This proposal describes the third core project of the Graphene Flagship. It forms the fourth phase of the FET flagship and is characterized by a continued transition towards higher technology readiness levels, without jeopardizing our strong commitment to fundamental research. Compared to the second core project, this phase includes a substantial increase in the market-motivated technological spearhead projects, which account for about 30% of the overall budget. The broader fundamental and applied research themes are pursued by 15 work packages and supported by four work packages on innovation, industrialization, dissemination and management. The consortium that is involved in this project includes over 150 academic and industrial partners in over 20 European countries.

This proposal describes the third stage of the EC-funded part of the Graphene Flagship. It builds upon the results achieved in the ramp-up phase (2013 - 2016) and the first core project (2016 - 2018), and covers the period April 2018 - March 2020. The progress of the flagship follows the general plans set out in the Framework Partnership Agreement, and the second core project represents an additional step towards higher technology and manufacturing readiness levels. The Flagship is built upon the concept of value chains, one of which is along the axis of materials-components-systems; the ramp-up phase placed substantial resources on the development of materials production technologies, the first core project moved to emphasise components, and the second core project will move further towards integrating components in larger systems. This evolution is manifested, e.g., in the introduction of six market-motivated spearhead projects during the Core 2 project.

The vision of 1D-NEON proposal is to develop fibre-based smart materials along with an integrated technology platform for the manufacturing in Europe of new products with multi-sectorial applications in consumer electronics, energy, healthcare and fitness, smart buildings, sensors and e-skin for soft robotics. The overall objective of 1D-NEON is to build a modular platform for manufacturing fibre-based industrial products in multiple market sectors. Nanomaterials will be assembled into five basic fibre components along with manufacturing processes for integration into smart products, to impact three pilot applications. Our design and manufacturing approach will address both technical performance and cost-effectiveness of these multi-sectorial applications, targeting sustainable development of new high-value, high performance devices and systems that could be integrated safely into everyday objects for an improved quality of life. With that perspective, 1D-NEON fully addresses the challenges of the H2020 work programme topic NMP 22 – 2015: Fibre-based materials for non-clothing applications.