Materials Science and the Nationaal Groeifonds
This week, the ‘Groeien met Groen Staal’ programme received official approval, just like the materials related programmes on Circular Plastics, Solar Panels, and Batteries received previously.
In all of these programmes colleagues within the field of materials science from Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Twente, Wageningen University & Research, and the University of Groningen are part of the consortium.
Groeien met Groen Staal (GGS)
The 'Groeien met Groen Staal' programme with a consortium of 31 parties within the whole steel sector, all committed to making a positive impact on the environment and the steel industry, is excited to start and take the required steps towards transforming the entire steel cycle in the Netherlands and abroad into a green sustainable cycle.
The programme addresses the environmental challenges facing the steel industry, and will make a significant impact on the environment and the steel industry. 
Five themes:
- System changes
- Production
- Processing
- Use
- Recovery
M2i, the Materials innovation institute, has the opportunity to lead this effort and is looking forward to working with all the partners to achieve the shared goals.
Source & more information: https://groeienmetgroenstaal.nl
Science LinX News (University of Groningen) article:
Will it break or will it bend. Engineering the material properties of green steel
M2i 'Groeien met Groen Staal' promotion video
Energy and Sustainable Development
Within the theme Energy and Sustainable Development (Energie en Duurzame Ontwikkeling) the Rijksoverheid also approved the following materials related programmes:
Circular Plastics NL (CPNL)
Circular Plastics NL (CPNL) is an initiative within the National Growth Fund. The goal is to make plastics fully circular and use subsidies to accelerate the transition. The programme started in 2023, runs for eight years and has eight programme lines. The programme lines focus on bottlenecks in different value chains to close the cycles for existing plastics.
Eight programme lines:
- System integration and design
- Characterisation, sorting and washing
- Mechanical recycling of polyolefin packaging
- Recycling of styrene-based materials
- Chemical depolymerisation
- Thermochemical recycling
- Incubator
- Brightlands Circular Space
Source & more information: https://circularplasticsnl.org
NWO Research Programme (and activities): Making plastics circular: technical innovations
Circular integrated high-efficiency solar panels (SolarNL)
This National Growth Fund proposal aims to create the necessary innovative PV technologies and industrial basis in the Netherlands to capture economic value of billions of euros for decades to come. In addition, this ‘local manufacturing’, using short lines from supply to markets, will generate multiple environmental benefits and reinforce strategic autonomy in our energy supply. On all these points, the proposal is fully aligned with the currently accelerating momentum towards new industrial public policies on EU level.
Three programme lines:
- The initiation of innovative industrial manufacturing of state-of-the-art silicon heterojunction ‘HJT’ solar cells with an efficiency starting at 25%.
- The development of unique roll-to-roll manufacturing technology for perovskite-PV foils.
- The development of develop lightweight PV products that can be integrated into buildings or vehicles.
Source & more information: https://www.solarnl.eu/
TKI Urban Energy, Topsector Energy, Project in Beeld: SolarNL
Material Independence & Circular Batteries (BCC-NL)
The Battery Competence Cluster–NL received on June 30th, 2024 the news that its National Growth Fund proposal 'Material Independence & Circular Batteries' has been approved. It has drawn up the proposal with more than 60 companies and knowledge institutions. To make the Netherlands less dependent on scarce and critical raw materials for batteries and to capitalize on opportunities in the battery industry. The programme focuses on sustainable and circular batteries, which are important for our heavy-duty mobility sector and for improving the electricity grid. 
The four thematic pillars of the Battery Competence Cluster–NL:
- Second-use materials and recycling
Realizing recycling capacity and developing second use scenarios - Sustainable battery components and production processes
Development and production of new battery materials and corresponding production processes and equipment - Battery systems for heavy-duty mobility
Development and production of battery modules and packs for buses, trucks, vessels - Battery systems for a sustainable energy supply
A better balance of the grid with bulk batteries
Source & more information: https://batterycompetencecluster.nl/
Brainport Eindhoven: Battery Competence Cluster - NL