Established in 1993 in Mainz, Germany, PlasmaChem is dedicated to the development, production and sales of nanomaterials and their formulations, medical devices, and analytical equipment. The company has developed and demonstrated an innovative method of producing novel surface-passivated titanium-based ceramic nanopowder (TiNO), which exhibits excellent colloidal stability in different media, and exceptional light and heat absorption properties. The developed manufacturing process is ecologically safe. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most produced polymers worldwide (28 Mio tonnes), with over 15 Mio tonnes used in the manufacture of packaging items, for food, medicine, drinks, household, personal care, automotive and industrial products. Approximately 100 Mio PET bottles are produced worldwide, every day, mostly using an injection stretch blow moulding (ISBM) process. In this process, infrared (IR) lamps are used to heat the pre-forms above their glass transition temperature (around 100°C), so that they can be blown to the required shape. The IR heating stage of the process consumes ~330 kWh per tonne of PET, and accounts for ~94% of the energy consumed in the process. TiNO blended in low concentrations with a polymer can significantly improve the heat absorption properties of the polymer blend. PlasmaChem’s results indicate that the addition of just 10 ppm of TiNO in PET enables significant reduction of energy use in the PET blow-moulding process. The use of TiNO in the production of food packaging items from PET would allow global savings of ~750 GWh annually (a saving of ~€200 Mio in energy costs). The use of TiNO in other plastics, could allow a total saving in energy costs of more than €4-10 billion annually. The projected global need for TiNO in PET packaging alone, is 60-120 tonnes (at 10-20 ppm) per year. Aim of this project is to further scale up our prototype and to produce and commercialize TiNO for the PET and other sectors.

COGITOR represents a novel approach to cybernetics, proposing the study of Colloidal (liquid) Cybernetic Systems (CCS), a multifunctional liquid-based platform that we have designed to be capable of pressure sensing (i), computing and data storage (ii), energy harvesting (iii) and integrating fully custom electronics (iv). A CCS provides operation in extreme environments by definition, having distributed architecture (homogeneous liquid plus random network architecture), being fault-tolerant and featuring self-healing capabilities. Within COGITOR in 54 months the consortium will provide a platform where liquid electronics efforts can converge from all over the world, making European research the point of reference for this big step forward. COGITOR measurable and specific objectives are: i) creating an impedance liquid state pressure sensor with spatial and temporal resolution; ii) producing an holonomic reversible memory written/erased electrically and read by tomographic Microwave Impedance Spectroscopy; the electrical operation will be used to implement learning (both sequential and concurrent) and calculation, where the system acts as a many-input Boolean circuit; iii) harvesting energy from a thermal gradient artificially induced by IR radiation upon the prototype; iv) integration and testing of the final CCS prototype, testing self-healing and fault tolerance capabilities, as well as assessing interference, also under EE conditions varying T, p and B. The engineering applications that we plan to exploit will be part of the intellectual property of a spin-off company. The consortium is well-balanced with cutting edge Research Organizations across EU (IIT – Italy, UWE – UK, EMPA - Suisse) and companies (PC – Germany, PNO – Spain) that will closely collaborate to develop and really transfer knowledge and innovations into products and related services.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major burden that affects ~ 40 million of EU citizens, with enormous direct and indirect costs for the European healthcare systems, quantified in ~ 50.4 billion euros per year. This disease involves the degeneration of cartilage and other joint structures and is one of the most common causes of pain and disability in middle-aged and elderly people. ADMAIORA aims in the long-term at increasing the healthy and active lifespan of people affected by OA, by considerably slowing down or even stopping the degeneration process, thus delaying or avoiding surgical interventions for total joint replacement. Within the project time-frame the target is to achieve a 60% reduction of degeneration in OA animal models treated with the ADMAIORA technologies, with respect to control (untreated) ones, after 4 weeks, and a 90% reduction after 3 months. To achieve this ambitious objective the Consortium will evolve and merge technologies that already showed a high potential as experimental proof of concepts (TRL = 3) and will bring them at a preclinical level (TRL = 5). The ADMAIORA Consortium will develop biosynthetic hydrogels embedded with carbon-based nanomaterials, conferring higher mechanical and lubrication properties, and piezoelectric nanoparticles enabling responsivity to remote wireless ultrasound waves. Stem cells derived from autologous adipose tissue, which already demonstrated anti-inflammatory and regenerative properties, will be entrapped in the hydrogels. Materials and cells will be delivered in situ through an innovative handheld 3D bioprinter, embedded in an arthroscopic tool. A custom brace will be designed and equipped with ultrasound probes for both monitoring the joint status and stimulating the implanted piezoelectric nanobiomaterial. A dedicated App will allow a direct connection between patient and physician in an Internet of Things framework. Overall, ADMAIORA will target a ground-breaking paradigm that may revolutionize OA treatment.