Recruit ERA Chair Holder, Experienced Researchers, and Innovation Manager

The objective of this Action Step is to recruit outstanding candidates for the ERA Chair Holder, experienced researchers and innovation manager. This Action Step will be implemented in WP1.

SUT will adopt a recruitment approach that ensures a fair and transparent selection and judges the merits of the candidates according to their potential, previous qualifications, and experience. The recruitment process will follow the guidelines set out in the EC’s Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. Furthermore, SUT will respect the European policy of non-discrimination and equality between women and men in the Treaty of the European Union (Articles 2 and 3). The positions will be open to all EU and non-EU nationals.

The ERA Chair Holder will need to be an outstanding researcher and research manager in the field of Organic Electronics, with a proven record of effective leadership. S/he will have an autonomous position as Professor that will allow her/him to formulate a Strategic Research Programme for the CoE, recruit the ERA Chair team members, make appropriate resource allocation decisions, supervise team members and freely apply for research funding, in order to raise the level of research excellence of the institution. S/he will be appointed to a full-time position in accordance with Polish legislation for the remaining duration of the project.

The candidate selection criteria will include: Research excellence, experience (e.g. management and international research), research publications and motivation. The selected candidate must hold a PhD in Physics, Organic Chemistry, Electronics or a related field and must have at least six years of post-doctoral experience. Experience in PhD supervision is essential, as lead or co-supervisor (it is expected that the candidate will have already supervised or co-supervised a handful of students to completion). Preference will be given to candidates showing significant results at the basic research level outlined by highly cited publications.

Establish ERA Chair Strategic Research Programme and Postgraduate Training

The objective of this Action Step is two-fold: the ERA Chair Holder is to produce a Strategic Research Programme for the Centre of Excellence in Organic Electronics and the ERA Chair Team is to develop postgraduate training (PhD and MSc) in Organic Electronics. This Action Step will be implemented in WP2.

The Strategic Research Programme will define the CoE’s research priorities; allocation of resources to research priorities (personnel and budget); objectives for the postgraduate training programme; objectives for submitting papers to specific journal publications; and objectives for submitting proposals to specific national and EU funding programmes. The ERA Chair Holder will need to produce an initial version of the Strategic Research Programme early in the project and then update it periodically as necessary.

The ERA Chair Team will be responsible for developing PhD training in Organic Electronics within the Faculty of Chemistry’s PhD programme run together with SUT’s Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology and Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Polymers. Currently, the main specialities of the PhD programme are in Chemistry, Chemical Technology, and Chemical Engineering. With the support of the ERA Chair Team, a specialisation and critical mass of PhD candidates will be established in Organic Electronics.

The ERA Chair Team will be responsible for developing a new Master’s specialisation dedicated to Organic Electronics. This specialisation will be offered as an option amongst the three Master’s programmes – Chemistry, Chemical Technology, and Chemical Technology and Engineering – currently provided by SUT’s Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology and Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Polymers.

The ERA Chair Team will regularly monitor the training needs and assess the progress of individual PhD candidates and MSc students in Organic Electronics. The team will be responsible for ensuring the quality and academic standards of the training and career development for each PhD candidate/MSc student are in accordance with SUT’s quality framework for postgraduate training.

Ensure the CoE supports Poland’s SMART Specialisation and European Research Priorities

The objective of this Action Step is two-fold: ensure the CoE supports Poland’s SMART Specialisation priorities as well as European research priorities. This Action Step will be implemented in WP3.

Poland’s SMART Specialisation priorities

The ExCEED project will contribute to multiple national priorities, particularly those grouped under “Sustainable Energy” and “Innovative Technologies and Industrial Processes (in Horizontal Approach).”

Sustainable Energy: The ExCEED project will contribute to Poland’s Priority 7, “High efficiency, low-emission and integrated energy production, storage, transmission and distribution systems” as well as Priority 8, “Smart and energy efficient construction.” It is crucial to exchange knowledge about organic electronics to promote energy efficient lighting and solar energy. OLED devices, for example, could use almost 10 times less energy in comparison to traditional LEDs. By exchanging knowledge about cutting-edge TADF processes and OLED optimisation techniques, this promising technology could eventually improve energy efficiency in Poland and across Europe.

 Innovative Technologies and Industrial Processes (in Horizontal Approach): The ExCEED project will contribute to Priority 13, “Multifunctional materials and composites with advanced properties, including nano-processes and nano-products,” Priority 16, “Electronics based on conducting polymers,” and Priority 18, “Optoelectronic systems and materials.”

For Priority 13, “Multifunctional materials and composites with advanced properties, including nano-processes and nano-products,” the ExCEED project fits well with this priority. Organic electronic devices involve creating nanostructures of pure compounds. In the case of TADF OLED emitters, nano-composites are composed of at least two compounds. Organic materials used in OLED devices are “universal” and could be also used in OSCs and OFETs as proper supporting layers.

Regarding Priority 16, “Electronics based on conducting polymers,” the ExCEED project will involve and use conducting polymers as active materials. In this project, we will use macromolecules (polymers) to increase the number of π-conjugated bonds in the structures to regulate the band-gap value. Polymeric forms of compounds will improve process-ability which will facilitate the formation of electronic structures on flexible substrates. Flexible electronics is one of the goals of Organic Electronics.

Lastly, regarding Priority 18 “Optoelectronic systems and materials” the ExCEED project will cover the formation and analysis of organic optoelectronic devices. Some of the OLEDs will allow the creation of new light emitters and in some cases, OFETs will be formed to estimate charge mobilities. This will enable the creation of more efficient and balanced organic devices.

Silesian SMART Specialisation Strategy

The ExCEED project will directly contribute to the Silesian region’s SMART Specialisation Strategy, particularly the four SMART specialisations below:

1. ICT: Advanced manufacturing systems (Information service activities)
2. ICT: Micro/ Nano-electronics (Computer programming, consultancy & related activities)
3. Energy: Advanced materials (Energy distribution)
4. Energy: Advanced manufacturing systems (Power generation/ renewable sources)

OLEDs, charge transport in organic electronics and OSC would make a significant impact on the Polish SMART specialisations outlined above. The innovations in organic materials for OLED devices also benefit OSCs by providing supporting layers. Each of these types of organic electronics has the potential to contribute the provision of energy for advanced materials and advanced manufacturing systems as well as ICT applications of micro/nano-electronics and advanced manufacturing systems. Organic solar cell innovation would potentially have an impact on the provision of renewable energy for manufacturing systems. Organic field effect transistors are very attractive to industry because they contribute to low-cost, large-area electronic functions and biodegradable electronics that have clear environmental benefits.

Silesia is a highly industrial region of Poland with the country’s highest concentration of heavy industry. It has a mixture of traditional electronic and polymer industries that are open to developing and producing novel organic electronic technologies through collaborative R&D projects with SUT.

Furthermore, according to the Regional Innovation Strategy of Silesia for the years 2013-2020, ExCEED would contribute to several strategic objectives:

• Strategic Objective 1.3: “Network co-creation and co-usage of research infrastructure by academic entities, universities, business and public utility institutions”
  • The ExCEED project will connect Polish companies with SUT through co-creation and co-usage of organic electronics and by participation in the workshops, summer/winter schools and conferences.

• Strategic Objective 1.5: “Multiplication of knowledge, skills, and competence of entities creating innovation ecosystem”
  • ExCEED will increase SUT’s scientists’ knowledge of organic electronics, and it will also benefit the companies with whom SUT will collaborate.

• Strategic Objective 2.3: “Construction of a new infrastructure of SMART growth, based on low-emission technologies and energy efficiency”
  • An ultra-efficient TADF process will be utilised which lowers OLED device energy consumption.

European Research Priorities

The ExCEED project aims to contribute to numerous European R&D programmes and initiatives.

Firstly, it aims to help address grand challenges in the Horizon 2020 programme, the EU’s flagship initiative for research and innovation with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). This includes specific research and innovation priorities within the following sub-programmes:

• Horizon 2020 Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies “Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology” by sharing knowledge about advanced materials that can be utilised in advanced manufacturing and processing:
• Organic light-emitting diodes by mastering the design, research, and development of new and improved TADF based emitters.
• Organic solar cells by improving the efficiency of organic-based photovoltaic devices.
• Organic semi-conductors by improving the processability of organic compounds and deposition process.
• Horizon 2020 Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies “Information and Communication Technology” by:
• Micro- and nano-electronic technologies, Photonics by developing new photonics systems which could further implement by supporting polish companies.
• Contributing to organic and large area electronics (OLAE), a priority in the European Commission’s Digital Agenda.
• Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge “Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy” by:
• Contributing to knowledge about organic solar cells
• Assessing the possibilities for energy-efficient OLED lighting

Secondly, it will support the following priorities of the European Technology Platform Photonics21 by research and education in area photonics technologies like LED (Light Emitting Diodes), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes), OPV (Organic Photovoltaic), Flexible Electronics based on OLAE (Organic Large Area Electronics):

• Work Group 4 – Emerging Lighting, Electronics, and Displays
• Work Group 7 – Photonics Research, Education, and Training

Thirdly, it will support the following priorities of the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform:

• Contribute to a rapid development of a world-class cost competitive European PV for a sustainable electricity production
• Ensure strong links and coordination between industry, research, and market.

Fourthly, it will support the following priorities of MANUFUTURE-EU:

• Competitiveness in manufacturing industries
• Leadership in manufacturing technologies
• Eco-efficient products and manufacturing
• Leadership in products and processes, as well as in cultural, ethical and social values

Fifthly, it will also support the following priorities of the “European Technology Platform for Advanced Engineering Materials and Technologies (EuMAT)”:

• Design, development & qualification of advanced material
• Advanced production, processing, and manufacturing
• Material and component testing

Lastly, at the European level, the Europe 2020 targets include “Climate change and energy sustainability” which aims to lower greenhouse emissions by 20-30% (lower than 1990), to provide 20% of energy from renewable sources and to increase energy efficiency by 20%. These targets are slightly modified for Poland (lower emissions by 14% / 15% of energy from renewable sources / 96% more energy efficiency). Despite these modifications, the targets reveal the importance of new solutions for energy efficient applications, such as lighting and electronics, and renewable energy, such as energy produced with organic solar cells utilising innovations in charge transport in organic electronics and OLEDs.

Raise the research profile of the CoE and ERA Chair Team

The objective of this Action Step is to raise the research profile of the CoE and ERA Chair Team through three approaches: organising summer and winter schools; hosting international conferences; and participating in international conferences. This Action Step will be implemented in WP4.

Summer and winter schools are a great way to bring bright students and inspired researchers together to work intensively on important topics. The aim will be to organise summer and winter schools that are research-driven, multidisciplinary and will especially highlight the CoE’s priority research themes: Organic Transistors, Organic Light Emitting Diodes and Organic Solar Cells. The ERA Chair Team will open up their networks to the students and bring in international counterparts and external stakeholders. Likewise, the students will be invited to bring share their knowledge, experience, ambitions and questions.

The ERA Chair Team will organise two international conferences with a focus on Organic Electronics. This will help to position the CoE with respect to scientists and industrialists working in the organic electronics sector. It will help the ERA Chair Team to enhance exposure, gain a broader network of partnerships, accelerate academic development, and increase influence.

Also, the ERA Chair Team and postgraduate students will attend international conferences. The aim will be to write abstracts that catch the eye of the conference selection teams. By attending the conferences, it will provide an opportunity to learn from others and to improve skills and knowledge. It will be also important to engage with fellow academics by asking questions. Networking will be essential as a way to be invited to join collective research projects such as edited books, special issues in peer-reviewed journals and funding applications.

Disseminate the results of the CoE and ERA Chair Team

The objective of this Action Step is to maximize the impact of the project by ensuring knowledge and results are transferred to audiences that can make the best use of them. This Action Step will be implemented in WP5.

The ERA Chair Team will use a mix of channels and methods to disseminate to target audiences in the organic electronics sector as well as the general population. This will include creating an attractive project website and social media presence (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram); designing promotion material (project leaflets, posters, and project video); as well as producing newsletters and news releases. Also, research results will be presented at conferences and published in journals.

In order to create and develop the ERA Chair and Centre of Excellence in Organic Electronics, SUT will implement one work-package (WP) for each of the Action Steps.