About Materfad

Materfad Materials Centre in Barcelona performs a research and technological surveillance task in the field of new materials and provides consultancy and training services for companies, professionals, universities and technology centres. Its aim is to facilitate technological transfer between widely different sectors such as biotechnology, construction, transport or textiles, among others.

 

In its Spanish showroom located in the Design Hub Barcelona,  Materfad presents a wide range  of materials samples (biomaterials, ceramics, composites, polymers, etc.). Materfad is part of FAD – Fostering Arts and Design, a private, independent and non-profit association that seeks to promote design and architecture in the country’s cultural and economic life.

 

Materfad also promotes the building up  of an international network of affiliated centres, thanks to the collaboration, until now,  with Aguascalientes Autonomous University (Mexico), the University of Valparaiso (Chile) Pontificia Bolivariana University of Medellin (Colombia) and MIND (Mexico).
 

Website and Online Materials Database

www.materfad.com

 

Contact

Materfad. Barcelona’s materials centre
Pl. de les Glòries Catalanes, 37-38
(Disseny Hub Barcelona Building)
08018 Barcelona (Spain)

+34 932 566 781

activities@materfad.com

«Mater in Progress»: New Materials, New Industry

Overview of the innovation in Spanish industry through materials and technologies

For two years a team comprised of specialists, experts from CDTI,  CSIC, from the Industrial Development Department of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, as well as the Cotec Foundation and Materfad team have been investigating  the current Spanish status of R&D&Innovation in the field of materials.

More than four thousand companies, technology centres, universities and other stakeholders interested in this specific field have been contacted. As a result 335 projects have been selected, a sample that gave an overview of what was going on in Spain in the materials sector, taking into account not only the innovation represented by the materias themselves, but also their associated technologies, monitoring their use and which applications were successful and which ones were expected.

With the situation in Spain established, the goal has been to extend the knowledge generated during the investigation phase to the whole country. The instrument to achieve this result was the “Mater in Progress. New Materials, New Industry” exhibition, which succeeded in turning the project into a shared platform of knowledge and technology transfer that did not exist before.

Over 20,000 people visited the travelling exhibition in the first city, Barcelona (2008) and 24,000 more between Zaragoza and Madrid (2009). Materfad became the meeting point and centre of debate thanks to parallel activities: guided tours (professionals, students, companies, etc.), symposiums dedicated to  innovation and materials, as well as a competition for students  to design a new material.

The exhibition was the starting point to highlight the growing necessity to establish a connection between all the stakeholders that work for and with materials.

 

Curator
Javier Peña, PhD in Chemical Science, scientific director of Materfad

Production and travel operator
Materfad (Barcelona, Spain)

Type of exhibition
Materials, technologies

Availability
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
2014: exhibition no longer available

Touring exhibition content
. 335 projects documented
. 100 exhibited projects divided into 5 economic sectors: Industy, Biotechnology, Textile, Construction and Energy
. 15 videos, 6 architectural models
. Graphic digital information of every project, exhibition poster (all documents in Catalan and Spanish)
. Space planning of the Barcelona exhibition (situation of each material within its thematic family) as a reference.

Space requirement
>300 sqm.

Loan duration
2 months maximum (between departure from origin and departure to next venue or origin). Conditions for longer loan upon request.

Catalogue

Original version in Spanish currently sold out.

More info about us
Materfad, Barcelona materials centre

Contact
Valérie Bergeron, Materials library manager, Materfad Barcelona
vbergeron@fad.cat