Faced with growing pressure to reduce waste and emissions, industries must rethink the design, manufacturing, and use of products to move towards truly sustainable production. This requires the adoption of innovative materials, cleaner processes, and circular strategies that extend the use of resources without compromising performance. In this transition, LIST plays a key role by developing approaches to bioproduction, advanced material solutions, and circular economy models that reduce dependence on non-renewable resources. Our ambition: to support companies in developing products and processes that are more efficient, more resilient, and significantly less harmful to the environment.
In the European VIPCOAT project, three LIST innovations were highlighted by the Innovation Radar, the European Commission’s tool that identifies the most promising ideas emerging from EU-funded research and assesses their market potential. These three solutions aim to help companies innovate more quickly: a digital environment that structures the stages of an innovation project, a simulation tool for virtually testing complex materials, and a recommendation system for building the most effective teams based on required skills. These three innovations offer companies and researchers new ways to accelerate the development of innovative products and to collaborate more effectively.
This innovation momentum is also reflected in the continuation of fruitful industrial partnerships. After three years of collaboration, LIST and GRADEL have demonstrated the potential of bio-based vitrimers by creating a particularly significant demonstrator: an aircraft seat mounting bracket designed to replace aluminum components. This proof-of-concept demonstrator represents the project’s major achievement: it proves that, using the vitrimer resin developed at LIST and GRADEL’s GRAM robotic additive manufacturing process, it is possible to manufacture an ultra-lightweight component with thermomechanical performance comparable to current parts while being fully recyclable. This success demonstrates the strength of LIST’s model for technology transfer.
At the same time, following three successful initial years, LIST and CEBI have decided to extend their collaboration within the framework of the national characterization and testing platform, consolidating a key pillar for the development of new materials and products. This five-year extension increases the testing and characterization capabilities available to national stakeholders, while strengthening Luxembourg’s position as a technology hub.
Finally, 2025 was also marked by major advances in the field of sustainability. With the Horizon Europe TRUSTEX project, LIST tackled a central question: can the textile sector become more sustainable and circular? Through an integrated approach combining impact analysis, technological innovation, and co-design with industry partners, TRUSTEX paves the way for new circular models applicable to this resource-intensive industry. This project symbolizes LIST’s commitment to contributing to an ambitious yet realistic ecological transition.
