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MaterialsWeek 2024 aims to bring together – for the first time – the numerous small and large Research and Innovation (R&I) communities that are driving advances in materials innovation manifested across diverse value chains and industrial markets.
By addressing all materials application sectors and R&I communities concerned with the (re-)discovery, identification, improvement, handling, processing, manufacturing, (re-)use and recycling of materials, MaterialsWeek 2024 provides a cross-disciplinary meeting venue for communication and collaboration over and beyond traditional community boundaries. The aim of the meeting is to combine insights, theories, and methods from different fields to address complex issues. In addition, the meeting will emphasise the fluidity of disciplinary boundaries and encourage the free flow of ideas and methods between different fields. This convergence aims to ultimately foster the best joint R&I approaches for meeting today’s challenges and innovation requirements, including, but not limited to, more sustainability, circularity and resilience in materials’ uses, higher reliability and efficiency in both R&I and sustainability assessment and safety testing of materials.
MaterialsWeek 2024 will highlight and address all relevant R&I aspects along different materials innovation chains, including from up-stream pre-competitive basic research to end-of-life, highlighting and elaborating solutions to the challenges arising in the context of the overarching policies (e.g. EU Green Deal, Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (CSS), Chips Act, Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), Bioeconomy Strategy, Critical Raw Material Act, to name but a few), and their targets (e.g. the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), decarbonisation).
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In bringing the R&I communities of energy materials, graphene, nanotechnology, bioeconomy, lightweight materials, smart materials and other innovative materials together into a single, solution-driven environment embracing all advanced materials, MaterialsWeek 2024 aims to establish an interdisciplinary, collaborative ecosystem to jointly advance materials R&I through:
In essence, MaterialsWeek 2024 aims to be a catalyst for innovative and sustainable materials development by fostering collaboration & sharing insights across diverse R&I communities.
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Agenda times are given in local Limassol time (i.e. UTC+3)
Leading public and/or private decision-makers will highlight Europe’s current and future mix of policies pertaining to the role and use of materials in their diverse and complex value chains. By way of outlining the role of and expectations from materials R&I in the context of the relevant policies (e.g. Green Deal, Plastics Action Plan, Chips Act, Critical Raw Materials Act, Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability), the speakers will set the scene for the three-day MaterialsWeek 2024 Programme, and its diverse session topics.
This session highlights the various, and very complex, value chains in which R&I for materials already plays an important role today or will play an increasing role in the future. As the demand for advanced materials continues to grow across industry sectors, there is a pressing need for materials research and innovation to address the evolving market needs.
Key challenges in materials R&I, that represent and require a “mindset shift”, include not only the change towards designing materials and processes for recycling, the switch to alternative raw materials from recycling processes, the innovative substitution of unsafe, unsustainable materials and a convergence of disruptive technologies (incl. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning).
Speakers from both the public and private sector will introduce the Market Needs, Challenges and Opportunities pertaining to materials R&I, and describe their projects’, organisations’ or initiatives’ contribution to meeting these challenges.
Presentations and posters will also cover the following topics:
This Session is organised by the Horizon Europe DigiPass CSA, whose overarching goal is to support EU materials communities on their transition towards a green and digital future, irrespective of their current digital maturity level. The aim of DigiPass is to elevate the digital maturity of these communities by providing clear guidance and tools supporting the implementation of digitalised circular business models that rely on safe and sustainable Innovative Advanced Materials (IAM) and product manufacturing. This objective builds upon the Advanced Materials Initiative 2030 (AMI2030) and the up-coming partnership on Innovative Advanced Materials for EU (IAM4EU).
The main objective of the session is to initiate collaboration among different ongoing EU-wide and national projects and initiatives focused on digitalisation of IAM´s development and manufacturing. The session aims to foster homogenisation and standardisation within the IAM ecosystem as a necessity for the introduction and utilisation of open innovation processes and Digital Materials and Product Passports (DMP, DPP) for a diverse range of industrial applications.
Specific objectives of the session are to delve into the needs, requirements, and challenges pertaining to:
Presentations and posters will also cover the following topics:
Abstracts submitted to this session are welcome from all EU-wide and national projects and initiatives with a focus on digitalisation of Innovative Advanced Materials.
This Session discusses the (potential) implementation of the most recent technology trends in the materials R&I process. Advanced modelling methods and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are already finding numerous applications in innovation processes, ranging from the autonomous discovery of components to the design of new substances and composites and their deployment in advanced devices. Moreover, such accelerated R&I processes are supported by advanced data analytics, robotics, and high-performance computing.
Presentations (oral and poster) will also cover the following topics:
Knowledge sharing and information transparency is a prerequisite to meet the requirements for SSbD innovative and advanced materials by supporting co-innovation, better and faster decisions, accelerated development, and the ability to handle complexity. This session will discuss key elements and innovations towards a common material’s data ecosystem include building the foundations of data documentation, the data sharing framework and its governance, ensure that harvesting and exploiting data from digital systems and technologies, such as modelling and simulation, is advanced and integrated along the value chain.
Presentations (oral and poster) will also cover the following topics:
This session will focus on the requirements to establish the relevant ecosystem for the safe and sustainable materials R&I focusing on (policy) frameworks and their implementation measures. This includes:
Presentations (oral and poster) will also cover the following topics:
This Session is focussed on the contributions that materials R&I can make to improving the sustainability and circularity of products and processes containing or involving materials. The relevant improvement of sustainability and/or circularity may pertain to the functionality of a material (e.g. enhanced durability, energy efficiency) or of the product or process containing the material (e.g. improvement of the barrier or containment of a material within a product or process). Use of materials in delivery of the SDGs is also targeted.
Demonstration of improved sustainability (including safety) / circularity of processes through inclusion or use of advanced materials is encouraged.
Presentations (oral and poster) will also cover the following topics:
This Session focuses on the contributions that materials R&I can provide to meeting the resilience targets of Europe, such as those stipulated in the Critical Raw Materials Act, and the need to develop climate resilience.
Giving a focus to the resulting socio-economic improvements, the presentations in this session will highlight innovative strategies or business plans for the sourcing of materials, including the (re-)use of hitherto unused by-products, or the re- or up-cycling of materials from waste processes.
Presentations (oral and poster) will also cover the following topics:
This Session is focussed on the requirements for novel and innovative infrastructures for characterisation- and measurement methods for organic and inorganic materials, hybrid, persistent, biodegradable and more materials to keep pace with the advancement in materials R&I. This includes, for example, clean room infrastructures, synchrotrons and other large-scale facilities, but also access to high end materials modelling infrastructures and testing. Innovative approaches for democratising access to expertise in experimental design and optimisation, as well as infrastructures for data management are also welcome.
The Session will include contributions on the implementation of the Safe & Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) Framework or similar design-tools that aim at improving the safety, sustainability or circularity of a material, or material-including product or process.
Presentations (oral and poster) will also cover the following topics:
This Session will provide a summary of the sessions, presentations, posters and discussions of the previous three days and close the conference with a festive act of Award Ceremonies:
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Agenda times are given in local Limassol time (i.e. UTC+3)
Join us as we explore the latest in antimicrobial coating technologies, fostering a safer future!
You are cordially invited to the Advancing Antimicrobial Nanocoating Technologies Community Day, a key event during the Materials Week 2024! Organized by the Horizon Europe projects NOVA, RELIANCE, STOP, and SUSAAN, this event is dedicated to the advancement of antimicrobial coating technologies. This networking opportunity aims to bridge diverse scientific communities, from scientists to industry leaders, in our collective fight against the transmission of disease through surfaces.
Moderated by Fotis Katsaros, Research Director at the National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos,” this session promises to unravel the complexities and showcase the innovations defining the next generation of antimicrobial solutions. Discover the transformative potential of biobased materials and the precision of nanoparticles in crafting coatings that not only combat pathogens but also prioritize sustainability and safety.
Join our specialized session designed for materials scientists interested in microbiology, microbial resistance, and antimicrobial mechanisms. This session will delve deep into the critical challenges posed by microbial resistance. Participants will explore the complex interactions between pathogens and antimicrobial surfaces, examine the escalating threat of resistance, and address the hurdles in testing antimicrobial efficacy. This session serves as a bridge, transferring vital microbiological knowledge to the field of materials science, fostering interdisciplinary understanding and innovation.
This session addresses the pivotal challenge of optimizing antimicrobial coatings for maximum efficacy while prioritizing environmental health and safety. This dialogue will encompass the intricate interplay between antimicrobial action and its implications for living organisms and ecosystems, highlighted through discussions on life cycle assessments (LCA), life cycle costing (LCC), and social life cycle assessments (S-LCA). Emphasis will be placed on the critical examination of toxicity and ecotoxicity, ensuring the well-being of all life forms. Additionally, we will navigate the intricate regulatory frameworks that govern the deployment of these technologies.
This session focuses on the intersection of material’s antimicrobial mechanisms and testing methodologies, aiming to ensure the reliability, efficacy, and functionality of these vital technologies. This session is an essential platform for those committed to setting the benchmark in antimicrobial coating development and application. As antimicrobial coatings continue to play a vital role in public health and safety, the establishment of clear, rigorous standards becomes ever more critical. This session is not just about setting benchmarks; it’s about paving the way for innovation that can be trusted and adopted on an european scale.
Detailed session schedules and speaker information will be announced shortly.
The roadmap developed by the European Project “IRISS” to facilitate SSbD will be presented in an interactive session. Participants are welcome to contribute ideas to bridge research, skills and education, and knowledge sharing needs within the SSbD roadmap to align it with their individual field of work.
A roadmap towards Safe and Sustainable Advanced and Innovative Materials (Outlook for 2024-2030) presented by the NanoSafety Cluster (NSC) presents the primary areas relevant to safety and sustainability of both nanomaterials and other innovative advanced materials. For each of these areas a description is provided of the current state-of-the-art, and unresolved aspects and emerging issues are identified, as well as the needs to close the gaps within each area. By providing these issues and needs the NSC aims to supply directions in research to facilitate development of safe and sustainable innovative advanced materials and offers knowledge based on years of nanosafety research. The NSC can help innovation projects and shape the effective and proportionate governance of nanotechnology by EC Member States and promote the societal acceptance of the use of nanomaterials and advanced materials. This requires some investment that can be reached by active participation in newly developed projects in the IAM4EU partnership and projects started thereof.
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Agenda times are given in local Limassol time (i.e. UTC+3)
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Wednesday 19th June 2024 – 16:40-18:30
Are you part of a research project that graphene or similar materials? Do you want to help transfer scientific findings into industrial applications? Do you want to learn more on regulatory testing of these materials? Then you should participate in this training.
20 years ago, monolayer graphene was isolated by Novoselov and Gleim. Since then, graphene and related 2D materials (GR2M) have attracted a huge amount of attention in the scientific community, which was clearly shown in the Graphene Flagship as one of the biggest European research projects. Now the time has come to transfer these scientific findings into industrial applications. To enable this one challenge is still the lack of broadly accepted test methods. Standardised methods are needed to allow business-to-business communication as well as regulation.
The training will give an overview of the state of the art of testing of GR2M. We will highlight needs for the development of standardised methods and guidance for their testing. The first part of the training will focus on physico-chemical testing of GR2M. Here, the focus is to identify the minimal needs which are necessary for the characterisation of the material. Especially, new challenges that may arise from the transfer from scientific to industrial and regulatory testing. In the second part of the training, we will discuss challenges in (eco)toxicity testing. Here further research and standardisation needs will be identified. We will also show how the experience gained in the standardisation and regulation of nanomaterials can be used for GR2M.
The training is mainly addressing scientists that are involved or interested in testing and research on GR2M. The training addresses challenges in physico-chemical characterisation as well as (eco)toxicity testing. This interactive training allows participants to actively interact and to transfer the learnings to their own projects.
This training course is supported by:
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Continuous course, held in the following time-slots:
This Transferable Skills-ATC will focus on how researchers can engage and deeply involve members of the public in their research; skills required to communicate science to all stakeholders of society with OPEN DATA capabilities. The course will cover development and design of citizen science projects, including special data management for citizen science, volunteer motivation and impact evaluation. Innovative methods of science communication will be introduced and practiced. Design of a mobile phone app and considerations on usability and engagement will also be part of this course.
 | This project has received funding from European Union’s HORIZON EUROPE research and innovation program GA N°101072777-PlasticUnderground HEUR-MSCA-2021-DN-01.
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Advanced Training Courses (ATCs) sponsored by the PlasticUnderground Doctoral Network will ensure that core research skills are developed for all Doctoral Candidates (DCs) within the Network and young researchers alike. ATCs are consistent with PlasticUnderground vision of educating young scientists across a wide range of disciplines and sector boundaries.
Countinuous course, held in the following time-slots:
This Scientific Skills-ATC will introduce the fundamental principles of conceptualizing, designing, and developing models for simulating MnP fate and transport in soil and groundwater aquifers. The ATC will include introductions into mathematical methods for particle tracking and transport modelling in porous media, including reactive transport and particle degradation. This training will apply practical exercises and data from collaborating practitioners and non-academic beneficiaries and partners. DCs and other participants will get trained in advanced methods of uncertainty analyses and communication of model and scenario simulation outputs and uncertainties with diverse end-user communities.
| This project has received funding from European Union’s HORIZON EUROPE research and innovation program GA N°101072777-PlasticUnderground HEUR-MSCA-2021-DN-01.
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Advanced Training Courses (ATCs) sponsored by the PlasticUnderground Doctoral Network will ensure that core research skills are developed for all Doctoral Candidates (DCs) within the Network and young researchers alike. ATCs are consistent with PlasticUnderground vision of educating young scientists across a wide range of disciplines and sector boundaries.
Are you seeking to increase the impact of your research? Or to gain more citations on your publications? Or even to find novel collaborations? Look no further! Make your data or models more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable & Reusable (FAIR) and extend its use!
MaterialsWeek Data & Model FAIRness Award, sponsored by PARC project, aims to recognize, and reward those who demonstrate FAIR principles in their work. Whether you’re presenting orally or through a poster, you could be eligible for this notable award.
To nominate your research for consideration, attend this competition. You’ll learn how to FAIRify your research, derive a FAIRification score and understand the criteria for award nomination.
Don’t miss this opportunity to maximize the visibility and usability of your research!
Hope to see YOU in the FAIRness training session, the FAIRification Award team: Irini Furxhi, Martin Himly, and Iseult Lynch.
The award of EURO 250 is kindly sponsored by the PARC Project:
In this 1.5 h introductory training session we will overview approaches for implementing SSbD-guided research and innovation (R&I) in several different industrial sectors for replacing substances of concern (SoC). Starting from the ECHA’s assessment of alternatives (AoA) approach we will, at first, put emphasis on the scoping phase during which the requirements for replacement will be identified, and the limitations for the changes possible and trade-offs acceptable for the company will be defined, in agreement with relevant stakeholders to be further involved in AoA scoping, e.g., for setting the trade-off levels. This also includes listing the SSbD-relevant aspects in the different categories (i.e. functional performance, health, environment, social, and economic sustainability) in a customised manner, followed by weighting them in relation to their expected impact on the intended SSbD-guided multi-objective optimisation procedure. An additional dimension is provided as to how to deal with uncertainties, e.g., data gaps or compromises in data quality, or which assessment methods and tools to employ. Notably, it represents the company’s own decision to herewith set the requirements and goals for replacement, and this can be done at different levels, such as the material or chemical itself, changes in the production processes, or within the entire system of a product’s life cycle spanning across its entire value chain(s), which can be documented employing the use maps concept.
Sponsored by:
During a 3 h hands-on training session you will get besides a general understanding of live cycle assessment (LCA) methodology especially a deeper insight into Prospective and Anticipatory LCA, illustrated and explained with specific examples provided by the involved experts from EMPA and LIST.
Over the past years, various definitions have been formulated for the terms Prospective and Anticipatory LCA. Both terms imply a temporal positionality of the LCA, aiming at investigating how a current, (often immature) technology will evolve in a future time step while anticipating an increasing readiness level of the technology (i.e. including an increase of the technology maturity). Thereby, the term “Prospective LCA” always involves an increase in technology maturity in the future, which is not necessarily the case when speaking about “Anticipatory LCA”. “An LCA is prospective when the (emerging) technology studied is in an early phase of development (e.g., small-scale production), but the technology is modelled at a future, more-developed phase (e.g., large-scale production)” (Arvidsson et al., 2018) is one of the most comprehensive definitions for “Prospective LCA”. On the other hand, “Anticipatory LCA” has been defined as a “forward-looking, non-predictive [LCA] tool that increases model uncertainty through inclusion of prospective modelling tools and multiple social perspectives” (Wender et al., 2014), like ex-ante.
Besides a clarification of these concepts, the interdisciplinary PINK team will provide you during these 3 hours with hints on the use of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques for anticipatory LCA of new chemicals and products. And in the 2nd part of the training session, you will get the possibility to experience yourself LCA as part of a break-out group, applying this methodology to a classical LCA case study. The session will end with a general discussion of the obtained results, of the made experiences with the expert trainers.
Sponsored by:
The journal CSBJ – Nanoscience & Advanced Materials is kindly sponsoring four Presentation Awards (for Early Career Researchers only):
Poster Awards
Oral Presentation Awards
Prize: EURO 250
Prize: EURO 250
Prize: EURO 250
Prize: EURO 250
The PARC Partnership is kindly sponsoring the award for the winner of the Data Tool & FAIRness Competition (for Early Career Researchers only):
Data Tool & FAIRness Competition Award
Prize: EURO 250
Delegate Passes:
Interested in becoming a Sponsor/Exhibitor, or joining the Organisation Committee, Scientific Committee?
… please contact us at Contact@Materials-Week.org.
The full paper proceedings of the MaterialsWeek 2024 will be published in a Special Issue in the journal CSBJ – Nanoscience & Advanced Materials.
Guest Editors:
Iseult Lynch, University of Birmingham, UK (Email: i.lynch@bham.ac.uk)
Martin Himly, Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Austria (Email: Martin.Himly@plus.ac.at)
Irini Furxhi, CNR-ISSMC, Italy (Email: irini.furxhi@issmc.cnr.it)
Steffi Friedrichs, AcumenIST, Belgium (Email: Steffi@AcumenIST.com)
Antreas Afantitis, Entelos Institute, Cyprus (Email: afantitis@entelos.eu)
Scope of the Special Issue:
The main scope of the upcoming special issue on ‘Strategic Materials R&I for the Value Chains of the Future’ would be to offer highlights in the field covering numerous small and large Research and Innovation (R&I) communities that are driving advances in materials innovation manifested across diverse value chains and industrial markets. In this special issue, we will explore the potential of bringing together the R&I communities of energy materials, graphene, nanotechnology, bioeconomy, lightweight materials, smart materials, and other innovative materials together into a single, solution-driven environment embracing all advanced materials.
Possible research topics include but are not limited to:
Specific topics covered include (but are not limited to):
We extend a special invitation for project consortia participating in MaterialsWeek 2024 to showcase your project’s success via the article type “Innovation Reports”:
Submitting a manuscript under the ‘Innovation Reports’ category presents an opportunity to:
Submission deadline: 30 September 2024
We encourage researchers, engineers, scientists, clinicians, and students in related fields to submit their work for consideration in this special issue. All manuscripts will receive expedited handling and the accepted version will appear online within one week. Please note that every accepted paper is subjected to a processing fee as per Elsevier’s open access journal policies.
About the Journal:
CSBJ is an online gold open access journal, and is composed of the following sections:
| Akshat Sudheshwar | EMPA, CH |
| Anna Pohl | BAuA, DE |
| Antreas Afantitis | NovaMechanics, EL |
| Blanca Suarez-Merino | TEMASOL, CH |
| Christian Seitz | BASF, DE |
| Cyrille Durand | TEMASOL, CH |
| Damjana Drobne | Uni-LJ, SI |
| Dan Hodoroaba | BAM, DE |
| Danail Histozov | EMERGE, BG |
| Daniel Hoeche | HEREON, DE |
| Dario Greco | TUNI, FI |
| Elias Koumoulos | Innovation-RES, BE |
| Elisa Moschini | HW, UK |
| Elisabeth Heunisch | BAuA, DE |
| Emma Arnesdotter | LIST, LU |
| Emma Stromberg | IVL, SE |
| Francesca Lønstad Bleken | SINTEF, NO |
| Franz Pirker | AC2T, AT |
| Gemma Garcia | EMIRI, BE |
| Georges Favre | LNE, FR |
| Govind Gupta | EMPA, CH |
| Gupta | CSBJ-NAM (Elesevier) |
| Irini Furxhi | ISSMC, IT |
| Iseult Lynch | UoB, UK |
| James Baker | TEMASOL, CH |
| Jana Drbohlavova | VUT, CZ |
| Jelena Barbir | HAW-Hamburg, DE |
| Jesper Friis | SINTEF, NO |
| Jörg Radnik | BAM, DE |
| Liza Pizzol | GreenDecision, BG |
| Luis Mauricio Ortiz Galvez | EMPA, CH |
| Martin Himly | PLUS, AT |
| Mary Gulumian | NWU, ZA |
| Mireille Poelman | MateriaNova, BE |
| Natalia Konchakova | HEREON, DE |
| Pamina Weber | LIST, LU |
| Peter Klein | Fraunhofer ITWM, DE |
| Philippe Jacques | EMIRI, BE |
| Salim Belouettar | LIST, LU |
| Sara Espinoza | DECHEMA, DE |
| Simon Laurent | Univ-Lyon, FR |
| Sofia Öiseth | Chalmers Industrieteknik, SE |
| Stefan Krause | UoB, UK |
| Susanne Resch | BNN, AT |
| Thomas Exner | 7P9, DE |
| Tommaso Serchi | LIST, LU |
| Zoriada Quinones | Univ-Lyon, FR |
