About Us
NOR-TEK is a leading, non IPR holding industrial technology research and development organisation. We support small organisations, particularly small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by providing them with services of research and development, production improvement and competitiveness advantage. Through our networks we also help the companies to open up partnering opportunities to access expertise from elsewhere in Europe.
We focus our work around identifying problems that are faced by SMEs, in particular with regard to their products or processes, and helping them in the development of new ideas and concepts that can be transformed into commercial products through innovation and collaboration in European investigation projects.
Our core competencies lie across a broad spectrum of materials including polymers, composites, surface and corrosion protection, textiles and biomaterials. The major part of our research and development work is centered around working with SMEs; either by helping the hi-tech SMEs to further develop their products and help them get products and processes to market, or assisting the low-tech SMEs to innovate and differentiate their products. This often means helping them into traditionally highly competitive markets, through applying novel materials and innovative processes.
As an organisation adopting the principle of open innovation we recognise the need to seek cooperation with organisations who have complementary competences. We always adopt a collaborative approach to research; both with industry, academia, trade bodies, professional bodies or other research organisations. Through this approach we have over the last 10 years successfully worked with over 300 industrial companies and over 20 of the leading research organisations in Europe.
We will, as a not-for-profit and non IPR holding organisation, selectively co-invest with industry to help build techno-economic partnerships.
Our researchers and experts cover a wide area of scientific and practical development sectors from electronics and applied ICT, to sensor and process control specialists. We use our expertise to build scientific knowledge in the following areas:
- Microwave processes – understanding and utilizing industrial microwave technology in areas as conversion of biomass to bio fuel and cleaning of contaminated sand & mud.
- Sensor technology in medical equipment – to understand interaction of different sensor and treatment technologies with the human body
- Network and wireless communication – understanding and utilizing advanced technologies for the use within the transport sector need for medical equipment
- Recycling processes – to understand and further utilize Supercritical Fluid Technology for recycling polymer materials from the manufacturing sector and waste sector – to reveal underlying mechanisms
- Technological design of polymeric and composite materials – understanding and predicting lifetime and performance by theoretical and computational methods