Project description
Disruptive technology for smart, flexible fibres
The market opportunity for smart fabrics has great potential. However, it remains untapped mainly because of production methods and strategies concerning functionalities. The EU-funded SENFLEX project will develop prototypes where the functionalities of smart fabrics are derived from fibres themselves. It will assess the technology’s commercial feasibility and examine the market and scalability for several important applications. It will also deliver a business plan outlining a go-to-market strategy, the business potential and product development approach. The fibres will be easy to fabricate in large amounts and could be integrated into a broad selection of fabrics. The project should lay the groundwork for cost-efficient smart fabrics that have advanced functionalities.
Objective
"Smart fabrics remain a promising market opportunity, however one that has not lived up to its potential yet. One of the key issues with current smart fabrics lies in the production methods and the strategy to impart functionalities. These rely on the integration of meshes of rigid electronics, or arrays of conductive yarns on soft mats or tissues. This heavily affects the fabrication and connection, costs, robustness and user’s experience of current smart fabrics.
The SENFLEX project proposes a disruptive solution where the functionalities of smart fabrics come from fibers themselves. During his ERC Starting grant project ""FLOWTONICS"", the PI demonstrated that some thermoplastic elastomers could be co-drawn with other materials such as liquid metals, polymer nanocomposites or optical materials, into long functional fibers. He and his team could in particular develop truly smart and flexible fibers called SenFlex, that can be elastically deformed and sense the imposed mechanical constraints in unprecedented ways. SenFlex fibers are simple to fabricate at large scale and can be integrated in a variety of fabrics. They can also be imparted with novel robust and truly distributed sensing designs that require little electrical connections and exhibit low power consumption, paving the way towards smart fabrics with advanced functionalities at drastically reduced costs.
In the SENFLEX project, we will assess the commercial feasibility of SenFlex fibers that have the potential to disrupt the € 5 billion smart fabrics market. We will investigate the market and scalability of our technology for several key applications. Our final deliverables are large-scale prototypes with proven industrial scalability and a business plan that describes our go-to-market strategy, business potential and product development approach. The prototypes and business plan will be used to convince strategic partners and investors for the next step towards commercialization.
"
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering fibers
- natural sciences chemical sciences polymer sciences
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- engineering and technology materials engineering nanocomposites
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2018-PoC
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
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.
1015 LAUSANNE
Switzerland
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.