On the European side, Universidade Nova de Lisboa is leading the China-European Union Joint Electronic Materials Laboratory, which will be set up in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province in eastern China.

Portuguese scientist Elvira Fortunato indicated that the laboratory will work “a lot in the area of flexible electronics and sustainable electronics” and gave as an example biomedical applications, including “membranes with electronics that can conform, for example, to the skin”. Another area of research should be the development of flexible photovoltaic cells, which can even “go into space, with low weight and conformable to other areas”, she explained.

The agreement to create the joint laboratory was signed in June, but the building that will house the institution is still being built in Hefei, said Fortunato.

“Part of the laboratory's installation has already been approved, it already has funding” and should begin operating ‘no later than 2026’, Rodrigo Martins, husband of Elvira Fortunato, who has been president of the European Academy of Sciences since 2018, told Lusa.

(Source: RTP, on January 16)