Possible EU Graphene Megaproject

Graphene Science and technology for ICT and beyond received 1.5 million euros ($2.1 million) for 2011-2012, and late 2012 could be selected as a flagship project, to be funded at about €1 billion each over a decade.

Graphene, a new substance from the world of atomic and molecular scale manipulation of matter, could be the wonder material of the 21st century. Discovering just how important this material will be for Information and Communication Technologies is the long term focus of the Flagship Initiative, simply called, GRAPHENE. This aims to explore revolutionary potentials, in terms of both conventional as well as radically new fields of Information and Communication Technologies applications. Bringing together multiple disciplines and addressing research across a whole range of issues, from fundamental understandings of material properties to Graphene production, the Flagship will provide the platform for establishing European scientific and technological leadership in the application of Graphene to Information and Communication Technologies. The proposed research includes coverage of electronics, spintronics, photonics, plasmonics and mechanics, all based on Graphene.

Prof. Jari Kinaret
Chalmers University of Technology, SE

Nokia presented a vision of a graphene smartphone.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon and its 2D structure measures just one atom thick. While being thin, it’s the strongest material ever tested, having a breaking strength 200 times greater than steel and is also the lightest material ever, best intrinsic conductor and super-flexible, too. It’s predicted to replace silicon as the base for all electronics.

The project is working out a roadmap for graphene that will have similarities to the international semiconductor roadmap.

The graphene flagship already includes over 130 research groups, representing 80 academic and industrial partners in 21 European countries.

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