Materia Nova

Established by the Faculté Polytechnique de Mons (FPMs) and the Université de Mons-Hainaut (UMH), in the framework of the EU Objective 1 in Hainaut, the Centre of Excellence Materia Nova (MaNo) has operated as an autonomous organisation (asbl, non-profit-making) since 2001. MaNo and NATISS merged on 1 July 2008 to form one approved center. Since 2011, MaNo has joined EMRA which gathers the Environment, Materials and Process expertise and capabilities of 6 Research Centers in order to face the huge economic, social and environmental challenges for sustainable development

The non-profit-making organization, with its head office in the heart of the Initialis Science Park in Mons, employs more than 85 highly qualified researchers and technicians. It aims to work in partnership with businesses to develop the new materials of the future, but also to improve those currently in use.

The main competences are in the field of: bio-sourced materials, polymer nanocomposites, biodegradable materials, plasma surface treatments, development and evaluation of anticorrosion treatments, development of chemical gas micro-sensors and organic semiconductors. MaNo particularly specializes in the area of surfaces and interfaces of materials (metals, glass, polymers, etc.), and also in the field of polymers (in particular nanocomposites and bioplastics). In the field of surface treatment MaNo is active in the development of plasma vacuum coatings for surface new functionalities including hard, corrosion resistant, conductors, and antibacterial thin films.

MaNo has also developed its own high energy power supply for increased film properties.

The Surface Treatment department is also very active in the coating performance through surface analysis and corrosion evaluation (accelerated ageing tests classically carried out for the industries or on the base of original combination of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and ageing tests). Many R&D projects, testing or technological support are or were carried out for industries like ArcelorMittal, Vallourec, Sonaca, AGC, Areva,… or SMEs like BTN, Matrio,…

In 2012, MaNo managed in parallel 49 R&D projects of varying sizes. These projects range from feasibility studies (request of companies) to European Projects (European Framework Program - FP7). MaNo is project leader of SINOPLISS (FEDER - CONVERGENCE), multi-partner project (5 partners) - Budget € 6 865 652 for 84 months. MaNo is involved in 3 trans boundary Research Program (INTERREG IV) and is project leader of two of them (NANOLAC and CATARR).MaNo is involved in large research programs, multi-partner, associated multinationals companies and SMEs. Materia developed many innovative research projects in partnership with other centers of R&D where complementarity is required (regional collaborative research). MaNo used to manage research programs with different types of funds. Teams are organized to monitor each program concerning both the reporting and the valorization as well as concerning the administrative aspects.