10 partners, 7 countries

Fraunhofer is Europe's largest applied research organisation. Within SafeDrop, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP coordinates the consortium and leads the work on functional coatings and microfluidic integration. Fraunhofer IAP develops and optimises the electrostatic-jet (ESJET) printing process that deposits the cross-responsive organic-semiconductor library onto the K-cell array at sub-10 µm resolution — the step that gives SafeDrop its chemical fingerprints. As coordinator, Fraunhofer IAP also runs the project's management, risk, data-management and ethics governance.

Leads WP2 (Functional Coatings & Microfluidic Integration), WP8 (Project Management), WP9 (Ethics).

ICMPP is Romania's leading institute for macromolecular chemistry. It leads the design and synthesis of SafeDrop's coating library: more than twenty distinct organic-semiconductor formulations, systematically varied in bandgap, energy levels and functional groups so that each one responds to analytes a little differently. That deliberate, partial overlap is what makes the array behave like an olfactory system rather than a set of independent sensors. ICMPP also leads validation of coating uniformity, selectivity and long-term robustness in real sample matrices.

Leads OSC material design and functionalisation; leads coating robustness validation (WP2).

FBK is one of Italy's foremost research foundations in microsystems and micro/nanofabrication. In SafeDrop it leads the design, simulation and fabrication of the electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) microfluidics that move the sample across the sensor array without a single pump. FBK models droplet transport, bubble suppression and sealing reliability, then integrates the fluidic layer into the disposable cartridge — a prerequisite for a low-cost, field-deployable device.

Leads EWOD microfluidic design and fabrication (WP2); contributes to cartridge packaging and the food case study.

PHIX is a specialist in photonic integrated circuit assembly and packaging. It leads SafeDrop's sensor platform integration: hybrid packaging design, fibre V-groove coupling, and the fabrication route that scales from the first case-study sensor modules to the full 32-K-cell prototype. PHIX brings manufacturability into the project from the outset — packaging tolerances, bonding strategies and design-for-assembly reviews that keep the cartridge reproducible at volume.

Leads WP4 (Sensor Platform Integration); leads cartridge and V-groove packaging (WP3).

DCU contributes deep expertise in sensing and analytical science. It supplies the aptamer and biofunctionalisation chemistry that lets the platform recognise biological targets, and it leads SafeDrop's head-to-head benchmarking against certified reference methods — ICP-MS, HPLC and culture — establishing limits of detection and specificity for each case study. DCU also leads the design verification and validation of the point-of-care health (UTI) and food safety demonstrators.

Leads KPI benchmarking vs. gold standards; leads DVPR for CS2 (Health) and CS3 (Food) in WP6.

MTU leads the heart of the platform: the K-cell itself. The university fabricates and characterises the co-localised MZI–TFT stack, designs the waveguide layouts that allow a single photodiode to address the array sequentially, and quantifies the signal-to-noise gain of dual-mode sensing against photonic-only baselines. MTU then leads the scale-up from single cells to the full 32-K-cell array and its transfer into system integration.

Leads WP3 (MZI-TFT Devices), including stack fabrication and 32-K-cell scale-up.

FLOWPHYS is a Norwegian engineering company specialising in physics-based modelling and simulation. It leads SafeDrop's requirements, specification and system configuration, and builds the Design-of-Experiments (DoE) App that connects material chemistry, device geometry and environmental conditions to machine-learning pipelines — allowing candidate coatings and stacks to be screened virtually before they are ever printed. FLOWPHYS also leads dissemination, communication and open-science activities, including release of the Photonic Design Kit.

Leads WP1 (Requirements & Specification) and WP7 (Dissemination, Exploitation & Communication); leads the screening LCA and open-ecosystem building.

Oliveris Tech leads two of SafeDrop's most demanding work packages. It develops the scalable readout backplane, firmware and data pipeline that capture the optical (ΔP) and electrical (ΔI_DS) channels synchronously and in real time, and it leads the AI/MIMO modelling that turns those 64 channels into a decision. OLV also runs the case-study verification and validation campaign across all four use cases, and leads exploitation, IP management and the business case for the reusable reader.

Leads WP5 (Multimodal Readout & Data Acquisition) and WP6 (Case Study Design Verification & Validation); leads exploitation strategy in WP7.

Lancaster leads SafeDrop's optical engine: the selection and integration of the fixed-wavelength laser bank (1300–1550 nm) and the single Ge-on-Si photodiode that interrogates the entire array by sequential addressing. The university benchmarks coupling efficiency, insertion loss and thermal stability to define the optical operating window for the whole system. Lancaster also leads SafeDrop's standardisation and regulatory engagement, and contributes optical quality assurance to the final validation campaign.

Leads optical bus, laser and detector integration (WP3); leads standardisation and regulatory engagement (WP7).

Spike Renewables is an Italian process-engineering SME. It builds the two rigs on which every SafeDrop demonstrator is verified: CLTP-F for liquids, with sterile reservoirs, mixing, venturi and temperature control, and CLTP-G for gases, with a manifold, purge valves and humidity conditioning. Spike commissions both platforms with calibration artefacts, safety interlocks and standard operating procedures, and supports the air/VOC and drone case study and the industrial exploitation of the results.

Leads CLTP-F and CLTP-G build and commissioning (WP6); contributes to cartridge packaging and reader robustness.