To strengthen EU’s global competitiveness and resilience, the updated Industrial Strategy calls for accelerating the green and digital transitions of key European ecosystems. UNICORN foresees functional electronics as an enabler & catalyser of EU mobility’s twin transition. Using a car-as-a lab, UNICORN is aiming at increasing the circularity-driven functional integration of electronics in automotive, while simultaneously embedding eco-design principles in their development and ensuring net beneficial effect on climate change mitigation. UNICORN will demonstrate a capability to design & develop innovative green and circular technologies for automotive electronics, based on four electronic systems (composite-embedded, in-molded, textile/plastic and rubber-integrated) taken from industrial use cases for a battery casing, a dashboard, a seat/door system and a tire. Solutions will 1) encompass lightweight, low impact and/or bio-based materials for (flexible) substrates, films, encapsulation, inks, solvents, adhesives and flat cabling & interconnects; 2) validate resource/energy efficient, net shape, additive, printing, encapsulating and (reversible) bonding manufacturing processes for circuitry, sensors, gauges, antennas, interconnects; and 3) implement design for material circularity via reversible design, modularity, form factors to increase disassembly and recovery of valuable material. For harnessing benefits of these technologies, UNICORN will set a new methodology for net impact assessment and eco-design guidelines for automotive electronics designers & developers. It will establish a vision and roadmap on the role of functional electronics for supporting EU mobility climate targets, and set the blueprints for transfers in further application sectors. UNICORN gathers 12 partners (7 companies) mutualising skills and pilot/industrial capacities on flexible, printed & organic electronics, circularity & regulatory competences and business leaderships in Automotive.

The DOMUS project aims to change radically the way in which vehicle passenger compartments and their respective comfort control systems are designed so as to optimise energy use and efficiency while keeping user comfort and safety needs central. Although a more thorough understanding of thermal comfort over recent years has led to significant increases in energy efficiency through better insulation and natural ventilation, substantial room for improvement still exists. With Electric Vehicles (EVs) in particular, which are emerging as the most sustainable option for both satisfying the future mobility needs in Europe and reducing the impact on the environment, inefficiencies must be minimized due to their detrimental effect on the range. Starting with activities to gain a better understanding of comfort, combined with the development of numerical models which represent both the thermal and acoustic characteristics of the passenger compartment, DOMUS aims to create a validated framework for virtual assessment and optimization of the energy used. In parallel, innovative solutions for glazing, seats, insulation and radiant panels, will be developed along with controllers to optimize their performance individually and when operating in combination, the optimal configuration of which will be derived through numerical simulation. The aim is that the combined approach of innovating at a component level together with optimising the overall configuration will deliver at least the targeted 25% improvement in EV range without compromising passenger comfort and safety. Furthermore, the project will demonstrate the key elements of the new approach in a real prototype vehicle. As such DOMUS aims to create a revolutionary approach to the design of vehicles from a user-centric perspective for optimal efficiency, the application of which will be key to increasing range and hence customer acceptance and market penetration of EVs in Europe and around the world in the coming years.

The EU requires also electronics industry to achieve the ambitious goals of the EU Green Deal, Circular Economy Action Plan and Industrial Strategy for reduction of energy and material consumption, and utilization of circular value chains. Sustronics project is targeting to improve capabilities of European electronics industry to meet these goals and develop new business opportunities from sustainable and greener electronics combined with increase in productivity and new functionalities. The current electronic industry poses significant environmental impacts, such as increasing amount of e-waste, great demand for critical raw materials, and high energy consumption during manufacturing. Electronics industry can specifically decrease its environmental burden by shifting from fossil-based materials to bio-based materials, decreasing use of metals, utilizing additive manufacturing processes, and developing miniaturized and integrated components, but also in broader scope by utilizing efficient circular economy business models that enable reuse, recycle and repair of critical materials and components. Sustronics main goal is to support renewal of European electronics industry towards circular economy, eco-design, bio-based materials, and material- and energy-efficient manufacturing processes. Thereby, Sustronics will re-design electronics products into circular, compostable and reusable products, and demonstrate that there are business opportunities in sustainable electronics. Quantification of environmental impact, definition of business models, involvement of external stakeholders, and means to guarantee compatibility with policies and standards will guide the project implementation. The pilots will focus on healthcare, diagnostics, and industrial sectors, including topics such as medical and personal health devices, single-use and wearable diagnostics, sustainable lighting solutions and embedded electronics for automotive.

BioInspired Oleophobic Self-Cleaning surfaces for Automotive indoor environment The fast development of new types of mobility based on car sharing, with frequent change of drivers and occupants of the vehicle, reinforces the need for the development of innovative automotive interior materials surfaces with anti-fouling and self-cleaning properties, especially against oily deposits. Based on bioinspired models of superoleophobic surface texture and composition, from natural species such as springtails, the BIOSCA project gathers two research laboratories specialized in bio-inspired surface functionalization, and two major actors of the automotive industry. It combines 1) the preparation and structuration at the nano and micro levels of polymer surfaces, 2) their chemical functionalization to achieve low surface energy, 3) the evaluation of performances on automotive interior materials samples and process industrialization. This applied research project relies on complementary scientific expertises of the academic partners. One research laboratory has developed an expertise to create polymer films exhibiting topographical features such as hierarchical organization and re-entrant roughness or porosity relevant for superoleophobicity. This topography can be achieved by the “breath figure” (BF) process leading to honeycomb films in close-packed hexagonal arrays after fast drying of a polymer solution under a humid air-flow. It can also combine nanoscale self-assembly of diblock copolymers. Another research laboratory, coordinator of the project, is one of the world leaders in the preparation of bioinspired superhydrophobic/suoeroleophobic surfaces thanks to a molecular conception developed from the deposition of polymers to their nanostructural and chemical surface functionalization using electrochemical and plasma-assisted treatments. The industrial partners will select car interior parts of interest for anti-fouling and self-cleaning treatment, and will prepare samples of car interior materials, possibly painted or film-coated. After their surface treatment by the academic partners theses samples will undergo a series of standardized tests to validate and quantify the performance of the process, including its durability after ageing. They will also analyze the technical and economical feasibility of industrializing the process, with environment compliance criteria and cost targets. Possible extension to other car parts and to other industrial sectors will also be examined.