New materials are emerging as a game changer for the global market. And here are each leading countries’ plans to develop new materials technologies.
Advanced materials are increasingly regarded as game changers within the global market. Currently, a large number of countries are formulating strategies to secure competitiveness in materials technology. The USA, Japan and Germany, who have more than a century of experience in materials technology, are key examples of an outstanding R&D effort.
United States of America
In 2011, the US announced Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) which led to the creation of a national strategy for MGI in December 2014. As the use of the term “genome” suggests, the initiative regards materials as the founding blocks and supports their development from basic research to commercialization. More specifically, the initiative focuses on strengthening advanced materials capacity through materials information sharing to boost the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. The ultimate goal is to make the development of new materials possible using a database that contains a vast amount of materials experiment data.
GERMANY
Germany is a traditional manufacturing powerhouse with more than two thirds of the country’s innovations linked to materials technology. The country is making a focused effort to develop products built on advanced materials and process innovation, to strengthen industrial competitiveness and create economic growth. In 2015, the government led the creation of an industrial strategy “From materials to innovation” which focuses on the development of materials for the environment, energy and transport. A big data platform to support R&D and the commercialization of new materials and technologies was also created.
CHINA
China accelerated their efforts towards the development of advanced materials for clean energy, environmental protection and next generation energy after announcing its new strategic industry goals in 2009. China’s advanced material technology sector grew from 1 trillion RMB in 2012 to 2.65 trillion RMB in 2016, recording growth of 27.6%.
In 2016, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced “Made in China 2025” policy which commits to investment of 4.6 to 7.6 million USD in each of 40 R&D projects including bio medical, energy, rare earth materials, catalysts and special alloys, for five years.
SOUTH KOREA
Launched in 2015, the”Future Materials Discovery” is the key government-led R&D program. The program focuses more on the potential for commercialization rather than academic research including patent registration. The Korean Research Institute of Chemical Technology and the Korean Institute of Science and Technology are leading on the virtual materials R&D platform similar to the US MGI program.
JAPAN
In 2007, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology launched the “Element Strategy Initiative”* with the goal of developing a substitute for rare materials. In 2012, the Japanese ministries launched a more advanced second phase program”The MEXT Element Strategy Initiative” with a mid-term strategy for the development of new advanced materials over the next 10 years.
Projects are led by universities and public research institutes such as the National Institute for Materials Science which carries out studies on four types of materials; magnetic materials, electronic materials, catalysts and batteries, and structural materials. The projects are especially focused on lowering the reliance on the import market which is dominated by a small number of countries.
* The Element Strategy Initiative was first announced by the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST) at a workshop for chemists in 2004. The term was developed to emphasize how new materials can be developed to maximize the potential of each chemical element. It also emphasizes the need to link scientific research with industry needs.