The CDTI Innovation seeks a Spanish company to collaborate with China in the development of intelligent machinery for underground construction

The CDTI Innovation seeks a Spanish company with its own R&D&I capabilities to participate in a technological cooperation project with China, focused on the design, manufacture and validation of machinery and intelligent systems for underground construction.

The project is coordinated by Central South University (CSU), with the participation of Central South University of Forestry and Technology and China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (CREG), a manufacturer of tunnel and underground construction machinery. On the Spanish side, the participation of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) is planned.

The R&D activities will focus on three main lines:

• Intelligent land perception and adaptive drilling, to identify the characteristics of the rock and adjust the operating parameters of the equipment to the geological conditions.
• Drilling and blasting planning and automation of operations, through control systems and robotic equipment that optimize underground work.
• Integration and coordination of machinery, with control and monitoring systems that allow to evaluate the results and validate prototypes in conditions representative of underground construction.

We are looking for companies with experience in areas such as tunnel construction, mining, geotechnical engineering, design and manufacture of machinery, automation, robotics, sensors, control systems, industrial software or artificial intelligence applied to construction processes.

CHINEKA Programme

The proposal aims to be presented to the 8th call for R&D projects of the CHINEKA programme, which is scheduled to be launched in the last quarter of 2026.

CHINEKA is the bilateral program of technological cooperation and joint innovation between Spanish companies and entities of the People's Republic of China, managed by the CDTI Innovation and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST). Since 2005, it has been a collaborative framework to promote business projects aimed at the development of new products, processes and innovative services for the international market.

The overall budget of the project and the distribution between the Spanish and Chinese parties are still to be defined and will be agreed with the Spanish company that joins. Each country will fund its own participating entities in accordance with its national regulations. In the Spanish case, the application for funding will be processed through the applicable national instrument of the CDTI Innovation.

Contact

For further information on the technical scope of the proposal and the role of the Spanish company, please contact Dr. Sheng Zhang via email zszhangsheng@csu.edu.cn or telephone number +86 15262040868.

For questions on this search for partners and advice on the CHINEKA programme, please contact the Spanish Office of Science and Technology of the CDTI Innovation in China: china@cdti.es.

CDTI Innovation

The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth.

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