a graduate program in aeronautic engineering. “We believe the collaboration with other countries is highly important in the ambit of an institution with an international Master’s program. For example, stimulating students exchange – and, in this case, with an excellent partner such as ITA.”

Correia, in turn, considers the repercussion of the research chairs very positive to ITA. “We managed to measure the impact of these initiatives by the master classes and the lectures by the visiting professors. In the lecture presenting professor Petter Krus, there were 600 people. In professor Cesnik’s master class, there were 800. This, taking into account that ITA is an institution with a restricted number of students: 1,200 undergraduate and 600 graduate students. The outcome has been very good.”

According to Alessandra Holmo, Managing Director of CISB, institution that supports the Swedish professors in Brazil, the ITA chairs constitute an innovative model within the Brazilian innovation system, and the challenge is to expand the cooperation with research groups from other universities in Brazil, besides the ITA, and how to make this model sustainable in the long term. “I believe this model can be replicated to other cooperation sectors between Brazil and Sweden; we are already working towards this. We also established a committee among all the institutions involved to propose actions that make this model sustainable,” concludes the director.

CISB interviewed the three Swedish participating in the program Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA in the Honor of Peter Wallenberg Sr. Petter Krus, from Linköping University, talks about his experience in Brazil as the first professor with a Chair at ITA. Dan Henningson, from the Royal Institute of Technology, and Tomas Grönstedt, from Chalmers University of Technology, report own their expectations and work plans. Check below.

PETTER KRUS
Linköping University

After spending some months acting at ITA, how would you assess your experience as the first professor in the Programme Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA in the Honor of Peter Wallenberg Sr.?  What were the barriers overcome?

I had spent quite a lot of time in Brazil and at ITA on an ad hoc basis, before I got the Endowed chair, so I was already quite settled in when I started. I think the greatest barrier is the language barrier, even though most professors speak English; still you lose something, but I am working on that... Another barrier is the lack of funding on the Brazilian side. We hope this improves over time.

How do you assess the developments of the FADEMO research project so far?
We have to realize that this is the first project to do together and there is no financing on the Brazilian side. On the Swedish side, it has gone very well, with recorded flight tests in the instrumented GFF subscale aircraft. We have shared data and are working on the analysis on both sides. We have also got agreements in place for the project with all the parties, LiU, ITA, USP, and Saab. I think this is an important milestone for the Brazilian-Swedish collaboration, since it is important to have a model for collaboration for future projects.

Your work plan within the Programme contemplates bringing doctoral students or researchers, and you have already brought two students so far. What activities have they performed?

One of the students is working in the FADEMO/MSDEMO project and spending time at ITA and Flight Technologies as well. He will also go back later this year to work at ITA. The other student is continuing a collaboration program with USP Sao Carlos, initiated when a professor from there spent half a year at Linköping University on a CISB scholarship in 2013. This work is also related to the FADEMO/MSDEMO project.

One of your work plan goals is to be involved in the organization of workshops and conferences to stimulate and to expand the researchers’ network as well as the cooperation between Brazil and Sweden. What has been the result of these actions? How do you expect to stimulate the researchers’ exchange?

As a result, there have been some more collaboration between researchers in Sweden and Brazil. The objective with the workshops is both to bring researchers together and to show areas where this collaboration can be developed. The objective is not only to create bilateral collaboration between Swedish and Brazilian researchers, but to build relations between actors within Brazil to have a strong research network in the wide area of Aeronautical Engineering in Brazil together with Sweden.

Within the context of international cooperation in RD&I, how would you assess the mechanisms for stimulating innovation in Brazil as compared to those in Sweden? After your experience in Brazil, what improvements would you suggest?

This is a difficult question, but I think there are stronger incentives in Sweden for applying for funds for research with the industry. In Brazil, you can be more comfortable just doing purely academic research. In Sweden, there is a strong tradition at universities of doing applied research in collaboration with industry. It is accepted, at least in large companies, that this is very important for building the right competence. In Sweden, there is also a higher fraction of engineers in companies that have a PhD, and PhDs are appreciated in the industry, while in Brazil a PhD is seen as something for an academic career. In general, research in Brazil is not done in cooperation with the industry. I think this is the area where we can contribute the most, by bringing in Brazilian researches in collaboration with Swedish companies where this tradition exists.  Saab is of course a very important partner here, and we have had several projects in which Brazilian researchers have been able to get involved in research projects together with Saab.

What are the perspectives for continuing your Chair as from 2019?

DAN HENNINGSON
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Next October, you will come to Brazil to take a Chair at ITA, in the ambit of the programme Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA in the Honor of Peter Wallenberg Sr.. What are your expectations regarding the teaching, research and cooperation activities you intend to develop?

I expect to develop a common research program with some of the professors at ITA, where we have students from Sweden and Brazil working together. I envisage that both senior researchers and graduate students will meet several times a year, both in Sweden and Brazil, and that we will exploit the strengths of the common research team to apply for funding to further increase the research activity and output. I also expect that the collaboration can bring together some groups in Brazil that may not previously have worked as closely together, in particular experiments at the USP Sao Carlos campus with theoretical research at ITA. In terms of teaching and other activities, I think that I will take part in some graduate courses given at ITA and I may also be instrumental in arranging conferences and workshops in Brazil in my area of research.

Your work plan provides the development of activities concerning a research project. What is this project about, what is its relevance and the main challenges to aeronautics?

The initial basis of the collaboration is a project within the Swedish National Aeronautics Program (NFFP) called PreLaFloDes, which deals with Laminar Flow Control (LFC) and develops the capability for high-fidelity analysis of the flow over laminar wings. In addition, the use of smart surfaces and plasma actuators will be assessed in order to determine how additional benefits could be obtained by active flow control.

How do you intend to contribute to a long-term research agenda between the two countries? Do you intend to involve researchers from other Brazilian institutions? What about industry researchers?

Laminar Flow Control has been a focus in my research group for about 20 years, in which we have been working together with European academic and industrial researchers to develop tools for analysis and design of laminar wings. This area has not been focused in Brazil in the same way previously. Thus, I expect that our experience will be important to strengthen this research area in Brazil, not only at ITA but also in other Brazilian research institutions, including industry. Industrial partners are important in this area and I expect that both Saab and Embraer will be engaged in the research team.

What is your experience in international cooperation?

TOMAS GRÖNSTEDT
Chalmers University of Technology

You are going to be the third Swedish professor to take a Chair at ITA within the programme Swedish Endowed Professor Chair at ITA in the Honor of Peter Wallenberg Sr. What are your expectations? Is this your first cooperation work with Brazil?

From a Chalmers perspective, I hope this collaboration can help to make Chalmers University more known in Brazil, and that this can be the catalyst for a long-term and broader Chalmers commitment with ITA, in particular, but also with other Brazilian universities. I also hope that this can contribute to a further strengthening of ITA’s research network within Europe. The group I lead has a long experience working in various forms of EU research projects. The network we have established opens many ways to intensify how Chalmers and ITA can work together.
From my own research interest perspective, I also appreciate that ITA has quite an applied approach, i.e. to contribute to engineering innovations that have the potential to enter a market and to generate new jobs. This is a task I consider very important and have a commitment to try to contribute to.
Apart from an intensified university commitment, Chalmers also wants to pursue developing our educational relations with Brazilian aerospace in general. Last summer, we involved one of the students from Chalmers within the Embraer professional master program, which was the first time a European student was involved in this program. We appreciate that Embraer has a very mature and forward-looking approach to engineering education. At Chalmers University, we also see that we can develop student opportunities and make both ITA and Chalmers more attractive for student exchange.
Actually, my collaboration with ITA started before the Gripen deal was solidified.  I and a former Chalmers colleague developed a joint course on aero engine conceptual design back in 2011. The corresponding turbomachinery research groups have a much longer standing relation developed through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

At Chalmers University of Technology, you develop researches aiming at innovations in aeroplane engines and gas turbine efficiency. Could you give us a brief explanation of these innovations, their applications and benefits?

Recently, my group performed analysis and experimental work on an intercooler concept that we designed for long-range aero engine applications targeting an entry into service in around 2025. We designed the concept from scratch at Chalmers although we got substantial industrial input primarily from GKN Aerospace and Rolls-Royce. We estimate a potential fuel burn improvement of about 5% for such a concept for longer mission lengths. In particular, how to use the intercooler within a mission and to incorporate the advantages from this concept in the optimization of future engines are new key results.
With ITA, we have also already initiated collaboration on the Boxprop propeller. This concept originates from a patent that a former industrial Ph.D. student in my group applied for. The concept promises to allow for high speed propeller aircraft, speeds similar to the current commercial turbofan propelled transport, at a substantially reduced fuel burn and its associated CO2 emissions. The competitive edge with this propeller concept is that it has the potential to achieve these CO2 emission reductions at a reduced noise emission level compared to competing propeller alternatives. Over the next years, we hope the collaboration with ITA leads to a better understanding of how nacelle geometry design choices interrelate with Boxprop propeller aerodynamic design considerations.

How do you think this programme can benefit the research group under your coordination at Chalmers University of Technology?

It can certainly make research careers within our research group more attractive by allowing us to further expand our international network. We also have quite ambitious plans to collaborate with ITA around design tools in the area of multidisciplinary optimization and compressors aerodynamics.

The activities will be held in different cities in both countries,
in collaboration with CISB members and partners .

Between October 8 and 28, the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre (CISB) promotes its 6th Annual Meeting, providing a unique opportunity to connect people, build bridges, stimulate collaboration, catalyze initiatives and strengthen the innovation and research network among its members, partners and actors in both countries.

For the first time, the meeting will be held in Brazil and in Sweden, with workshops, seminars, dialogues, summits and project meetings. The activities will occur in the cities of Linköping and Stockholm (Sweden), São Bernardo do Campo, Curitiba, Florianopolis and Belo Horizonte (Brazil), on different dates, and were organized in collaboration with CISB members and partners. The full program is available at: www.cisb.org.br/annualmeeting/2016/.

Four activities are planned for Sweden. The first is the Aerospace Technology Congress 2016, held on October 10 - 12 in Stockholm. Next, the 4th Brazilian Swedish Workshop in Aeronautics and Defence and the Workshop on Systems Engineering and Innovation. Both in Linköping, on October 13 and 14, respectively. Meetings regarding the project portfolio of Brazilian-Swedish Aeronautics will also be highly encouraged.

“The Aerospace Technology Congress is one of the major events of the world aerospace industry, and a special session will be dedicated to the Brazil-Sweden collaboration. For this reason, it counted on considerable support by CISB since late last year so as to ensure a relevant participation on the Brazilian side. The 4th Brazilian Swedish Workshop in Aeronautics and Defence will congregate actors from the industry, the academia and from both countries governments to draw a balance of the cooperation activities and of the future perspectives”, says Alessandra Holmo, CISB Managing Director.

She also highlights the importance of the Workshop to Systems Engineering and Innovation. “Systems Engineering is a complex and multidisciplinary area, the tools and methodologies of which foster innovation.” This activity is being conducted in a partnership with Linköping University, which has a strong participation in the area.

In Brazil, the Annual Meeting will also include activities with its members and partners, with a potential to establish new research projects. On October 24, in Curitiba, supported by Swedcham, CISB promotes a Dialogue on Industrial Big Data and Maintenance in Analytics. This activity will be held at a Volvo plant with the special participation of Diego Galar, professor at Luleå University of Technology and at University of Skövde. The aim is to present the state of the art in maintenance in industry 4.0 and to propose an initial dialogue on the theme with different industries.

On October 25 and 26, in Florianopolis, the 3rd Workshop on Innovative Engineering for Fluid Power will be held. The focus of this activity lies on tools and methods for developing and for designing hydraulic and pneumatic systems; it will count on the participation of a number of international panelists. The initiative is on its 3rd edition and is organized by CISB, the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Linköping University (LiU), the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) and The Brazilian Machinery Builders´ Association (ABIMAQ).

On the 26, in Belo Horizonte, a meeting will be held to follow through on a workshop conducted last May, in the same city. The activity will congregate the participants of the Workshop AIMday Smart Industries, with representatives from the academia and from large companies to discuss solutions in smart industries. The proposal of this meeting is to further the ideas from projects, share experiences and funding alternatives. The initiative is organized in a partnership with the State of Minas Gerais Research Foundation (FAPEMIG – The), Linköping University (LiU), Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and Uppsala University (UU).

CISB also supports a Scania initiative, INOVATHON – Logistic Challenge, to be held on October 8 and 9, in São Bernardo do Campo. It will be a marathon in which undergraduate students will have as a mission to create an innovative solution to the logistic challenges of the company. The main aim is to connect the university with the challenges of the industry, to stimulate experience exchange, to generate applied knowledge and to promote innovation.

Lastly, CISB organizes the Swedish Universities Brazilian Roadshow for the 4th time. Between October 20 and 28, undergraduate students from several Brazilian universities will be able to talk with representatives from seven Swedish universities about the opportunities for studying and for developing research projects in the country.