Working meeting exchange Fraunhofer CPM

 

 

On Friday, January 24th, a virtual meeting took place between members of the 3NEO Platform and representatives from the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Programmable Materials (CPM) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM).

During the session, Dr. Jochen Barth, Head of the Department of Networks and Transfer, and Prof. Dr. Chris Eberl, Scientific Coordinator of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Programmable Materials (CPM) and Deputy Institute Director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials (IWM), provided an overview of research and applications in programmable materials. Key topics included additive manufacturing with 3D and 4D printing, as well as functional and multi-material integration.

The meeting brought together representatives from the functional and additive printing departments of  Gaiker, Tecnalia, Ceit, WalterPack, Naitec, Itene, Eurecat, Embega, and Cener, alongside members of Spain’s economic and commercial offices in Düsseldorf and Berlin. The session focused on exploring opportunities for innovation transfer, research collaboration, and the study of programmable materials and their properties.

Programmable materials are engineered compositions designed to have properties that can be specifically controlled and reversibly modified. These materials enable the programming of complex and locally differentiated functions, allowing them to adopt different states and characteristics in response to external triggers.

They introduce unique potential for new system solutions, as they can assume critical system functionalities, reducing the need for additional components such as sensors or actuators. Unlike Smart Materials, programmable materials go beyond simple property adjustments—they enable complete, reversible, and locally variable control of material behavior using if-then logic.

During the meeting, participants discussed common research challenges, including funding, technology transfer, industry collaboration, intellectual property, and methodologies to foster innovation—such as Serendipity meetings and various use cases developed by the institutes.

Presentations shared by the institute at the meeting are available to partners on the 3NEO Platform intranet