Advancing Sustainability: Affordable Lightweight Solutions with RIGHTWEIGHT
RIGHTWEIGHT: Novel advanced materials solutions for affordable lightweight to meet automotive and aerospace makers’ needs
Project dates: 2020 – 2023
Consortium: 7 partners across North West Europe
Funding body: Interreg North West Europe
Project overview
The RIGHTWEIGHT project focused on developing affordable, high-performance lightweight materials for the automotive and aerospace sectors to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency. By addressing the limitations of existing lightweight materials, RIGHTWEIGHT developed solutions that met stringent safety and performance standards while remaining economically viable. This project played a crucial role in helping manufacturers meet environmental targets by providing sustainable, lightweight alternatives.
The main objective of the project was to reduce the weight of vehicles and aircraft by 10-20%, helping the automotive and aerospace industries achieve better fuel efficiency and lower emissions through cost-effective advanced material solutions.
Challenge: Why is the project needed?
RIGHTWEIGHT addressed the challenge of balancing cost, performance, and sustainability in lightweight materials. With growing demands for reducing CO₂ emissions and improving fuel efficiency, existing materials were often either too expensive or lacked the performance required for critical applications. By developing new materials that were both affordable and capable of meeting stringent industry standards, RIGHTWEIGHT tackled these issues and provided the automotive and aerospace sectors with viable alternatives to current materials.
Project approach
The consortium developed and tested fibre-reinforced composites and other innovative materials that offered significant weight reduction without compromising safety. By leveraging the expertise of each partner, RIGHTWEIGHT focused on creating scalable, cost-effective manufacturing processes that enabled widespread industrial adoption. Deliverables included validated material prototypes, extensive structural performance testing, and optimised manufacturing processes that could be integrated into existing production lines. These efforts were supported by research institutions that contributed to material characterisation and life cycle analysis, ensuring the materials were not only high-performing but also environmentally friendly.
Impact
To achieve this, RIGHTWEIGHT supported the development of competitive solutions by SMEs from NWE (Northwest Europe) and Italy that could meet the cost and environmental targets set by EU end-users, who acted as challenge-givers. A total of 32 challenges from the auto and aero sectors were collected within the framework of cross-cutting topics.
In response, 54 applications were received, and 38 were selected for support. The three RIGHTWEIGHT field labs supported the development of these solutions and increased the capacity of SMEs to co-develop market-oriented solutions with end-users.
Future Outlook: Long-term sustainability benefits
Throughout the project span, RIGHTWEIGHT successfully empowered SMEs from both sectors to co-create innovative lightweight products that met the highest environmental standards. The project brought together diverse businesses and value chain players to work towards a common goal, paving the way for a more sustainable and competitive future in the automotive and aerospace industries.
RIGHTWEIGHT created a transnational ecosystem connecting seven partner regions with complementary expertise (France in the aero sector, Germany and Belgium in the auto sector, and the Netherlands and Italy in both sectors).
For the long-term sustainability of the project, RIGHTWEIGHT has set up a network of field labs focused on lightweight solutions, involving additional regions from NWE (Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany) and beyond (Portugal, Spain).
Project partners
