Graphene Flagship Initiative Gets First Associated Members

The Graphene Flagship — an initiative intended to bring together researchers, engineers, and corporations interested in advancing graphene-based technologies — recently welcomed its first four associated members.

Those first four associated members — ABB (Switzerland), Netzsch (Germany), NetComposites (UK), and Imerys (Switzerland) — represent what is simply one of the first steps (ideally) towards the creation of a large, pan-European organization dedicated to the exploitation of the (potentially) highly useful material.

As it stands currently, the Graphene Flagship is comprised of 142 partners in 23 different countries.

Now you may be asking yourself, “Well, what’s the difference between being one of those 142 ‘partners’ and being an ‘associated member’?” And that’s a good question.

The purpose of the introduction of the new “associated members” is, reportedly, to aid and facilitate the alignment and flow of information between the initiative and other entities.

Here’s a bit of background on the new associated members:

• ABB – a global leader in power and automation technologies
• NetComposites – a global research, consultancy and online media company focusing on the composite materials industry
• Imerys Graphite & Carbon – previously TimCal, one of the world’s leading suppliers of graphite for energy storage, engineering materials and conductive polymers
• Netzsch– an industrial tool supplier specialising in mechanical grinding, milling, dispersion and de-aeration.

Graphene Flagship director Jari Kinaret commented: “We are very happy to welcome our first four associated members. The flagship is much more than just the EU-financed part, and we are keen to form partnerships with groups that help the flagship reach its overriding goal, taking graphene and related materials from academic laboratories into society.”

While the initiate could very well lead to a wider adoption of the “wonder material,” there are still a number of issues to be addressed before graphene can be economically used on the industrial scale. Obviously, though, there’s money to be made there…. So, we’ll see.

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Image Credit: Graphene Via Shutterstock