MINOS selection of topics
COOPERATION
THEME 4
NANOSCIENCES, NANOTECHNOLOGIES, MATERIALS AND NEW PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES - NMP
 II.1 Activity 4.1 Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies
4.1.1 Nanosciences and converging sciences
Long-term interdisciplinary research into understanding phenomena, mastering processes and developing leading edge research tools and techniques is vital for the future of EU industry. The main objective is to support the development of new knowledge by studying the phenomena and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale in order to open new horizons. The research also focuses on new structures and systems with novel or pre-defined properties and behaviour with attention to possible applications. This involves interdisciplinary approaches in collaborative research that may include several fields of sciences or disciplines such as: biological sciences, physics, chemistry, electronic, engineering, mathematics, environmental related disciplines, cognitive sciences, social sciences, etc.
 NMP-2007-1.1-1 Nano-scale mechanisms of bio/non-bio interactions [...]
NMP-2007-1.1-2 Self-assembling and self-organisation [...]
NMP-2007-1.1-3 Support to networking ICPC3 researchers in nanotechnology and creation of a free and open electronic archive of nanosciences and nanotechnologies scientific and technical publications [...]
NMP-2007-1.1-4 Development of methodology, collection and elaboration of scientific-technical and socio-economic data and studies on nanosciences and nanotechnologies, including risk assessment, and establishment of an observatory. [...]
NMP-2007-1.1-5 ERANET Plus in nanosciences (This topic is subject to a joint call for ERA-NETs across the Themes. For further information see Annex 4.) [...]
4.1.2 Nanotechnologies and converging technologies
Europe enjoys a strong position in nanosciences that needs to be translated into a real competitive advantage for European industry. Exploration of new concepts and approaches for sectorial applications, including the integration and convergence of emerging technologies at the nanoscale, are needed to promote the development of an RTD-intensive European nanotechnology related industry and the uptake of nanotechnologies in existing industrial sectors to promote the step change in industrial performance that is needed.
The main objective is to promote industrial innovation by developing nanotechnologies that will enable both the manufacturing of new, higher performance "nano-enabled" services, products, components, devices and systems across a range of applications and the development of totally new manufacturing processes. Whenever appropriate, an interdisciplinary approach integrating different technologies, sciences or disciplines should be considered including health, safety and environmental issues as well as nomenclature, metrology and standardisation.
NMP-2007-1.2-1 Pilot lines to study, develop and up-scale nanotechnology-based processes from laboratory [...]
NMP-2007-1.2-2 Equipment and methods for nanotechnology [...]
NMP-2007-1.2-3 Analysis of the ethical, regulatory, social and economic environment of nanomedicine [...]
NMP-2007-1.2-4 Coordination in nanometrology [...]
NMP-2007-1.2-5 Examining capacity building in nanobiotechnology [...]
4.1.3 Health, Safety and Environmental Impacts
The main objective is to support the scientific assessment of the potential health, safety and environmental risks associated with nanotechnology-based materials and products at the earliest possible stage. This involves the generation of quantitative data on toxicology and ecotoxicology and methodologies for generating data. Test methods, exposure assessment and risk assessment methods may need to be developed or modified to be applicable to nanomaterials, as well as methodologies for life cycle analysis. In addition, analytical methods might not be fully suitable and therefore also the development of suitable devices and instruments for measurement are addressed. Research activities will thus contribute to close the knowledge gap, providing the basis for meeting regulatory requirements and, if need be, developing new requirements, conducive to a safe, responsible and sustainable development.
NMP-2007-1.3-1 Specific, easy-to-use portable devices for measurement and analysis [...]
NMP-2007-1.3-2 Risk assessment of engineered nanoparticles on health and the environment [...]
NMP-2007-1.3-3 Scientific review of the data and studies on the potential impact of engineered nano-particles on health, safety and the environment [...]
NMP-2007-1.3-4 Creation of a critical and commented database on the health, safety and environmental impact of nanoparticles [...]
NMP-2007-1.3-5 Coordination in studying the environmental, safety and health impact of engineered nanoparticles and nanotechnology based materials and products [...]
II.2 Activity 4.2 Materials
Added value materials with higher knowledge content, new functionalities and improved performance are increasingly critical for industrial competitiveness and sustainable development. According to the new models of the manufacturing industry, it is the materials themselves which are becoming the first step in increasing the value of products and their performance, rather than the production steps.
Research will focus on developing new knowledge-based multifunctional surfaces and materials with tailored properties and predictable performance, for new products and processes targeting a wide range of applications. This requires the control of intrinsic properties, processing and production, taking into account potential impacts on health, safety and the environment throughout their entire life-cycle.
Emphasis will continue to be placed on new advanced materials and systems obtained using the potential of nanotechnologies and biotechnologies and/or “learning from nature”, in particular higher performance nano-materials (e.g. nanocomposites), bio-materials, artificial materials with electromagnetic properties not found in nature, and hybrid materials, including design and control of their processing, properties and performance. A multidisciplinary approach will be fostered, involving chemistry, physics, engineering sciences, theoretical and computational modelling and increasingly the biological sciences.
Materials characterisation, design methods and simulation techniques are also essential to better understand materials phenomena, in particular the structure–property relationships at different scales, to improve materials assessment and reliability including resistance to aging, and to extend the concept of virtual materials for materials design. The integration of nano-molecular-macro levels in chemical and materials technologies will be supported for developing new concepts and processes such as in catalysis, and in process intensification and optimisation. Issues related to process development and scaling-up and industrialisation of high added value materials will also be addressed, as these are essential in many sectors of European industry.
Materials are key for today's technological advances and therefore their applications are highly relevant to all the other FP7 Themes. Theme NMP mainly focuses on advanced materials design, development and processing, while other Themes are more concerned with research related to the use of materials in their respective fields of application.
4.2.1 Mastering nano-scale complexity in materials
The frontiers of materials research have been taken to the next level by the availability of technologies allowing the tailoring of material structure at the nanoscale and by the development of material systems made up of components with nanoscale dimensions. Materials based upon these concepts began to emerge with the study of low dimensional structures such as thin-films and interfaces and now encompass a wide range of material research areas, from nanostructured particles to nanostructured composites, coatings and membranes. The key objective is to tailor, at the nanoscale, novel material systems with radically new or enhanced properties and performance based upon our improved understanding of materials nanostructure.
NMP-2007-2.1-1 Nanostructured polymer-matrix composites [...]
NMP-2007-2.1-2 Nanostructured coatings and thin films [...]
NMP-2007-2.1-3 Characterisation of nanostructured materials [...]
4.2.2 Knowledge-based smart materials with tailored properties
Smart materials, which provide a wide spectrum of enhanced functionalities and have the potential to replace whole devices, are having an enormous impact in today’s modern world. Advances in smart materials have already started to find their way into industrial applications, but there are still immense possibilities to achieve improved functionality by further tailoring the material properties in many areas, from shape memory alloys and electroactive polymers to photochromic materials and tunable dielectrics. The main objective is to design novel knowledge-based smart materials with tailored properties, releasing their potential for enhanced and innovative applications.
NMP-2007-2.2-1 Organic materials for electronics and photonics [...]
NMP-2007-2.2-2 Nanostructured materials with tailored magnetic properties [...]
NMP-2007-2.2-3 Advanced material architectures for energy conversion [...]
4.2.3 Novel biomaterials and bioinspired materials
Biomaterials are nowadays essential for improving human health and quality of life. Originally foreseen with an aim to minimise rejection by the host organism, they have now entered a new stage in which they can be designed with bioactive properties, exchanging stimuli with the surrounding tissue and inducing specific cellular reactions. Bioinspired materials, on the other hand, take advantage of the knowledge that nature has been optimising over millions of years. Man-made material solutions can now take inspiration from the most complex naturally-organised chemical and biological structures (e.g. from the nanoworld of proteins to macroscopic structures of bone, shell and enamel). The main objective should be to achieve radical innovations in state-of-the-art biomaterials and to design highly performing bioinspired materials learning from natural processes.
NMP-2007-2.3-1 Highly porous bioactive scaffolds controlling angiogenesis for tissue engineering [...]
4.2.4 Advances in chemical technologies and materials processing
Discoveries of new materials with tailored properties and advances in their processing are the rate-limiting steps in product development in many industrial sectors. Tomorrow’s technology is in fact imposing increasingly stringent requirements on chemical technologies and materials processing. Materials chemistry has the potential to continue making substantial contributions to many fields, including modern plastics, paints, textiles and electronic materials, through the understanding of fundamental chemical interactions and processes. The key objective is to radically improve materials by increasing knowledge in materials chemistry and chemical processes, in particular at the nanoscale, e.g. in areas such as nanostructured catalysts and inorganic-organic hybrid systems, and to make progress in the field of environmentally friendly, flexible and efficient materials processing.
NMP-2007-2.4-1 Flexible efficient processing for polymers [...]
NMP-2007-2.4-2 Nanostructured catalysts with tailor-made functional surfaces [...]
NMP-2007-2.4-3 Renewable materials for functional packaging applications [...]
4.2.5 Using engineering to develop high performance knowledge-based materials
The design of knowledge-based materials relying upon an accurate control of their properties can take advantage of highly performing modern engineering methods and powerful computer-based tools. The shift towards a higher knowledge-intensive industry demands radical innovation in materials for enhanced performance under increasingly challenging application conditions. Engineering tools, associated with modelling and simulation approaches often based on multi-scale methods, can help include the microscopic structure and properties into materials design, in order to construct more reliable high performance materials, based on an accurate prediction of their in-service behaviour and life-cycle analysis. The key objective is to use advanced engineering in order to design new material systems for specific highly-demanding applications, incorporating microstructural information with a view to enhancing performance.
NMP-2007-2.5-1 Novel materials tailored for extreme conditions and environments [...]
NMP-2007-2.5-2 Modelling of microstructural evolution under work conditions and in materials processing [...]
II.3 Activity 4.3 New production
A new approach to manufacturing is required for the transformation of EU industry from a resource intensive to a sustainable knowledge-based industrial environment and will depend on the adoption of totally new attitudes towards the continued acquisition, deployment, protection and funding of new knowledge and its use, including towards sustainable production and consumption patterns. This entails creating the appropriate conditions for continuous innovation (in industrial activities and production systems, including design, construction, devices, and services) and for developing generic production “assets” (technologies, organisation and production facilities as well as human resources, while also meeting overall industrial safety and environmental requirements. These production assets will come together in “Factories made in Europe” with European standards.
The research will focus on a number of strands: the development and validation of new industrial models and strategies covering all aspects of product and process life-cycle; adaptive production systems that overcome existing process limitations and enable new manufacturing and processing methods; networked production to develop tools and methods for co-operative and value-added operations at a global scale; tools for the rapid transfer and integration of new technologies into the design and operation of manufacturing processes; and the exploitation of the convergence of the nano-, bio-, info- and cognitive technologies to develop new products and engineering concepts and the possibility of new industries.
Particular attention should be paid to promoting activities which support the adaptation and integration of SMEs to the new needs of the supply chain as well as to giving an impulse to the creation of high tech SMEs.
4.3.5 Exploitation of the convergence of technologies
The key objective is to stimulate the creation of new industries by facilitating the design, engineering and manufacturing of the next generation of high value-added products, exploiting the opportunities, integration and convergence of, for example, micro- ,nano-, bio-, info- and cognitive technologies. The research focus is on the application of basic research results for the development of new manufacturing processes for new science based products in order to create potentially disruptive products and production systems. Environmental technologies, adaptive and functional materials, cognition based control, intelligent mechatronic systems and process technologies are examples of possible application fields and there is a strong focus on micro and nanomanufacturing. Synergies, coordination and collaboration with the ICT and Bio thematic priorities will be sought, where appropriate.
NMP-2007-3.5-1 Processes and equipment for high quality industrial production of 3-dimensional nanosurfaces [...]
II.4 Activity 4.4 Integration of technologies for industrial applications
The integration of knowledge and technologies of the three areas of research above is essential in order to speed up the transformation of European industry and its economy, while adopting a safe, socially responsible and sustainable approach. The research will focus on new applications and novel, step-change solutions responding to major challenges, including the RTD needs identified by the different European Technology Platforms.
This research should enable and sustain the knowledge-based transformation of current industrial sectors and the development of new science-based sectors through the integration of new knowledge from nano-, materials-, and production technologies in sectoral and cross-sectoral applications. The RTD approaches and objectives applied by the partners should lead to results (products, processes, methods, etc.) and impacts which must observe the guidelines of the sustainable development paradigm, namely the public health, worker safety, environmental protection and the societal dimensions, including governance concerns (public awareness and acceptance). Furthermore this research work must constitute an opportunity for Europe to consolidate the optimal normalisation and standards needed.
Several cross-cutting dimensions could be considered while handling the vast array of sectors and applications and could further inspire the emergence of topics:
- Transforming traditional industry, which faces the challenge of low-cost competition. It should increase its productivity through new processes, high-added value products and new business models;
- Fostering scale-intensive and specialized suppliers industry through the adoption and integration of new advanced technologies thus enabling the improvement of its leadership in the global market;
- Promoting Science-based Industry which will play a key role in establishing a high-value European industry. It will need the integration of most of the advanced technologies dealt with in Nanotechnologies, Materials and Production activities, enabling the development of new, high value, products and services, processes and even leading to new industries.
- Towards a sustainable supply industry is another key objective in supporting product & productivity innovation, especially for sectors with a large environmental footprint.
NMP-2007-4.0-1 Advanced wood-based composites and their production [...]
NMP-2007-4.0-2 Application of new materials including bio-based fibres in high-added value textile products [...]
NMP-2007-4.0-3 Multifunctional materials for future vehicles [...]
NMP-2007-4.0-4 Substantial innovation in the European medical industry: development of nanotechnology-based systems for in-vivo diagnosis and therapy (in coordination with topic HEALTH-2007-2.4.1-7 and HEALTH-2007-1.2-3 in Theme 1 "Health") [...] |
