Strategic Research Plan
Engineering System of C-SOPS
The engineering system that will be developed as the main outcome of the Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (C-SOPS) can be briefly stated as “A model-predictive integrated framework for systematically designing materials, composites, and the processes used to manufacture them.”
Organization of the Research Program
The Center’s activities follow a matrix organization
(Figure 1). Scientific efforts are organized along three thrusts consisting of
scientific discipline components. Thrust I (Manufacturing Science) focuses on
technology integration efforts needs to develop successful manufacturing processes,
and it is aligned with the top plane of the technology development roadmap. Thrust
II (Composites Structuring and Characterization) emphasizes enabling methodologies
required to design, characterize, and optimize products, and it is aligned with
the central plane of the roadmap. Thrust III (Particle Formation and Functionalization)
concentrates on the fundamental research components needed to create and characterize
the engineered particles required to make such products, and it is aligned with
the bottom plane of the roadmap.
These thrust are vertically integrated by three
technology development programs, selected in consultation with industrial partners,
and focusing on core technology platforms dedicated to the development of specific
types of products with pre-determined functionalities: The first development
program, DP1-Continuous Manufacturing of Macrocomposites, concentrates on improving
and upgrading manufacturing methods used to manufactured the most common types
of products currently used by the pharmaceutical industry. The second development
program DP2-Engineered Particle-Based Delivery Systems, focuses on innovative
structured materials where particle technology methods are used to control product
performance. The third development program DP3-Multilayer Architectures, emphasizes
highly innovative product synthesis methods intrinsically suitable for personalized
medicine. An initial test bed has been selected as the launching pad of each
development program. Interaction among all these components is best depicted using
the three-plane technology development roadmap, shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Matrix organization
of the research program, displaying the Thrusts, the Development
programs, and the initial test beds of the ERC.
In the remainder of this section, we first describe the thrusts and their initial project line-up, explaining how each project provides the necessary research components for one or more test beds. Subsequently, we introduce the development programs, describe their initial test beds, and identify the sequence of tasks needed to deploy them using both a fish-bone diagram and a cross-reference table of deliverables. Possible future test beds are also described. This order of presentation is intended to show how the different components of the research program are integrated into a synergistic science and technology development system. However, it is important to emphasize that the actual order in which the program was developed was the opposite: starting from test beds and their desired outcomes, tasks needed to implement them were identified, and research projects needed to accomplish the tasks were then assembled.
Finally, we would like to stress that the matrix organization described in Figure 2 is likely to evolve over time. Additional test beds within each development program are anticipated to be initiated within the first three years of the ERC activities, and entirely new development programs might be added as well, as success of the initial development programs motivates the need to focus on other priorities. Consequently, the set of projects in each thrust will evolve to meet the needs of the new technology development efforts.
Figure 2: Three-plane technology
development roadmap displaying the interaction among thrusts,
test beds, and projects
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