EU appoints Graphene as Emerging Technology Flagship

 

The European Commission has chosen so-called Graphene-project as one of Europe’s first two 10-year, 1 billion euro research flagships with the aim to take graphene and related layered materials from academic laboratories to society, revolutionise multiple industries and create economic growth and new jobs in Europe.

The Graphene Flagship brings together an academic-industrial consortium aiming at a breakthrough for technological innovation. The research effort will cover the entire value chain from materials production to components and system integration, and targets a number of specific goals that exploit the unique properties of graphene.

From the start in 2013 the Graphene Flagship will coordinate 126 academic and industrial research groups in 17 European countries with an initial 30-month-budget of 54 million euro. The consortium will be extended with another 20-30 groups through an open call, issued soon after the start of the initiative. It will be coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Director is Professor Jari Kinaret who will lead the research activities together with the leaders of the 15 work packages.

“Although the flagship is extremely extensive, it cannot cover all areas. For example, we don’t intend to compete with Korea on graphene screens”, says Kinaret. ”Graphene production, however, is obviously central to our project.”