Seven consortia with top scientists from various Dutch universities will receive a total of 142.7 million euros to conduct scientific research in the coming years as part of the Gravitation programme. Minister Dijkgraaf (OCW) makes this funding available to scientific consortia that can participate in pioneering research in their field among the world's best.
Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (OCW): “Peace and space are essential for conducting research at the highest international level. With this strong impulse we offer long-term prospects and adequate funding to collaborating excellent research groups. Researchers from these scientific consortia, who are among the world's best in their field, can use Gravitation to work on groundbreaking research."
Research of the highest international level
The Gravitation program allows researchers to conduct top university research and collaborate in a multidisciplinary manner for a period of ten years. One of the pillars of the program is collaboration across disciplines and universities. Together, in consortia, the scientists set up excellent scientific research programmes. The aim of Gravitation is to promote the formation of a center of gravity of an international top level.
The studies in which Holland High Tech is involved are:
Sustainable artificial fabrics
Main applicant: Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. Amount: € 15,6 million.
Plastics, or synthetics, have become an integral part of our world. Without plastics, we could never have achieved today's life expectancy and prosperity. However, traditional plastics can often perform one static function only. The amount of plastic waste is also enormous. We are now at a turning point.
Objective: a new generation of intelligent, dynamic plastics that, through interaction with the environment, perform exceptionally better, are easily degradable and reusable.
Materials for the Quantum Era
Main applicant: Universiteit Utrecht. Amount: € 21,5 million.
Silicon transistors are the basis of our information society and have contributed enormously to our prosperity. However, there is a rapidly increasing demand for more powerful forms of calculation and information processing.
Objective: new materials with stable quantum states. This makes the existing ways of processing information much more powerful and at the same time more energy efficient. In addition, stable quantum states can form the basis for very powerful new methods of quantum computation and quantum information processing.
