MATCH for Materials

The latest newsletter of the MATCH Horizon 2020 project has been published.  The MATCH project was initiated to strengthen and deepen the Alliance4Materials strategy by building a broader stakeholder network. The project is coordinated by Italian Centro Sviluppo Materiali and the consortium consists of 18 partners from nine countries representing the six related European Technology Platforms (including SusChem) and several major European material research organisations.

This second issue of the newsletter highlights some recent European materials research and innovation news including features on research group activities, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Raw Materials initiative, and events. You can download and subscribe to the MATCH newsletter here.

Material foundation
The European Commission has set the ambitious goal to re-industrialise Europe and to raise industry's share of the GDP to 20% by 2020. Innovation in cross-cutting applications of advanced materials, including in the transportation, health care, energy and consumer goods sectors, provides an opportunity for Europe to reindustrialise and secure jobs. One of the key objectives of MATCH is to enable the connections between the scientific creativity represented by academia and European enterprises focusing on market needs.

Another important objective of MATCH is to promote the alignment of national and European materials research policies and funding. MATCH has the goal of creating a single interactive and informative platform for the international materials research community.

MATCH is pushing for the creation of a strong, sustainable, inclusive network where any European Materials players, whether from Industry, Research or academia, can feel comfortable and gain real value for their interests and expectations in respect of materials research, development and innovation. The MATCH partnership promotes the integration of concerted and strategic challenges of national, regional and European needs in the field.

Material targets 
MATCH focuses on four main targets, crucial for the promotion of European sustainable development and innovation actions. These are:

• The enlargement and improvement of the Materials network at EU level
• The multidisciplinary connection of Materials to a large number of fields relevant for European growth and where concerted management actions are needed
• The integration with existing and/or promotion of new Materials networks at National and Inter/Regional levels
• The integration of EU and national and regional networks in sustainable and effectively aligned network hubs

Through the MATCH project all organisations interested in materials research in Europe will have a single reference network through which to obtain information, contacts and guidance in an efficient and transparent way. Established and well-connected material research stakeholders will be able to intensify their activities and extend their collaborative activities at European level, realising the A4M concept for the “The Materials Common House”.

The project started in January 2015 and will continue for 30 months until June 2017. MATCH is funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. It follows on from the previous Alliance4Materials initiative, the MatVal project, in which SusChem was also an active partner.