ARCHA has offered research and development services relating to environmental chemistry for 25 years. ARCHA carries out and coordinates several research project per year, on its own behalf and through external contracts. For this reason, ARCHA has acted as the leader of this project. It has coordinated the partnership both at the management level as well as, organising the necessary technical activities and the development.

 A brief indication of some of the company's details and skills are listed below, to better demonstrate its expertise: 

• 1400 m² of laboratories and offices
• 30 employees and collaborators, 60% graduated in scientific disciplines
• More than 100 projects over the span of10 years
• 6 patents
• More than 35 scientific papers published
• More than 30 participation in conferences

In SENSOR, ARCHA is going to develop and validate the aforementioned chemical and microbiological sensors, therefore the following departments have been involved:

• Chemical and biological Analytical department: ARCHA laboratories are at forefront of analytical technology, with new and sophisticated equipment to accomodate a range of analytical needs, whether they be: chemical, microbiological and physical, in different sectors like environment, atmospheric emissions, sewage, drinking water, waste.
• Research department: it has been recognised by MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) as a “Highly Qualified Laboratory” and has been registered in the MIUR list of Research Laboratory. ARCHA has coordinated and carried out several applied research projects, commissioned by institutions, small, medium and large companies, with the aim of giving solutions which better take into account technical and management complexities.
• ICT department: specialists in the use of multivariate statistical analysis for:
  • Design of experiments (DOE) by software like Design Expert and JMP;
  • Data management by software like Google Refine, Pentaho, and data elaboration and mining by WEKA.

  • treatment and elaboration of experimental data, aimed for example at the analysis, control of systems and processes and at their modelling, for predictive and optimization purposes. For these activities, It can use unsupervised multivariate statistical analysis like Principal Components Analysis, no- linear Multi Dimensional Analysis, Multi Factor Analysis, and supervised like Partial Least Square regression or PLS-Discriminant Analysis (used software MatLab).

In SENSOR, ARCHA has been the project scientific coordinator, in particular it has developed the chemical functionalization for SAW and photonic sensors, giving them the capability to be selective with respect to specific microrganisms. ARCHA has collaborated in order to innovative autoclave realization for saturated steam sterilization for biomedical application, and it has synthetized the functional molecule of the SAW sensor for the validation of sterilization cycles. Finally, it has participated in the ACQUE sampling campaign, contributing to the statistical elaboration of the collected data. 

Website: www.archa.it

SMI MEDICAL works in the field of Infection Control, designing equipment and systems for washing, disinfection and sterilization. It is a “technology center” based on technological development and scientific research.

The R&D activities are performed by a specialists Teams for infection control on an international level, who are also inventors. SMI MEDICAL ‘s aim is to reach the ideal solution or at least as close to full satisfaction as possible, focusing on eco- design in order to preserve the environment during the equipment life cycle, with significant and quantifiable goals.

In SENSOR, SMI Medical has worked towards the creation and realization of an innovative autoclave for saturated steam sterilization for biomedical application. It is equipped with online and real-time systems for monitoring the efficient and effective performance of the sterilization cycle and has collaborated in the hopes of the creation of new sensor for the validation of sterilization cycles.

Website: www.smimedical.it

Linari Engineering was established in 2003, focusing on the design and subsequent creation of equipment for the characterization and creation of thermohydraulic systems in the field of  high-energy physics (INFN e CERN). From the initial collaboration with University of Pisa, Linari Engigneering started to produce the first biomedical equipment and system for electrospinning in 2008. The company has got all the technical skills to project and realize advanced mechatronic devices, such as electrospinning systems, of both static and dynamic types with roto-translating collectors, bioreactors for dynamic cellular culture in vitro and finally tele-rehabilitation equipment. The company has a wealth of experience in industrial automation and processes, as is evident by certifications awarded  by international bodies: SCADA Progea system and Arc Informatique, PLC and Omron Electronics servomotors and Alleantia telecontrol system by web.

In SENSOR, Linari Engineering  has collaborated aiming at the realization of electrospun sensors for the detection of chemical contaminants.

Website: www.linarisrl.com

Pontlab is an analytical, test and measurements laboratory, that offers services to different kinds of companies (chemical, mechanic, automotive, textile, tannery, pharmaceutical, biologic, etc...). Pontlab is accredited with ISO/IEC 17025 (accreditation number 1286) by Accredia, in addition to the accreditation ISO 9001 by DNV. The laboratory equipment is comprehensive and modern: including equipment which facilitates chemical analysis, chemical/ physical characterization of materials, mechanical and functional tests and environmental tests.

In SENSOR, Pontlab has designed and realized the bioaerosilzation chamber.

Website: www.pontlab.it