The Strategic Initiative Materials ‘SIM’ is a virtual research centre, initiated in 2009 by the Flemish Materials industry and the Flemish Universities.

SIM’s mission is to further strengthen the scientific materials base and to build technology platforms with sufficient critical mass in relevant material-related areas. It is generating and enhancing an open innovation environment enabling close collaboration between companies, between academia, as well as between industry & academia.

Themes with strategic importance for Flanders have been identified. Research programs fitting within these themes are developed by consortia of companies and research institutions. The (basic) knowledge developed is initially being further developed and implemented by the industrial program partners for their specific market needs but is at the same time made available for interested parties for other applications and market sectors.

The SIM themes are:

- Materials for Energy and Light

- Durable & Sustainable Structural Materials

- Tailored Nano Materials

- Predictive Modelling and Advanced Material Characterisation

- Recyclable Materials (*)

(*) : Not yet open for program submission

Flamac, an existing research platform focusing on high throughput experimentation and molecular modeling was integrated into SIM. More information can be found at www.flamac.be

The Key Performance Indicators for the SIM initiative are attached.