European Materials Community Comes Together

Today (7 February) in Rome will see the launch of the first ever initiative to bring together the whole materials community in Europe. A new partnership and networking initiative for materials research and innovation is taking shape this week, as the MatVal project holds its launch meeting on 7 and 8 February in the Italian capital. The launch event, which gathers high-level policymakers, R&D experts, material developers, suppliers and end users from across Europe, is a fantastic opportunity to address major sectors such as energy, transport, health and construction. European research and innovation in materials is now a united effort!

In 2010, a group of European Technology Platforms (EuMaT, Textiles and Clothing, SusChem, Manufuture, Advanced Engineering Materials and Technologies, Steel Technology and Sustainable Mineral Resources) decided to join forces to link their strong materials research agendas and coordinate their activities in this area. This was an unprecedented move to improve the way materials innovations are being developed in Europe. The Alliance for Materials (A4M) was created.

With MatVal, an EU-funded project, A4M enters its implementation phase by creating the conditions for a significant enlargement of the network to include all sectors active along value chains. The project will bring together the relevant stakeholders from the European materials community for a real integration of voices and visions.

“Europe is now equipped with a multi-stakeholder forum to develop and share a single view on materials needs”, says Dr Marco Falzetti, A4M chairman and MatVal coordinator. "Our objective is to speed up the implementation of material innovations towards end-user market applications.”

Advanced materials will play a significant part in the development of future goods and services, and MatVal will ensure that key materials innovations are identified, supported and delivered to the market in a timely manner. “A4M is a new way of thinking”, Dr Falzetti continues. “This launch event marks major strides towards an integrated materials agenda in Europe”.

About MatVal
The MatVal project is funded via the European Commission’s FP7 research programme. The full project name is ‘Alliance for Materials – A value chain approach to materials research and innovation’. The project is coordinated by Centro Sviluppo Materiali SPA (CSM). A website for the project will be launched in the next few weeks.

The full list of MatVal partners is:

• Centro Sviluppo Materiali SPA (CSM)
• Conseil Européen de l’Industrie Chimique (Cefic)
• The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
• European Apparel and Textile confederation
• ArcelorMittal Maizières Research SA
• TWI limited
• European Virtual Institute on Knowledge-based multifunctional Materials AISBL
• European Materials Research Society
• Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Instytut Metali Niezlanych
• Federation of European Materials societies
• Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.