INSTITUT DE RECHERCHES EN INGENIERIE DES SURFACES SAS

Their core work

IREIS is the industrial research institute of HEF Group, a French manufacturer whose core business is surface engineering — designing, applying, and testing advanced coatings and solid lubricants for mechanical components that operate under friction, load, and extreme environments. In H2020, they contributed this expertise to two distinct research directions: engineering solid lubrication systems for demanding applications (SOLUTION), and investigating how metals absorb and release hydrogen for clean energy use (CleanHME). Their value in a consortium is the combination of industrial testing infrastructure and applied surface science knowledge, bridging laboratory research and manufacturable solutions. They are a private R&D entity, not a university lab, which means their work is oriented toward demonstrable performance in real components.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

IREIS entered H2020 in 2017 through SOLUTION, a project firmly in their industrial heartland of tribology and solid lubrication — the science of reducing friction and wear in mechanical systems. By 2020, their second project, CleanHME, shifted into hydrogen-metal energy systems, a field where their understanding of how gases interact with metal surfaces becomes directly relevant to hydrogen storage in solid materials. The trajectory is internally consistent: surface science applied first to mechanical performance, then to energy storage — the same underlying materials knowledge applied to a new industrial challenge.

IREIS appears to be extending its surface and materials science base into the clean hydrogen economy, making them an increasingly relevant partner for consortia combining advanced materials with energy transition goals.

How they like to work

IREIS has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as project coordinator — across both their H2020 projects, indicating they contribute specialist technical expertise rather than project management or consortium leadership. Despite only two projects, they have accumulated 25 unique partners across 16 countries, suggesting both projects involved large, multi-institution international consortia (typical of H2020 RIA and MSCA-ITN networks). Working with them likely means engaging a focused industrial R&D team that delivers on well-defined technical work packages, not a generalist partner who handles coordination overhead.

From just two projects, IREIS has built connections with 25 unique partners across 16 countries, indicating participation in large, geographically diverse European consortia. Their network spans both academic research and industrial partners, consistent with the mixed consortium structures typical of H2020 RIA and MSCA-ITN schemes.

What sets them apart

IREIS occupies an unusual position as the dedicated R&D arm of an industrial surface treatment manufacturer (HEF Group), giving them access to both real manufacturing problems and the infrastructure to test solutions beyond what most academic partners can offer. Unlike pure research institutes, their work is grounded in industrial relevance; unlike most manufacturers, they have the scientific depth to contribute meaningfully to fundamental EU research consortia. Their emerging hydrogen work adds a clean energy angle to what is fundamentally an industrial materials competency — a combination that is relatively rare among H2020 participants.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SOLUTION
  Their largest H2020 project (EUR 262,876) and their core-competency project, directly addressing solid lubrication for demanding engineering environments — the closest match to IREIS's industrial identity.
• CleanHME
  Signals a strategic expansion into clean hydrogen energy (running through 2025), demonstrating IREIS's ability to reposition their surface science expertise toward the energy transition agenda.