ICONIC has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 721256. It is a EU Horizon 2020 Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (H2020-MSCA-ITN) European Training Network (ETN) funded for four years (October 2016 - September 2020) and coordinated by Prof. The H2020 ETNs bring together univer
sities, research centres and industrial leaders from different EU countries to train a new generation of researchers, boosting scientific excellence and business innovation, and enhancing Early Stage Researchers‘ career prospects through developing their skills in entrepreneurship and innovation. The European aerospace, automotive and rail industries are committed to improving their energy efficiency to meet targets set within the EU‘s climate, energy and transport policies. This is motivating the increased use of lightweight composite materials in lieu of heavier metallics. To implement this transition, the same level of crash performance achieved with metals must be reached, but at significantly lower weight and without increasing cost. This is viewed by the transportation industries as an exceptionally challenging goal and will require highly trained engineers, versed in the myriad aspects of designing cost-effective, crashworthy composite structures, and capable of harnessing latest research developments. To address this very important issue, ICONIC brings together leading academic and private sector participants to improve crashworthiness in composite transportation structures. The central aim of ICONIC is to develop a critical mass of research and engineering leaders across Europe, with a world-leading capability in the design of light-weight transportation composite structures with superior crashworthiness. This challenge is tackled by 15 Early Stage Researchers in an innovative, integrated and multidisciplinary research and skills development programme that goes beyond the state of the art. ICONIC is supported by a strong consortium from academia, large industrial enterprises and innovative SMEs, including 9 beneficiaries and 5 partner organisations from the UK, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Ireland and Belgium. ICONIC provides a comprehensive training and secondment programme (including joint super-vision and industrial mentoring) to equip the Early Stage Researchers with transferable skills to ensure future employability and career progression.
