Expected Outcome:

This topic refers to the innovation market for Healthcare and Medicine, which affects many citizens and their needs. Several materials specifications and related innovations needs will support this topic such as renewable and recyclable materials, alternative active ingredients, design for circularity, lightweight materials. The topic should address several key policies of the European Union such as Circular Economy Action Plan, EU Chemicals strategy.

Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:

• Develop the swiftly growing innovation market of medical applications, which is dependent on advanced biocompatible materials that can be printed or injected, including 4D materials that change their 3D structures following external impact (e.g. thermic, electric, mechanical or radiation treatment).
• Medical and/or surgical procedures will benefit from injectable materials for non-invasive surgical procedures.
• Some of their advantages include easy deliverability into the body, increased implantation precision, controllable release of therapeutic agents, antimicrobial properties and the possibility of monitoring or stimulating biological events.

Medical suppliers can commercialise injectable hydrogels, including those made of nanocomposite, natural and synthetic polymer-based biomaterials, bone cements, bio-ceramics and electronics.

Scope:

Proposals should address at least four of the following activities:

• To enable a fast development of new advanced novel injectable biomaterials, digital tools such as modelling, simulation and characterisation techniques (including those provided by analytical infrastructures) assisted by advanced methods e.g. physics-based methods, machine learning or artificial intelligence.
• The innovation market of medical applications is fast growing and dependent on advanced biocompatible materials that can be printed or injected. The 4D materials will change their 3D structures after external impact such as thermic, electric, mechanical or radiation treatment.
• Proposals shall demonstrate new engineering strategies that present functional characteristics beyond bio-compatibility, and express properties that can be used to control the physiological environment (shape-memory, self-healing properties) and induce a response.
• Proposals shall address biomaterials with antibacterial properties contributing to the widespread bottleneck of antimicrobial resistance often encountered in clinical care
• Demonstrate the scaling of injectable hydrogels, including those made of nanocomposite, natural and synthetic polymer-based biomaterials, bone cements, bio-ceramics and electronics.
• The design for circularity has to develop, when relevant, bio-degradable or bio-absorbable biomaterials that are gradually eliminated by the body after fulfilling a purpose.

The biomaterials used should be safe and sustainable by design (SSbD), taking also into account any specific medical requirements.

Proposals submitted under this topic should include a business case and exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. An early involvement of end users could be essential.

Projects should build on or seek collaboration with existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes and platforms.#

Where relevant, proposals should seek links with and capitalise on the results of past and ongoing EU funded research projects, including the ones under Cluster 1 “Health” and Cluster 6 'Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment.

Specific Topic Conditions:

Activities are expected to start at TRL 3-4 achieve TRL 5-6 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

This call for proposals follows a two-stage submission scheme:

1. submission of a 10 page short proposal until 07 Feb 2024
2. selected proposals are invited to submit a full proposal until 24 Sept 2024