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Unveiling Innovation Potential of Circular Approaches in Automotive Electronics and Beyond

Project description

Green and circular technologies for automotive electronics

To reach climate targets, the EU must reduce its emissions from the transport sector. It is also important to improve the efficiency of our transport system and pave the way for zero-emission mobility. The EU-funded UNICORN project will increase the circularity-driven functional integration of electronics in automotive. It will do so by embedding eco-design principles and ensuring net beneficial effect on climate change mitigation. Specifically, the project will design and develop innovative green and circular technologies for automotive electronics. These include lightweight, low impact and bio-based materials, as well as the implementation for material circularity. UNICORN will establish a vision and roadmap to ensure functional electronics support EU mobility climate targets.

Objective

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.

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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL4-2021-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01

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Coordinator

VDI/VDE INNOVATION + TECHNIK GMBH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 455 000,00
Address
Steinplatz 1
10623 Berlin
Germany

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Region
Berlin Berlin Berlin
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 455 000,00

Participants (12)

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