How are the materials around us changing? What materials will be used to make clothes, home textiles, car seats or other objects in 20-30 years or even in the near future? What roles do design and the use of materials play in putting the economy on a more sustainable footing? MOME Innovation Center's Future Materials Conference, starting on 15 September, will answer these questions. This year, for the first time, this internationally significant professional event will bring together key players from different areas of the materials innovation process, from research to market, to accelerate the development and industrial application of next generation materials. 

The clothes we wear every day, the food we eat, the furniture and the machinery we use go through long processes from production to use and then to decomposition, during which materials meet, combine and accumulate. The composition of materials contains their afterlives, and, in the face of climate change, it is important to pay increasing attention to sustainability in the design, raw material demand, production, processing, in short, in the production and consumption chain, focusing on a circular approach, while exploiting new technological opportunities.

In response to this global and local challenge, researchers and materials industry experts around the world are increasingly focusing on the search for innovative materials and their conscious and diversified use.  

MOME aims to become the country's first carbon-neutral higher education institution by 2030, while the university's Innovation Center (IC) seeks practical solutions to problems that affect our society through R&D activities, including climate change. In this spirit, MOME IC will organize the first Future Materials Conference on material research and development in the region.  

The two-day event will bring together designers, materials researchers, other representatives of the materials industry as well as the general public through lectures, panel discussions, exhibitions and workshops. This kind of knowledge sharing has a significant impact on innovation activities, and both the participants and MOME play a role in encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration, thus pushing the boundaries of materials design culture.  

On the first day of the conference, four thematic blocks will feature presentations and panel discussions by international experts on future materials and material development:  

• Materials living around us - The innovative application of biomaterials
• Dynamic and high-tech materials  
• Industry's race for new materials  
• Material as a medium and culture

In the morning, Rebecca Earley, Research Fellow and Professor of Circular Design Futures at the University of the Arts, London, will give a keynote speech on textile design and manufacturing in the circular economy model and the challenges this poses for designers.  

The keynote speaker for the afternoon programme will be Dr. Andrew Dent from the US, EVP of Materials Research at Material ConneXion, who has been an external consultant for product development processes using innovative materials for BMW, Adidas, Whirlpool and others.

Attendees can also meet Zehavit Baal Schem Reisin from Israel, Vice President of Stratasys, the world's leading developer of 3D additive printing technologies, Mari-Ann Meigo Fonseca from Estonia, co-founder of Gelatex, a company that revolutionised the technology for producing nanomaterials and made it 90% more cost-effective, and Barbora Kotoun, IKEA's Head of Sustainability.  

On the second day of the conference, workshops will provide an opportunity for participants to gain first-hand experience in innovative materials use and design, led by renowned materials scientists and representatives from different sectors of the materials industry.  

The two-day event will be accompanied by an exhibition showcasing the material innovation work of local talents and a guided tour ofthe Budapest Design Material Library (BDML).  

The Future Materials Conference will take place between 15-16 September at the MOME campus in Zugliget. The programme is entirely in English and participation is free of charge, but registration is required.

Detailed programme, registration and further information: https://futurematerials.mome.hu/ 

The conference is financed from the NRDI fund under the Mecenatura 2021 project.