Imagine a factory where every machine, sensor, and process talks to each other in real time — like a nervous system for the entire plant. HyperCOG built exactly that: a connected network of smart sensors and AI that watches production lines in steel, cement, and chemical plants, spots problems before they happen, and suggests fixes. Think of it as giving a factory a brain that learns from its own operations, cutting waste and energy use while keeping workers in the loop through augmented reality dashboards.
Process industry plants — steel mills, cement factories, chemical plants — run on aging monitoring systems that catch quality problems after they happen, not before. Manual sampling is slow, lab results arrive too late, and operators lack real-time visibility into what is actually happening inside furnaces, kilns, and reactors. This leads to wasted energy, excess emissions, off-spec production, and costly rework.
The project delivered cognitive sensing systems installed in real plants: intelligent ladle monitoring and slag characterization for steel, image analysis for free lime estimation and soft sensors for particle-size distribution in cement, and liquid-solvent interface quality detection for chemicals. It also delivered augmented reality visualization tools, a cybersecurity-by-design methodology, and AI-driven decision support across 25 total deliverables.
If you are a steel mill dealing with inconsistent ladle furnace performance and slag quality issues — this project developed intelligent ladle monitoring and ladle furnace slag characterization systems that were installed and validated in a real steel plant (SIDENOR). These cognitive sensing systems detect quality deviations in real time, reducing scrap and rework.
If you are a cement producer struggling to measure free lime content and particle-size distribution accurately — this project developed image analysis for estimation of free lime in cement clinker and soft sensors for particle-size distribution measurement, validated at the CIMSA cement plant. These replace slow lab tests with real-time quality monitoring.
If you are a chemical manufacturer dealing with inconsistent solvent quality and hard-to-monitor liquid interfaces — this project developed liquid-solvent interface quality detection and solvent quality measurement systems, validated at a SOLVAY chemical plant. These sensors give you continuous quality readings instead of periodic sampling.
The project data does not include specific implementation costs. However, the system is built on commercially available advanced technologies integrated into an Industrial Cyber-Physical System, which suggests modular deployment is possible. Contact the consortium for pricing based on your plant size and use case.
Yes. Demonstrators were installed and validated in 3 real production environments: a SIDENOR steel plant, a CIMSA cement plant, and a SOLVAY chemical plant. These are full-scale industrial facilities, not lab setups.
The consortium includes 15 partners across 7 countries with 7 SMEs and 8 industry partners. IP arrangements would need to be discussed with LORTEK (coordinator) and relevant technology providers. The Innovation Action funding scheme typically encourages commercialization of results.
One of the 4 demo deliverables specifically addresses cybersecurity for sensor integration, delivering a privacy and cyber-security by design methodology. This was built into the architecture from the start, not bolted on afterward.
The system was designed as a hyperconnected network of digital nodes that connects to existing industrial processes. It was validated across 3 very different industries — steel, cement, and chemical — which suggests adaptability to various equipment and process types.
The project includes training modules and lifelong learning components for workers, with vocational training for digitization. Augmented reality visualization was developed to display object and user state monitoring, making the system accessible to operators on the shop floor.
The project ran from 2019 to 2023 and completed all 25 deliverables. The demonstrators were installed and validated during the project, meaning the core technology has already been proven. Deployment timeline would depend on your specific plant integration requirements.
The HyperCOG consortium is well-balanced for industrial deployment: 15 partners from 7 countries (DE, DK, ES, FR, HU, TR, UK) with a 53% industry ratio — meaning more than half the partners come from the business side. Of those, 7 are SMEs, suggesting the technology was designed with smaller technology providers in mind, not just large corporations. The 3 end-user validation sites (SIDENOR in steel, CIMSA in cement, SOLVAY in chemicals) are established industrial players, which adds credibility. Coordinator LORTEK is a Spanish research cooperative, providing technical leadership while industry partners drove real-world validation.
LORTEK S COOP (Spain) — research cooperative coordinating the project. Reach out via the project website or search for LORTEK HyperCOG contact.
Want to explore whether HyperCOG's AI sensing technology fits your production line? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the right consortium partner for your industry.
