The European Commission is to fund a collaborative research program called the FET Flagship for a period of 10 years. The 1000 million euro research initiative will nurture technological development and scientific research targeted at having graphene as one of the two flagships to be launched in the year 2013.
Graphene comprises a unit layer of carbon atoms that is tougher than diamond, yet light and elastic. It enables electrons to flow rapidly as compared to silicon, is a transparent conductor, and combines both electrical and optical capabilities. It can be used in information and communication technology (ICT) and consumer applications. It enables development of high speed consumer electronics, information processing solutions, biosensors, supercapacitors that could be used in place of batteries, mechanical parts, and composites for cars and aircraft.
Although independent teams have been conducting research on graphene across the European continent, the need for a sustained and concerted movement has led to the formation of the graphene flagship.
The flagship bring research teams across Europe from multiple disciplines to a single forum, encourage ICT to be applied in new areas and products, and ensure that businesses in Europe will contribute and participate in the growth of this technology and its applications over the coming decade. The forum will also encourage knowledge sharing in an effort to enable new products and solutions.
The flagship has already enrolled more than 130 research teams from 80 educational and industrial institutions across 21 European nations. The effort is headed by a panel of nine partners who have been researching, developing, and networking graphene research. The effort is being coordinated by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and includes the Universities of Manchester, Cambridge and Lancaster, in the UK, the Italian National Research Council, the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology in Spain, the European Science Foundation, AMO in Germany, and Nokia. Nobel Laureates Andre Geim (University of Manchester), Albert Fert (THALES), Konstantin Novoselov (University of Manchester), Francisco Guinea (CSIC, Spain, Klaus von Klitzing (Max-Planck Institute), Luigi Colombo (Texas Instruments, USA) and Byung Hee Hong (SKK University, Korea), are on the advisory committee.
The pilot phase began on May 1. The endeavor will develop an organizational framework and science and technology strategy for research and development, which will be submitted in 2012 to the European Commission.
Source: http://www.graphene-flagship.eu