Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EMMC-CSA (European Materials Modelling Council)

Teaser

The development of new and improved materials and the use of existing materials in new applications across different industries are a significant innovation driver and a key factor for the success and sustainability of industry and European society in general. The integration...

Summary

The development of new and improved materials and the use of existing materials in new applications across different industries are a significant innovation driver and a key factor for the success and sustainability of industry and European society in general.

The integration of materials modelling and digitalisation of materials sciences is considered critical for more agile and sustainable product development. The use of materials modelling throughout the entire materials life cycle will make a strong contribution to enhance innovation and competitiveness on a global level. This integration is aligned with the drive for a digital society that assists in developing a circular economy and addresses societal needs.

The aim of the EMMC-CSA was to establish complementary activities necessary to bring the field of materials modelling closer to the demands of manufacturers (both small and large enterprises) and to sustain the successful software industry in Europe. More than 50 workshops and expert meetings were organised with the goal to collect the input on different relevant topics. The digested reports contributed to the strategic EMMC RoadMaps that are updated annually.

EMMC-CSA identified and proposed a set of underpinning and enabling actions (Figure 1) to increase the industrial exploitation of materials modelling in Europe:

• Improve interaction and collaboration between all stakeholders involved in different types of modelling and digitalisation of materials, including processes and manufacturing.
• Identify the main obstacles to the increased use of modelling and digitalisation of materials in European industry and develop strategies to overcome them.
• To facilitate the integrated modelling and digitalisation of materials on a solid and coherent basis.
• Coordinate and support actors and mechanisms for the rapid transfer of academic innovation to end users and potential beneficiaries in industry.
• Support the sustainability of modelling and digitalisation of materials in Europe.
• Increase awareness and adoption of materials modelling in industry, especially in small and medium enterprises.
• Support the software industry for materials modelling in Europe.

Work performed

Model Development and Validation: constituted a key pillar and foundation of materials modelling itself and the focus lay on the models therein, and their quality and (industrial) relevance. Activities were focused on identification of model gaps, establishing roadmaps for model development and on validation of materials models as a joint activity between modellers, industrial stakeholders, translators and software owners. The interoperability of models, namely the coupling and linking of different models, was also included, and required defining a theoretical infrastructure, across different model length and time scales.

Interoperability and Integration: a first level of standardisation has been achieved through the process of a CEN Workshop on Materials modelling terminology, classification and metadata. The end result was the adoption of a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA), a best practices document for further standardisation efforts and input for the development of a future certification scheme.
Further activities included building of the European Materials Modelling Ontology (EMMO), which was largely based on the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as an upper level ontology. This activity has impact even beyond modelling: on materials properties, characterisation, processing, etc. In addition, semantic interoperability was demonstrated and an Open Simulation Platform (OSP) concept elaborated. The EMMC wide stakeholder community clearly showed interest for involvement in interoperability, ontology and standardisation activities.

Data repositories and marketplace: Material Knowledge and Information Management:
EMMC-CSA had the activities to promote and coordinate with Marketplace and repositories in EU in order to increase interaction and collaboration among all stakeholders so as to create an easier access point to all repositories. This is achieved by promoting interoperability between repositories and to create a catalogue of all repositories on the EMMC-Marketplace. The second was to establish the EMMC-Marketplace hub as neutral gateway to third-party Marketplace and databases.

Translation and Training for Companies:
EMMC-CSA developed methodologies for Translators and translation processes adapted to various industrial sectors. Based on wide community feedback, the Translator’s profile and the relative tasks have been defined and formalized in the Translators Guide. The CSA worked on the establishment of best and worst practices and a code of conduct.
The methodological compilation of training material for translators is performed throughout the whole project and it is being used for the organization of training sessions in selected events.

Professional Software Deployment: a “White paper for standards of modelling software development” described development standards and guidelines for software development to facilitate the transfer from academic development work to successful applications by end users. A “White paper for software licensing and business models” addressed the important issues of intellectual property rights and licensing schemes. The key outcome was raising the awareness of the economic impact of innovative materials modelling software. Furthermore, EMMC-CSA elaborated training material for standards in software development to be used for developers of modelling software in the form of electronic documents and, as appropriate, tutorials and material for webinars. It included collecting the feedback on the adoption of materials modelling in teaching courses.

Industrial Integration and Economic Impact: had a goal to assess the economic impact of materials modelling on industrial prosperity, define and document case studies. The goal was to raise and measure the materials modelling impact with a specific emphasis on coordinating the development of Business Decision Support Systems (BDSS). These platforms should allow an end-user to select, connect and through multi-objective optimisation drive f

Final results

EMMC-CSA had strong contribution to following impacts with a number of coordination and support activities:

-Materials modelling and related databases will become much more accessible and usable
-Better access to the large pool of knowledge of materials modelling which exists in Europe
-Higher efficiency through integrated solutions of discrete and continuum models & materials databases for industrial use
-Increased efficiency and industrial effectiveness of materials models in industry and research
-Industrial best practice (methodologies) for end-users increasing speed of development in industries


In August 2019, the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC) already arrived at about 1000 registered members with an interest in materials modelling and digitalisation of materials sciences.
A non-profit Association, EMMC ASBL, was registered in July 2019 in Brussel in order to ensure continuity, growth and sustainability of EMMC-CSA activities.

Website & more info

More info: https://emmc.info/.