The trans-european project “Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies united for Lightweight” funded by the European Union in the course of the ‘Horizon 2020’ research and innovation programme (INNOSUP-1) started on 1st September 2021 and has set itself the goal of developing the untapped innovation potential of SMEs in the field of lightweight construction and identifying new pan-european value chains for advanced lightweight materials.
To create a decarbonised and efficient circular economy, it is essential to widely establish lightweight construction as a key technology. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have not yet fully scooped out the scientifically and technically achieved application potential of advanced lightweight materials. The development and application of advanced lightweight materials, such as fibre-reinforced plastic composites, ceramic fibre composites and light metals, has already contributed to a significant reduction in weight with a simultaneous increase in performance in recent decades. Especially in the automotive industry, aerospace, energy industry and construction, the most important impulses in the field of lightweight construction have been and are still being achieved. Due to a lack of application knowledge as well as technical and financial resources, the potential of lightweight materials is currently not fully utilised by SMEs.
The vision of the AMULET consortium is to make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in the EU by strengthening innovative lightweight construction in SMEs. Another common goal of the cooperating research clusters, universities and research institutions as well as participating SMEs is to develop further, groundbreaking research and development projects on a European level from the developed solution approaches.