Kick-off meeting of new virtual research center on Soft Advanced Materials

The NWO Science Domain Board has awarded more than 3 million euros to this consortium of four companies and eight knowledge institutions active in materials research. The multidisciplinary consortium led by Katja Loos (University of Groningen) will develop new and improved sustainable materials. The companies will jointly contribute 1 million euros to this project within the Top Sector Chemistry.

The aim is to establish a virtual, world-renowned virtual research center in the field of Soft Advanced Materials (SAM) - inspired by societal challenges and industrial research questions, that enables program-driven intensive research collaboration among all public and private institutions interested in the field.

SAM will develop materials that offer superior levels of performance or additional features and, thus, greater value than existing materials. The research goal is to design materials and control their structure from the atomic and nanometer scale up to macroscopic dimensions. Whether this control is achieved through sophisticated (macro)molecular synthesis, deposition, or advanced processing, understanding the interactions among these dimensions is key. Theories and computational methods will be combined with advanced synthesis and characterization techniques to control matter and understand its behavior over the essential length scales.

SAM will offer unique opportunities to build tight collaborations on breakthrough research. It will serve as an international flagship for R&D with long-term programming in soft matter, polymer science, and engineering in the Netherlands. SAM will train the new generation of academic and industrial scientists.

Consortium: ALTANA, BASF, Corbion, DSM, AMOLF, Eindhoven University of Technology, Leiden University, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen, University of Twente, Utrecht University, VU Amsterdam

Official NWO press release (January 18th 2019)