GENMAT Kick-off: AI that accelerates the discovery of new materials

The GENMAT project has officially launched. This European initiative is coordinated by the Politecnico di Torino and funded under the “AI Foundation Models in Science" call. At the Politecnico, the project is led by Prof. Raffaele Ciardiello, with contributions from researcher Alberto Ciampaglia, both members of the DIMEAS - Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

The project brings together 14 partners including universities, businesses, computing centers, technology companies, and digital security organizations, aiming to improve material development processes and shorten the time required to transition from lab to market.

Project Objective

GENMAT will develop an innovative foundation model for materials science, capable of integrating heterogeneous scientific data – from atomic chemistry to microscopic images and sensor data – to support various stages of the materials life cycle, from design and production to usage.

The model will connect multi-scale information, ranging from atoms to complex materials and structural components, overcoming the limitations of current artificial intelligence approaches, which are often focused on single tasks, single scales, or specific data types.

Project Focus

The project focuses on strategic application areas for industry and sustainability:

• • advanced composite materials for structural applications;
• • materials for the circular economy, such as next-generation recyclable polymers;
• • sustainable and PFAS-free coatings;
• • sensor-based and AI-driven systems for structural health monitoring.

GENMAT thus aims to contribute to the development of more sustainable, safe, and high-performance materials, reducing experimental research times and costs while supporting industrial innovation.

Source: DIMEAS - Politecnico di Torino