ANALYSIS: EXCLUSIVE Materials union

Dr-Ing Margarethe Hofmann President, Federation of European Materials Societies

Combining the strength of 28 member societies, FEMS has a significant influence on the European materials landscape. Here, President Dr-Ing Margarethe Hofmann shines a light on the ever-growing importance of materials researchers in translational science and commercialisation

UPCOMING EVENTS Advanced Training Course on Nanoscale Materials Dresden, 22-24 October 2014 FEMS EUROMAT 2015 Warsaw, Poland 21-24 September 2015 REWAS 2016 Nashville, Tennessee, USA 14-18 February 2016

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You took over as President of the Federation of European Materials an important hub for various European Technology Platforms, FEMS was Societies (FEMS) at the beginning of this year. What led to you taking accepted to become a member of the Energy Materials Industrial Research up this position and what do you hope to achieve during your term? Initiative (EMIRI), which has nearly 40 companies as members. We will continue to interact with further industrial organisations. Through this, we In the late 1980s, I took over as CEO of the Swiss Association for Materials aim to exchange knowledge concerning industrial needs in applications Science and Technology (SVMT) and later as President for six years. SVMT (pull) and science and engineering’s solutions (push). We will also promote joined FEMS and was even co-organiser of FEMS’ biennial materials EUREKA events which are important for the translation of scientific science congress EUROMAT in 2003 in Lausanne, Switzerland. FEMS is an results towards industrial applications. There are many ways in which important organisation in to represent the many facets of materials our involvement will contribute to achieving a more complete picture of science and engineering, and the many actors in this field. translational R&D approaches. MatVal is a supporting action in this sense as we interact directly with both parties – academia and industry. My hope for my two-year term as President is to continue the activities that the immediate past-President Professor Dr Ehrenfried Zschech started We also previously discussed the intensification of the relationship when working together with European Technology Platforms such as the between FEMS and E-MRS. Could you outline the different remits of Alliance for Materials (A4M), launching the European project MatVal – in the two organisations and how they work together? which the two important European organisations, FEMS and the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS), have become partners – and being FEMS and E-MRS closely work together. In fact, in 2014-15 both Presidents especially active in disseminating results. The second important aim of my came from Switzerland. With Professor Dr Thomas Lippert – current term is to improve services rendered to member societies and to improve President of E-MRS – I have a very good counterpart to discuss various individual contacts. issues related to both organisations. Lippert gave a very interesting presentation as invited speaker from the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) and Could you outline the mission and origin of FEMS? E-MRS at the FEMS JUNIOR EUROMAT in Lausanne, which took place from 21-25 July 2014. E-MRS in fact co-sponsored the conference. Another strong The origin of FEMS goes back to 1986, when the Institute of Metals (IOM3) common activity was established via MatVal in which Professor Rodrigo in London, UK, German Society for Metals (DGM) and French Society Martins, immediate past-President of E-MRS, and I have been working for Metallurgy (SF2M) agreed to boost metals and materials societies in together since 2012. Europe by working together in a more ‘European’ manner. A memorandum of understanding to form FEMS was signed in 1987 and at the end of the Is the duplication of research efforts a significant problem in Europe? Is same year the first FEMS General Assembly took place in Paris, . FEMS helping to overcome this by promoting sharing and collaborative projects at the European level? Membership of FEMS increased steadily over the years and today we count 28 member societies. Our aims are to promote the wide dissemination This question is old and new at the same time. Europe has made a huge of scientific and technical materials knowledge and to facilitate step forward in having common European Programmes which tend to communication between various countries with different languages and bring researchers and engineers from many countries together. On the cultures. Thus, we aim to ensure optimum visibility of materials science other hand, each country should have the freedom to propose and fund and engineering, and to contribute to developing links and collaboration between research and technology organisations and industry.

In past-President Zschech’s interview with International Innovation last year, he discussed his focus on extending knowledge transfer from academia to industry. How much progress has been made in this area? Will you be continuing this work?

We are continually working on this task. After having agreed to become a member of A4M, which is

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Member societies

23

1.  8.  16.  The Austrian Society for Metallurgy and Magyar Anyagtudományi Egyesület (MAE) Materials Research Society of Serbia (MRS Serbia) Materials (ASMET) 9.  17. Slovak Republic 2.  Associazione Italiana Compositi & Affini Society for New Materials and Technologies in Benelux Métallurgie (Assocompositi) Slovakia (SNMTS) Associazione Italiana d’Ingegneria dei Materiali (AIMAT) 3. Czech Republic Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia (AIM) 18. Slovenia Czech Society for New Materials and Slovensko Drustvo Za Materiale (SDM) Technologies (CSNMT) 10. Latvia Metal Science Society of the (MSS) Latvian Materials Research Society (LMRS) 19.  Sociedad Española de Materiales (SOCIEMAT) 4. Estonia 11. Lithuania Estonian Materials Science Society (EMSS) Lithuanian Materials Research Society (LtMRS) 20. Sweden Svenska Föreningen för Materialteknik (SFMT) 5. France 12. The Société Française de Métallurgie et de Bond voor Materialenkennis (BvM) 21. Switzerland Matériaux (SF2M) Swiss Association for Materials Science and 13. Norway Technology (SVMT) 6. Germany Norsk Metallurgisk Selskap (NMS) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde (DGM) 22. Ukraine Deutscher Verband für Materialforschung und 14. Poland Ukrainian Materials Research Society (UMRS) -prüfung e.V. (DVM) Polish Society for Materials (PTM) 23. UK 7. Greece 15. Portugal Institute of Materials, Minerals & Hellenic Metallurgical Society (HMS) Sociedade Portuguesa de Materiais (SPM) Mining (IOM3) Hellenic Society for the Science and Technology of Condensed Matter (HSSTCM)

58 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION ANALYSIS: EXCLUSIVE

their own research, and by this to create its own expertise and excellence. the people acting as translators. Materials are no longer only metals, This is needed especially for national industries and the many SMEs which ceramics or polymers, they are materials with specifi c functions. may not be capable of joining big European projects. However, duplication Examples are nanoparticles used for drug delivery, polymer surfaces should be avoided in similar research activities. Various solutions for the equipped with haptic functions, ceramic fi lm systems acting in same problem can be achieved, which may help end-users. This means communication, or metal alloys and composites functioning in medical that not all duplication is wrong. I am working as a scientifi c manager for devices, aircraft, cars or consumables. Each time the requirements will many research projects and programmes, and I am therefore not in favour differ, and engineers have to adapt their language to incorporate relevant of harmonisation of all activities as this may implicate a reduction in terms and abbreviations in discussion with different stakeholders and standards and creativity. markets. Materials scientists are moderators and managers, and their strong position of infl uence should become more prominent, especially Today, FEMS is not able to take such an important but very time- concerning the management of industry. consuming part in promoting collaborative projects at the European level. We could enable experts to discuss this issue and deliver How can you ensure Europe produces a steady stream of talented recommendations, but this should be funded by European money; and qualifi ed materials scientists? Do you have any initiatives to for example, through a public-private partnership to fi nd synergies support students and or encourage young people to get involved in between the more scientifi cally driven FEMS member organisations and materials science? industrial stakeholders. FEMS highlights the importance of this issue through its conferences, Does FEMS work with international organisations to strengthen the contact with industrial platforms and via European projects and actions. relationships between the European materials community and the rest JUNIOR EUROMAT is a conference dedicated to bachelor’s, master’s and of the world? doctoral students. When organised for the fi rst time 14 years ago, industry was very interested in using it to look for new talent. We will co-sponsor the next conference of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) – REWAS 2016 in Nashville, USA, an In addition, universities and societies present national brokering events in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary platform where the materials the MINT (Mathematics, Informatics, Natural and Technical Sciences) fi elds and metallurgical professional can interact and exchange with other and FEMS is therefore discussing such improvements of its own activities stakeholders from industry and society. very seriously. It is important for FEMS to further promote European materials scientists and engineers. TMS and FEMS also established a joint Young Leader International Scholar Program to promote young member activities and strengthen How are materials scientists contributing to solutions to global grand collaborations between these international societies. In 2013, Dr Amy J challenges? Could you provide examples of where materials research Clarke from the Materials Science and Technology – Metallurgy Group, Los has had social or economic impact? Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA, was elected joint TMS- FEMS lecturer in 2013. I would like to give an example of my own work. Over the last four years, I have scientifi cally coordinated the European project Development of When you talk with your members, what do they identify as the major Novel Nanotechnology Based Diagnostic Systems for Rheumatoid Arthritis issues currently facing materials researchers? and Osteoarthritis (NanoDiaRA) funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project had 15 partners from seven countries, This depends on where the member comes from, as the challenges and a budget of about €10 million and was dedicated to early diagnosis of opportunities for materials scientists differ from country to country. At the rheumatoid arthritis using superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. last biannual materials conference of the Sociedad Española de Materiales This was a clearly defi ned translational project with materials scientist, (SOCIEMAT) in Barcelona, Spain, I took part in a panel discussion and it biologists, clinicians and people from pharmaceutical companies in the was mentioned several times that European funding has been reduced, team. We dedicated one work package to ethical, legal and social issues although the number of projects in which Spain is collaborating is still the (ELSI), and organised symposia, workshops and courses for lay people, legal same. The effect of this is dramatic in some cases, as projects have to be entities like Swiss Medics and patient organisations active in balancing the reduced and people cannot be funded adequately. I heard similar problems hopes and fears of nanotechnology and informing all stakeholders about when attending the 10th International Conference on Nanosciences & the potential and risks of such new technologies. Having worked for more Nanotechnologies (NN13) in Thessaloniki, Greece. Other countries – such than 10 years in various transdisciplinary advisory boards, I thoroughly as Germany, France or the UK – still have research money that they can recommend such approaches as they encourage researchers and scientists provide to their centres of excellence, but some of them may have to to address such issues head on. reduce activities, prioritising only research deemed of importance or crucial for the country and its industry. To read International Innovation’s 2013 interview with FEMS past-President Ehrenfried Zschech, please visit: http://bit.ly/1ekVWCl What are the benefi ts of transdisciplinary research? To what extent do you partner with those outside of the materials community?

Transdisciplinary research today is a must, especially in materials science and engineering. Many innovations in physics, chemistry and biology/pharmacy are not transferrable into an application as they are often investigated at the laboratory scale. Materials science and engineering is looking for solutions to scale up such innovations, and in parallel to this is dedicated to a better understanding of physical, chemical and biological issues.

The combination of basic science with advances in engineering underpins the very special position of materials scientists and engineers, because they have to understand the needs and requirements from basic science and transfer them into industrial application. This makes this fi eld highly interesting and extremely important for both basic researchers and industry.

I have organised and been involved in various projects and programmes in Switzerland and Europe, and each time the materials scientists were www.fems.org

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