Information from material research at Linköping University. Credit: Magnus Bergström, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation
6 Swedish universities have actually united in a significant effort focused on practical products, with approximately EUR 250 million (SEK 2.7 billion) in financing from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The total objective is to produce new, vital knowledge and know-how that will bring our civilization to a state of balance with the Earths resources and the natural world.
Knowledge and the production of brand-new products have actually added to societal and human progress throughout history, whatever from the extraction of bronze and iron to the manufacture of the semiconductors on which our current information-based society depends. Many of the products and their approaches of preparation have actually contributed to the ecological issues we are facing.
Around 90 billion tonnes of raw materials– generally metals, minerals, fossil-based compounds and biomass– are drawn out every year to produce products. Much of the raw material extracted is in the kind on non-renewable substances, which leads to a heavy problem on the environment, society and the climate.
The Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability, WISE, will produce the conditions required for a shift to a sustainable society by advancing the limits of knowledge in materials science. The 4 locations in focus are:
to advance the conversion, storage and circulation of clean energy along the total chain from collecting to distribution
to change rare, harmful and energy-consuming compounds with products that are part of a circular chain of sustainability, and create circular systems for extraction, recycling and reuse
to neutralize contamination, to safeguard the environment and purify, the soil and our water, and contribute to an effective reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and
to promote the discovery of unknown products to be utilized in the effective and sustainable technology of the future and applications with low energy consumption.
Around 90 billion tonnes of raw products– generally metals, minerals, fossil-based substances and biomass– are drawn out every year to produce products. Much of the raw material drawn out is in the kind on non-renewable substances, which leads to a heavy concern on the environment, society and the climate. All consultations within the program will follow worldwide announcement, where the objective is to recruit experienced young researchers from all over the world. They will work at the following Swedish universities: Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, Lund University, Stockholm University and Linköping University. The latter will be the host university for the program.
“I see practical materials as the most crucial component in the development of green energy technology, and in making circular services possible. The goal of the program is to comprehend, create and manage intricate products systems right down to the atomic level, making pioneering sustainable technologies possible,” states Magnus Berggren, teacher in the Laboratory of Organic Electronics at Linköping University and director of the program.
“This is an extremely crucial effort for Swedish research into brand-new practical products, allowing us to develop brand-new technologies for a sustainable society,” says Olle Eriksson, professor at Uppsala University and vice director of the program.
Industry has powerful research environments in a number of fields, including electronic and photonic materials, energy products, glasses, tough products, composites, lightweight metals, biopolymers and polymers, special steels and permeable products. Tough materials (metals) and special steels presently account for majority of Swedens sales within materials (excluding forestry products), while glasses and energy materials are the locations with greatest development.
The Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability is to be conducted in partnership with market and society, and research arise from the six getting involved universities will be placed into a context of applications, manufacture and implementation. The outcomes will also be connected to technical standards.A more goal of the program is to train future leaders within society, industry and the scholastic world.
All visits within the program will follow international statement, where the objective is to recruit competent young scientists from all over the world. They will operate at the following Swedish universities: Chalmers University of Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, Lund University, Stockholm University and Linköping University. The latter will be the host university for the program.
Twenty-five global research study groups will be hired to the six Swedish universities within the program, and a graduate school will be developed with places for 180 PhD students and 180 postdocs. Thirty of these PhD trainees and thirty of the postdocs will be based in industry.
“This is an effective, concrete initiative for a more sustainable world. The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation will allocate more than SEK 3 billion throughout an 11-year duration, to make it possible for the cultivation of knowledge and add to achieving the objectives of the UNs Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement,” says Peter Wallenberg Jr, chair of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
In addition to the SEK 2.7 billion for the Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability, additional funds will be given to a significant initiative in forestry materials, the Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC). The addition of SEK 380 million will bring the total funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation to SEK 1 billion.
The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation is also the financing body for Swedens biggest ever research investment: the Wallenberg AI Autonomous System and Software Program (WASP), which has an overall spending plan of SEK 5.5 billion for 14 years, of which SEK 4.2 billion has actually been granted by the structure.