Proceedings of the event IPSP2018 Industrial Problem Solving with Physics

Industrial Problem Solving with Physics (IPSP) is an event organized by the Department of Physics, the Doctoral School of Physics and the Research and Technology Transfer Support Division of the University of Trento, in collaboration with Confindustria Trento and Trentino Sviluppo - Polo Meccatronica. The main objective of this initiative is to promote the collaboration between the Department of Physics and the industrial world. The first edition of IPSP was launched in 2014 based on the idea of three PhD students who were inspired by “Physics with Industry” organized in the Netherlands. The three PhD students formed the “Scientific Committee” of IPSP which has been an important element in this initiative until today. The huge success of IPSP since 2014 motivated the organization of its fifth edition (IPSP 2018) this year. IPSP has a market-oriented or active model and is composed of problems, which are proposed by companies, and participants (“brains”). During one week, the brains (master or PhD students, post-docs and researchers) try different ideas and various approaches to solve the problems and on the final day of the event present their solutions. The proposed solutions have been helpful and practical in all editions. The strengths of IPSP include the efficient format, the presence of young brains on the one hand and companies experiences on the other one and lots of team spirit. In addition, it has successfully promoted the physicists (scientists) in industries and paved the path for more collaboration with them through industrial projects, doctorate scholarships and traineeship possibilities for undergraduate and graduate students. It has also been an exemplar for some similar initiatives organized by other departments of the University of Trento or by innovation-oriented organizations. This book contains the proceedings of IPSP2018 and describes in detail the activities carried out by the three teams. It is organized in three chapters, each of which begins with a brief overview of the company and a description of the proposed problem, followed by the undertaken strategies, the technical procedures and the final solutions. At the end of each chapter suggestions and conclusions are presented.