A new policy report has been published by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, written in collaboration with members of the UK Metamaterials Network (including Prof. Oosterbeek).

Aiming to increase awareness of metamaterials throughout industry, government, and academia, the report covers different types of metamaterials, their methods of manufacturing, and their application in key challenge areas of health, sustainability, space and aviation.

In order to identify opportunities to maximise the impact of metamaterials, the report makes several recommendations for government, funders, industry, standards organisations, and academia:

• Supporting foundational metamaterial research
• Developing manufacturing and scale-up methods
• Building metamaterials skills and expertise
• Supporting translation of metamaterial research to market
• Raising metamaterials awareness and constructing standards

The report defines metamaterials as “an assembly of carefully arranged and patterned elements (‘meta-atoms’) that offers a response or function beyond that of its constituent materials.” It further argues that “they offer more design freedom than conventional materials; as an enabling technology platform they offer generation-after-next functionality and performance, including, for example, minimising size and weight, and maximising energy efficiency.”

https://www.imeche.org/policy-and-press/reports/detail/unlocking-the-potential-of-metamaterials