Launch of the MAT4EU project

Publication date: 23-09-2025

Launch of the MAT4EU project – Advanced materials for a sustainable European future

The European MAT4EU project (Advanced Materials for a Sustainable European Future), coordinated by Polymeris, will begin on October 1, 2025, and will run for three years. Funded by the Euroclusters initiative (Joint Cluster Initiatives EUROCLUSTERS for Europe's recovery) as part of the Single Market Program, MAT4EU is an ambitious initiative bringing together six European clusters active in the field of advanced materials.

This project was born out of an observation made by Polymeris and its European partners: despite cutting-edge research and some of the highest R&D investments in the world, Europe currently holds only 15% of industrial patents in the field of advanced materials, compared to 28% for the United States and 24% for Japan. This situation illustrates the growing risk of dependence of strategic European sectors on innovations developed outside the EU.

Possible solutions were put forward by the European Commission in a communication published in February 2024, stating that the European strategy for advanced materials should be structured around eight major challenges:

Fragmentation of the research & innovation (R&I) ecosystem
Insufficient private investment to meet growing needs
Lack of progress in terms of circularity and material efficiency
Innovation processes that are too long and low level of digitization
Disconnect between innovative research and industrial applications
Lack of testing and experimentation infrastructure
Absence of harmonized standards
Insufficient skills and appropriate training

It is in this context and in response to each of these eight challenges that MAT4EU has been established, with the primary objective of structuring an integrated European ecosystem around advanced materials, in close synergy with the Technology Council on Innovative Advanced Materials (IAM-I) and the Horizon Europe IAM4EU partnership.

With a budget of €2.6 million, 75% of which will be directly returned to SMEs via calls for projects (cascade funding), MAT4EU will support the European materials industry in the development of new products and services incorporating advanced materials, as well as its digital and sustainable transition. It will also provide access to targeted training to meet growing skills needs and strengthen its integration into supply chains, value chains, and international markets.

The launch of MAT4EU, coordinated by Polymeris, is therefore a decisive step towards consolidating Europe's position on the world stage and making advanced materials a central pillar of the European green and digital transition.