Materials Challenges

Materials Challenges are platforms for pre-competitive research that tackle underlying scientific questions essential to Swiss industry. Rather than several projects running in parallel, each Materials Challenge is a single research platform involving one or ideally more academic partners that:

• tackles underlying scientific questions critical to the future of Swiss industry, addressing long term research needs
• is co-piloted with industrial partners
• prepares and trains the next generation of researchers creating a recruitment base for the industry
• seeds enduring collaborations and strengthens existing collaborations
• promotes scientific interaction within the ETH Domain and CSEM, and, in the case of physical platforms for analysis or testing, promotes access of researchers throughout the ETH Domain and CSEM

Challenges are co-funded by CCMX and industry partners for five years, after which time a structure should be in place for industry to continue supporting mid-term research in materials sciences and engineering.

CCMX is currently funding Materials Challenges in five key areas:

– NanoScreen: Reliable and Rapid In Vitro Safety Assessment of Nanomaterials  (Empa, EPFL)

– Coatings Competence Center for Sputter Deposition by HiPIMS (Empa)

– Additive Manufacturing and Metallic Microstructures (AM³) (EPFL, Empa, PSI)

– Self-Care Materials (Empa, EPFL)

 – Large Area Growth of 2D Materials (EPFL)