Research and technology platforms in 2009
In 2009, YKI has committed 4 million crowns towards application-driven fundamental research and platform technology development of critical surfaces in the cleantech sector. We plan to continue funding at this level until at least 2011.
The research and technology platforms will be built on pre-existing areas of excellence in YKI and utilize innovations, nanotechnological and surface modification techniques belonging to or well established in YKI.
More importantly the research areas are based on known industrial needs, with input from interested industrial partners steering the research plans. Each platform will be developed in the broad sense using YKI internal funding, but guided by industrial needs. One-to-one contract research is available to companies who would like to develop proprietary technologies and product improvements based on the open research performed at Intermat.
Projects
The inaugural project is an intensive survey of surfaces critical to Scandinavian cleantech players. The three other projects are aimed at platform technology development:
- Identifying technical challenges and opportunities with interfacial materials in the cleantech sector.
- Clean functional surfaces in cleantech applications – eg ice free surfaces, antifouling surfaces, self-cleaning surfaces.
- Enhanced water quality – eg encapsulation and capture of environmental pollutants using nanostructured materials.
- Alternative energy – eg advanced nanotechnologies for fuel cells, advanced interfacial materials and treatments of heat exchange surfaces in waste heat recovery systems etc).
Lastly we have identified platforms in the pipeline, where we do not have immediate customer projects in place for the present but expect to. These are in the areas of:
1. Innovative lubrication – eg superlubricating surfaces based on negative van der Waals forces and nanoparticle-containing lubricants.
2. Renewable/bioderived materials – eg interfacial treatments and modifications of biopolymers and their composites and films for barrier materials in traditional paper and packaging applications; nanotechnologies for protection, enhanced durability and lifetime of renewable materials (eg advanced nano-based UV protection for exterior wood constructions).
These platforms in the pipeline, and smaller exploration studies within the platforms 1-3 above, will likely start later in 2009 or into 2010, subject to findings of the survey project.