Credit: LIST & Goodyear

On Thursday 25 April 2024, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and the Goodyear tyre and rubber company announced the commencement of a second phase of their strategic collaboration, which will not only leverage previous achievements but also delve into new technological avenues.

The collaboration aims to deliver solutions focused on digitalisation and sustainability.

Since 2017, LIST and Goodyear have worked together to achieve pioneering results in materials research, structure-property relationship understanding and data science. Their joint efforts have positioned Luxembourg as a hub for disruptive innovation in mobility, particularly in the tyre and tyre-related technology sectors.

At last year’s LIST Tech Day, the two entities had sealed the agreement for a second phase of their partnership capitalising on Goodyear’s and LIST's expertise, infrastructure and competencies to drive innovation and technology to a new application domain.

Focus on sustainability and digitalisation

The new contract encompasses strategic programmes comprising more than 30 projects. Spanning six years, this new contract places significant emphasis on advancing efforts focused on sustainability and digitalisation within the tyre industry. In terms of sustainability, the focus will be on tyre products developed with bio-based and recyclable materials. As for digitalisation, the spotlights will be on data science and its application for accelerating sensor prototyping timeline and efficacy, the companies noted. The partnership will also focus on the development of sensors capable of real-time monitoring of tyre wear, aimed at enhancing safety and facilitating maintenance procedures. Additionally, efforts will be dedicated to research and development in energy harvesting and storage for wireless sensors, ensuring their durability and efficiency over time.

Supported by Luxembourg’s Ministry of Economy and the Industrial Partnership Block Grants (IPBG) initiative of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), this second phase of the partnership is expected to kick off by the end of April 2024.

The various strategic research programmes resulting from the partnership are:

  • Data Science for Tyre Applications;
  • Tire Sensor Technology;
  • End-of-Life Tyres;
  • Sustainable Materials;
  • Structure-Process-Property Relationships.

Data Science for Tyre Applications is a programme aiming to fit within Goodyear’s “first time right” development objective, at the forefront of the digital transition. It aims to help Goodyear engineers develop, test and validate tyre models early in the development cycle, with the goal of identifying the best-performing tyres before building a first prototype.

The Tyre Sensor Technology programme aims to help develop materials-based sensing technology to aid Goodyear in embedding sensors for continuous tyre monitoring.

The End-of-Life Tyres programme targets the exploration and potential development of new materials and processing technology to help improve the reuse of end-of-life tyres.

Moreover, the Sustainable Materials development programmes are designed to investigate new raw materials that could be used in all kinds of tyre architectures.

Lastly, the Structure-Process-Property Relationships programme aims to deliver new tools to better understand complex correlations of characterisation results and material performance.

Damien Lenoble, Director of the materials department at LIST, said: “The ongoing and strengthened strategic collaboration with a global and multinational company such as Goodyear is a testament to the high quality of research conducted here at LIST. We are honoured and pleased that Goodyear expanded our trusted partnership. Together, we are dedicated to developing tyres that are not only better performing and smarter but also more sustainable for both users and the planet. I wish to congratulate all the teams at Goodyear and LIST who have diligently nurtured and developed this research and innovation programme over the past year and beyond.”

Romain Hansen, Vice President of EMEA Product Development at Goodyear, concluded: “I am thrilled to see this second phase of the partnership come to life. Working with influential organisations like LIST is essential to Goodyear achieving its commitment to enable mobility today and tomorrow.”