Connecting Industry and Innovation: Highlights from the EU Lightweight Materials Workshop

For our latest issue of the ELCA newsletter, we spoke with Dr George Kotsikos from European Commission Health & Digital Executive Agency  to discuss the latest workshop titled – Efficient, Lightweight, Sustainable Advanced Materials – Supporting EU industries to meet the Green Deal targets read on to discover the recent advancements in sustainable lightweight materials, and which are the limitations yet to overcome.

 

You recently organised the ‘Efficient, Lightweight, Sustainable Advanced Materials – Supporting EU industries to meet the Green Deal targets’ workshop, could you provide examples of successful lightweight material applications achieved through EU funded projects?

The framework programs (FP) have been running since 1984 and one of the areas of intervention is advanced materials where the aim is to develop innovative processes and materials for a range of applications. As such, funded projects start at TRL2 or 3 and reach TRL6 or 7. We do receive feedback from project beneficiaries that implement innovations in their products generated by FP projects. For example, development of products with self-healing, fire resistance, fatigue resistance, and sensing capabilities. Such innovations have found their way in wind energy, automotive, consumer goods, leisure boats, and rail vehicle interiors.

 

 

 

Are Horizon Europe research initiatives using lightweight materials to meet Green Deal targets? and what are the latest advancements in sustainable lightweight materials?

The projects presented at the workshop were funded under calls aimed at addressing the Green Deal targets. The focus was on circularity and sustainability, namely novel bio-resins, natural fibres, new recycling routes, the development of high quality recyclates etc. Many of those projects are now in the process of acquiring patents for new resin chemistries and novel processing routes that could be a game changer if they are successfully exploited and commercialised. But, excellent research results alone will not achieve the aims unless there is uptake from industry. In my view, this is the biggest challenge, and the purpose of the workshop was to promote industrial uptake by raising awareness of the current research output. As most of the projects are still running, it would be a good opportunity for the wider industry community to engage with them and offer insights and advice to valorise the output of the research.

How do you think the European countries are positioning themselves in the field of lightweight materials compared to the rest of the world? Do you expect this will change in the upcoming years?

We all know as citizens that investment priorities of EU member states can change due to a variety of factors, including economic or social circumstances or a change of government, etc. This is a situation not uncommon in the business community as well. In this sense, countries that traditionally supported lightweight materials R&D may reduce public funding, while others may increase it. What is clear is that there needs to be “a driver” for support of a specific industry sector. In my opinion, wind energy, tidal energy, electromobility, increased energy efficiency in structural design, are examples of such drivers. Industry, however, needs to maintain efforts in promoting and raising awareness of the benefits of lightweight materials’ use. What changes will take place in the coming years is not easy to predict.

 

Industry, however, needs to maintain efforts in promoting and raising awareness of the benefits of lightweight materials’ use. What changes will take place in the coming years is not easy to predict

What are the most relevant upcoming events and strategic actions organised by the EC regarding lightweight materials?

The recently adopted communication on advanced materials research identifies in its first stage, among others, energy, electronics, construction and mobility as priority areas of intervention in advanced materials. Other priority areas will also be discussed with Member States. I should mention also here that industry (mainly SMEs) could take advantage of the calls of the European Innovation Council (EIC) which runs “open calls” aimed at helping various entities with innovative ideas to receive funding to bring products to market. The EIC therefore provides financial support from concept to commercial product. Being open calls, they are not bound by specific topic descriptions as is the case with the framework programme.

Coming back to the workshop, could you please tell us what are the next steps in terms of raising awareness of (lightweight) materials?

One of the main objectives of the workshop was to inform and collect feedback from industry. As such, the next steps will include publications to raise awareness of what the EC has been, and is, doing in the area of advanced lightweight materials. We will continue to promote the content of funded projects in this area, through various publications and reports, and presentations of the output of projects in various workshops. These activities will also be an instrument of collecting feedback to inform policy makers of what the future needs are.

 

Disclaimer: The information and views set out in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Institution.

 

 

Many thanks to Dr George Kotsikos from the European Commission Health & Digital Executive Agency take a look at their official page here. 

 

View issue 5 of our newsletter that features this interview plus more!

 

Read the full newsletter

 

To reach out to a member of the network, contact communication@elcanetwork.eu

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Recommended Posts