Significance of value added materials (vams) for modernity and development

Materials science developments are often invisible to users of technology, but they are at the heart of so many important advances. Materials research and development is a global pursuit. It covers a broad set of science and engineering disciplines and engages researchers across academia, industry and government laboratories. Value added materials (VAMs) are products whose worth is based on their performance or functionality, rather than their composition. They can be single entities or formulations/combinations of several materials whose composition sharply influences the performance and processing of the end product. Products and services in the materials industry require intensive knowledge, innovation and commodities due to technological developments. The frontiers of materials research have been taken to the next level by the availability of technologies allowing the tailoring of material structure at the nanoscale and by the development of material systems made up of components with nanoscale dimensions. Materiomics takes a materials science perspective toward complex biological systems, explicitly accounting for feedback loops that link functional requirements (and changes thereof) to altered material components and structure, at different scales in both time and length. Materials research seeks to understand fundamental physical and chemical properties, and then use that understanding to improve the technology base that we count on to meet our needs for energy, national security and defense, information technology and telecommunications, consumer products, health care, and more. This means investing in the leading-edge research and educating the next generations of scientists and engineers needed to secure the VAMs for emerging technologies for 21st century is requirement for modernity and development.