Working together for ceramics

The European Center of Ceramics is a community of different actors working together towards ambitious objectives:

 Increase the competitiveness of the ceramics industry and surface coatings derived from ceramics, in four zones around Limoges, Tarbes, Vierzon and Cavaillon in France.
 Create new innovative activities: development of new products in existing companies, creation of new companies and new laboratories, and establishment of production or research units.

Co-operation between the members of the Center and their partners can take numerous different forms:

 Joint R&D projects
 Creation of new infrastructures
 Collection and exchange of technological and strategic information
 Joint communication and promotion in France and abroad

The mode of operation is very flexible: each member of the Center can take the initiative to launch joint projects and the partners of each project co-opt one another.

The European Ceramic Cluster’s five strategic areas

Tableware

 Processes: make the production processes for decorative pieces and tableware more flexible and cost effective.
 Products: market new products calling on creativity, design, results and skills from research laboratories.

The Home

 Surface coatings of materials, in concrete, wood, terracotta, etc.
 New Materials: lightweight shards, reconstituted stone, lime-clay-plant fibre mixtures, mouldable materials.

Energy

 New Energies: Fuel cells (SOFC), with their ceramic components, and the production of gaseous energy vectors, with the CTTC [ceramic technology transfer center] and the SPCTS [Science Laboratory for Ceramics and Surface Treatment Processes], as well as the new materials in the electronuclear sector, with the GEMH [The Study Group for Heterogeneous Materials] and the CEA [Commission for Atomic Energy].
 Energy savings: Anti-wear treatments, insulating materials with the GEMH, the SPCTS, and the CITRA [Engineering Center for Advanced Surface Treatments and Coatings].

Health

 Ceramic biomaterials for bone replacements, with the SPCTS and the CTTC, in co-operation with prostheses manufacturers.
 Porous ceramics for the controlled release of medications, with the GEFSOD [Study group into the Utility of Various Solids] and the SPCTS.

Electronics and optoelectronics

 Passive electronic components, with the SPCTS and the industrial actors of this sector.
 Optic components, optoelectronics and microwaves.