Brussels – Metallic nanoparticles to enhance energy conversion in solar panels, sodium-ion batteries for cheaper and more sustainable energy storage, or elastomers and nanocrystals to be used in flexible electronics for smart devices. These are all examples of advanced materials. These materiales are key for the Green Deal’s twin green and digital transition. Unfortunately the EU faces difficulties in availability, production, and processing. In a communication to the Member States, the European Commission put forward a strategy to address these challenges, with a focus on research-training-industry integration into an increasingly strategic sector.
Demand for advanced materials is expected to significantly increase in the coming years, e.g., for renewable energy production, batteries, zero-emission buildings, semiconductors, medicines and medical devices, satellites, space launchers, aircraft, or for other dual-use materials applications and defense equipment. In short, “green and digital transitions depend on advanced raw materials,” but Europe has a problem: “Lack of access to these new materials,” the EU executive branch admitted.
In order to overcome the problem, Member States are called upon to work together on five areas of intervention and action. First, the communication calls for strengthening the European research and innovation ecosystem on advanced materials, then urges the exchange of data between countries. The Commission offers to coordinate. The steering council will provide a dedicated European digital infrastructure. Thirdly, foster the production and use of advanced materials. Here, there is procurement for innovation, standard-setting, and the launch of an Academy of Advanced Materials with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the Hungary-based EIT, to ensure that the European workforce has the necessary skills. The goal is to create those specific skills that are needed and which are currently scarce. The fourth area of focus is the establishment of a Technology Council for Advanced Materials to advise on steering this initiative with member states, countries associated with Horizon Europe, and industry. Finally, funding: the EU will establish a new partnership with industry under Horizon Europe, targeting €500 million in investment in 2025-2027, of which at least €250 million will come from private sources.
Due to the institutional timetable, the EU cannot push on the accelerator. The legislative term is winding down, and there is no time to put legislative proposals on the table. To avoid wasting time, it is intended to call on governments and businesses to team up. “The EU’s competitiveness relies on our technological edge and the steady supply of advanced materials for our green and digital transitions,” the Commissioner for Competition and the Digital Agenda, Margrethe Vestager, pointed out. “We must both support the development of these materials and deploy them efficiently in a sustainable way.“
The list includes, in addition to what has already been mentioned (metal nanoparticles, sodium-ion batteries, elastomers, and nanocrystals), carbon-reinforced recyclable plastics for windmill blades, airplane wings, or sports equipment, thermal-chromic microcapsules that absorb and reflect light, new materials “beyond silicon” for the next generation of chip technologies. One thing to these advanced materials on which the EU is in danger of falling behind, and there is a desire to catch up before it is too late.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
