Data is all around us. It is pervasive and plentiful. All aspects of life are increasingly dependent on data. Governments, business ventures, public utility services and citizens are storing data. As a consequence, there is a growing need to enhance the robustness of data storage systems. This need has led to the development of digital and cloud-based innovations but demand exists for even better data storage systems. The EU-funded MAGIC-SWITCH project has contributed to create a new type of compact data storage memory at an industrial-relevant level. The project has built a prototype of magnetoelectric memory, and we have created a business case for commercial exploitation, particularly for USB memory units. During the course of the PoC action, we have identified the Information Technology vertical as a key market, including segments such as businesses, governments, healthcare organisations that aim to move towards storing and releasing information via networks, intranets, extranets and the Internet. Directly linked to this PoC project, we have submitted the patent “A magnetoelectric device and uses of the magnetoelectric device” (date of submission July 2020, patent number EP20382628). This patent has received positive evaluation by the European Patent Office and, during May 2021, we submitted the corresponding Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The project has a potential strong impact both for society and economy since it delivers a new type of memory device which energy consumption is two orders of magnitude less than current existing technologies.
