Research Profile: Advanced Materials

Whether it is sustainable mobility, digital transformation, the energy transition or modern medical technology – innovative materials are the key to tackling the major challenges of our time. They form the basis for technological breakthroughs, ensure the competitiveness of our industry and play a decisive role in maintaining quality of life and prosperity. Already today, around 70 per cent of all product innovations are based on new material properties. Without high-performance materials, there would be no modern cars or aeroplanes, no efficient batteries, no quantum computers, no bespoke implants from 3D printers, and no reliable supply of clean drinking water.

Advanced materials are indispensable for a greenhouse gas-neutral economy and more resilient societies. According to the OECD definition, these are entirely new or further developed materials with specifically engineered advantageous structural or functional properties. Advanced materials help to substitute critical raw materials, increase energy and resource efficiency, and implement circular economy concepts. Furthermore, methods such as computer-aided modelling, digital materials databases and AI-supported simulation are giving rise to entirely new approaches to the development, processing and application of materials.

Research into advanced materials at HTWK Leipzig therefore brings together different disciplines and technologies: from materials development itself (such as fibre-reinforced composites or bio-inspired implant materials), through the multifunctionalisation of materials (e.g. by integrating sensor networks or implementing energy storage functions in materials), to digital materials research (such as computer-aided modelling methods or digital twins) and modern manufacturing processes (e.g. additive manufacturing).