"To help businesses discover, develop, and deploy new materials twice as fast, we're launching what we call the Materials Genome Initiative. The invention of silicon circuits and lithium-ion batteries made computers and iPods and iPads possible -- but it took years to get those technologies from the drawing board to the marketplace. We can do it faster." -President Barack Obama, June 2011 at Carnegie Mellon University
Goals of the Materials Genome Initiative
The MGI aims to double the speed at which we discover, develop and manufacture new materials by:
-
Developing a “materials innovation infrastructure” that includes:
- Computational tools: software for predictive modeling, simulation, design and exploration
- Experimental tools: synthesis and processing; quantitative characterization and analytic tools; accelerated testing and rapid prototyping; techniques to validate and advance materials theory
- Digital data: data and interoperability standards for material properties; advanced data mining, analytic tools and open/proprietary data warehouses
- Collaborative networks: integrated centers in computation, data informatics and experimentation; sharing of best practices across disparate centers via formal and informal networking; educational materials for the next generation workforce; public/private partnerships
- Building the materials innovation infrastructure while addressing high priority material problems of national importance
- Advancing a culture that supports the use of the materials innovation infrastructure and also embraces a more open, collaborative approach to developing advanced materials
