The European Commission (EC) has signed a funding agreement with a total value of 150 million euros, and will continue to fund the European Graphene Flagship Program from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023. Research and innovation. After the agreement was signed, the total investment of the graphene flagship program supported by the European Commission since 2013 has reached 1 billion euros.
Jari Kinaret, head of the graphene flagship program, said that although the EU will continue to support basic research in the field of graphene and related materials, in the new agreement phase, the graphene flagship program will focus on promoting the industrial application of graphene. One third of the 150 million euros will be dedicated to bringing high-tech maturity (TRL) materials and technologies to the market in the next few years. In addition, through this new Core 3 agreement, the graphene flagship plan will update the participating partners and welcome about 25% of the new partners to join, most of which are leading European units in key areas. The graphene flagship plan will be committed to working together with all partners to achieve a more sustainable future and achieve the ultimate goal-to comprehensively bring graphene to the market.
In the past 7 years, the graphene flagship project has successfully brought graphene out of the laboratory, created a fruitful European industrial ecosystem, and developed applications of graphene and related materials. At present, there are more than 100 companies in the industrial family of the Graphene Flagship Program and the academic research partners of the Graphene Flagship Program jointly carry out research work. The proportion of the company has increased from 15% at the beginning of the graphene flagship program to about 50% today, which confirms the success of the European Commission flagship program concept.
The graphene flagship pioneer project originally launched in 2018 and expanded in 2020 clearly shows the acceleration of graphene industrialization. The goal of the project is to promote the industrial application of graphene and related materials in specific markets. These industry-led initiatives have promoted the use of graphene in products and equipment such as automotive batteries, self-driving cars, water and air filtration systems, and aircraft de-icing technology.
Through the graphene flagship program, Europe has basically established a global leadership position in the field of graphene and other related two-dimensional material technologies, thereby ensuring Europe's core competitiveness in the graphene market. According to estimates, the total value of the global graphene market will exceed 500 million euros by 2025. The graphene flagship plan helps related material technologies to cross the "valley of death", create successful new products and enterprises, and is unleashing European innovation potential in an unprecedented way.
In 2018, partners who participated in the graphene flagship program stated that there are currently more than 2,000 materials in two dimensions, and this achievement has opened up global research and development work. These new layered materials exhibit advanced properties similar to graphene, and the application of these materials will create unlimited possibilities. This work will enable the European industry to greatly improve its products and work processes, and even solve some of the environmental crises facing society today.