The National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Bio-Inspired Materials is a Swiss research collaboration started in 2014 ... . Its vision is to establish a leading center for smart materials research, education, and innovation. The NCCR, through its leadership team at the Adolphe Merkle Institute in Fribourg, coordinates a team of 19 research groups at the University of Fribourg, EPFL and ETH Zurich, in physics, chemistry, materials science and medicine. The NCCR’s scientific goal is to take inspiration from natural materials for the creation of new macromolecular and nanomaterials and assemble them into stimuli-responsive materials with new properties. We envision them in innovative applications, particularly in the field of life sciences; e.g., tumor diagnostics and implants. These new interdisciplinary projects will soon begin to provide solutions to some of the major unsolved problems of our world as well as create exciting scientific advances. read more