Adaptation project holds its first annual meeting: "We have successfully established the theoretical and design foundations of its core components"

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Adaptation, a Pathfinder project coordinated by Sara Núñez, researcher at the Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM), part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) celebrated its first annual meeting last March at the CSIC Headquarters in Madrid.

Sara Núñez hosted the meeting, with 22 members from the 9 partner institutions attending in person. Participants traveled from Strasbourg (France), Innsbruck (Austria), Utrecht (Netherlands), Braga (Portugal), Barcelona, Vigo, and Navarrete (Spain). "The meeting provided the consortium with the opportunity to meet face-to-face, review progress, and address the project’s upcoming challenges over the next 18 months," says the researcher.

Coordinated by the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), the ADAPTATION project is developing a new approach to solar energy harvesting and thermal energy management by combining both functions into a single, easy-to-integrate material. Rather than relying on complex multi-layered structures, ADAPTATION proposes a simplified solution that embeds all functionalities into one compound. This allows for a more scalable and adaptable technology, capable of adjusting to geographical diversity and future climate shocks.

After its first year, "the project has successfully established the theoretical and design foundations of its core components," says Núñez. She explains that, in the months ahead, efforts will focus on translating this fundamental knowledge into proof-of-concept devices, while validating their performance under real-world conditions.

The strong involvement of three high-tech companies in the consortium ensures that the technology is designed from the start with practical implementation in mind. The Madrid meeting also served as a key moment to reinforce the project's strategy—integrating solar energy harvesting and thermal regulation in a single layer—as essential for enabling future applications.