For the European Union, a major goal is to counteract the growing innovation activity of Japan Asia and the USA by investing in a multidisciplinary research and technology development for the transformation of its major industries towards the fabrication of high added value technological products. Development of novel multifunctional nanocomposite materials and devices based on them providing new possibilities for the hi-tech industry could serve as a seed for the innovation in accordance with the so-called Lisbon strategy. The expected broad range of entirely new properties and applications related to the cross-coupling effects in multifunctional nanocomposite materials are very attractive for microelectronics, biotechnology, medicine, automobiles, avionics, defence, to name just a few. Examples with relevance to different areas include: direct energy conversion in different combinations magnetic/electric/elastic/thermal, detection devices with both magnetic and electric control, simultaneous tunability of the dielectric constant and magnetic permeability for electromagnetic applications, multiple state memories for data storage in which the information can be written/read/deleted electrically, magnetically, and mechanically, highly sensitive sensors of dc magnetic fields for using in medical imaging and detection devices with both magnetic and electric control, etc. Strong coupling between the magnetic and electric-dipolar subsystems can be useful in the development of microcooling devices that can be used for point cooling in microelectronic elements as well as improved thermal diodes/switchers allowing the flow of the heat only in the desired direction. With the development of integrated electronic elements sensitive to both electric and magnetic fields it will be possible to overcome the limits of nowadays microelectronics that is mainly based on silicon.
From this point of view, ENGIMA may improve the long-term quality of daily life and health of the EU citizens, e.g. by contributing to the development of different smart systems. It is thus envisaged that the proposed project will contribute to filling the gap between Europe and other countries, in which the research activity on multifunctional films is much more advanced. In particular, the fundamental study of the FE, FM, multiferroic and multicolored systems in composite nanomaterial form will significantly promote the development of a European know-how on these materials. Since the area of the project has just emerged, a part of the project (in addition to the technology and basic knowledge acquisition) will be devoted to the promotion of a wider knowledge on multifunctional structures and devices to a broad community, including companies or policymakers. The success of the project will depend on the ability to stimulate public interest to multifunctional thin-film structures with radically new properties. The planned dissemination activities (such as data bank, public website, issuing brochures, public lectures) are detailed in the following sections.
