Dear colleagues in the MaterialDigital community,

the MaterialDigital initiative stays in motion — in our first newsletter of the year, we’re sharing the key highlights from the past few months and giving you a preview of upcoming events of our platform. There’s plenty to discover: The new edition of our core ontology (PMDco v3.0.0) has just been released, registration for the General Assembly in September 2026 is now open, and our plans for this year’s MSE conference have taken shape. Take a look at the newsletter and don’t miss a thing.

Registration is now open: 2026 MaterialDigital General Assembly in Darmstadt

We warmly invite you to the next General Assembly of the MaterialDigital initiative on September 28 and 29 2026, in Darmstadt — just ahead of the MSE. Take the opportunity to learn at first hand about developments from the MaterialDigital platform and the ongoing MaterialDigital 2 and 3 projects.

28th September - Overview and Exchange

What to expect on the first day:

• A compact overview of the current work being done by the MaterialDigital platform.
• Presentations on the progress of the ongoing MaterialDigital Projects 2 and 3.
• An interactive session on the industrial relevance of digital concepts.
• Poster and demonstrator session: In-depth discussion with project teams and community members.

29th September – Hands-on-Workshops

On the second day, we will offer hands-on workshops on:

• Semantic Interoperability
• Workflows
• Architecture & IT Infrastructure / DataPortal

The added value of the connection to the MSE Conference

The proximity to the MSE Conference offers participants a program covering a wide range of topics in the days following the event. The MaterialDigital community will be particularly active in the area D: Digital Transformation – an excellent opportunity to strengthen professional connections and discuss digital transformation projects within the context of this international conference.

The detailed agenda for the MaterialDigital General Assembly will be available on the registration page in the summer.

Early-bird rate until June 30

Be sure to register in time to take advantage of the early-bird rate — You can enjoy a reduced registration fee until June 30, 2026.

In addition, the DGM offers a discounted rate if you would also like to attend the MSE. You can find all the details in the next section.

Optional Social Event (Sunday Evening)

Anyone arriving on Sunday, September 27, 2026, is dearly invited to an informal evening event at their own expense.

Further details will follow at a later date via the registration page and our communication channels.

So if you’re in Darmstadt on Sunday evening, we look forward to a relaxed get-together in a casual setting — a great way to kick off the 2026 General Assembly.

MSE Congress 2026 in Darmstadt

Organized by the DGM, the MSE Conference is one of Europe’s leading events in the field of materials science and engineering. It takes place every two years and typically brings together over 1,200 participants from around the world.

The MaterialDigital platform is an integral part of MSE for the third time. This year, it will be featured within the D: Digital Transformation topic, led by Chris Eberl, Tilmann Hickel, and Martina Zimmermann. Take the opportunity to engage with key drivers of digitalization in materials science and engineering during the MSE.

The initiative will once again have its own booth at the accompanying exhibition for the MSE conference — centrally located and next to our sister initiative NFDI MatWerk. Our booth is open to all MaterialDigital projects as a meeting place: for discussions with the platform as well as for your own conversations within the community or with network partners.

Meet PMD & DIADEM at European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) | Spring Meeting

Join us at the 2026 Spring Meeting of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) at the Strasbourg Convention & Exhibition Centre, France, from May 25–29, 2026.

The conference features 24 symposia, including invited talks, oral and poster presentations, and a plenary session, offering an international forum for the latest advances in materials science—from fundamental research to technological applications. An exhibition of relevant products and services will run alongside the program.

PMD and the DIADEM Initiative will chair Symposium E: Data-based Methods and AI for the Development and Processing of Advanced Materials and will showcase both initiatives at a joint stand in the exhibition hall. We look forward to meeting you there!

Past Events

Tools and Services Walkthrough Session - Workflows

On February 11, 2026, the first “Tools and Services Walkthrough Session – Workflows” took place. The online event presented environments for FAIR workflows in materials science, with a particular focus on the workflow management systems pyiron and SimStack, which are supported by the PMD. Following an introduction to the many benefits of workflow systems and the associated FAIR concepts, the PMD’s specific activities related to workflows were first explained. In the second part, the workflow environments were then demonstrated using concrete examples, and exemplary technical solutions were discussed. The session concluded with a hands-on session on pyiron featuring examples from atomistic and continuous simulations as well as experimental applications.

A second online session continued the workshop series on March 18 and focused on a practical introduction to SimStack II. This modern, Python-based workflow orchestration system enables researchers to build, execute, and clearly visualize complex scientific workflows across local and remote HPC resources.

Did you miss the workflow walkthrough session, or would you like to watch it again?

• You can watch the recordings of the first sessions, organized by chapter, on our YouTube channel.
• Registered members can also find the slides from the walkthrough sessions in the Download Area on our website.
• You can contact us via our contact form to get support and access to resources that will enable you to use, (further) develop, and share workflows via the MaterialDigital Workflow Store.

Tools and Services Walkthrough Session - Ontology

The “Tools and Services Walkthrough Session – Ontology” on February 18, 2026, provided insights into the PMD Core Ontology (PMDco) and its use for semantic interoperability in materials science and engineering.

The morning began with an introduction to ontologies, interoperability, and the principles of ontology design. It was followed by a presentation on PMD and the structure of PMDco, including the tools Protégé, GitHub, and ODK, as well as working with classes and modules for application ontologies.

In the afternoon’s hands-on session, participants modeled two simple processes step by step based on the PMD Core Ontology to develop a fundamental understanding of the use of ontologies and knowledge graphs in MSE. The session concluded with feedback, project-related questions, and discussions on onboarding and tools.

Were you unable to attend the Ontology Walkthrough?

Our registered members can find the slides from the Ontology Walkthrough session in the download section of the PMD website.

NFDI‑MatWerk All‑Hands‑on‑Deck

Representatives from the MaterialDigital platform attended the NFDI MatWerk Initiative All-Hands-on-Deck Meeting 2026 in Siegburg from March 10 to 12 to deepen working-level exchanges and track the current state of development of the sister initiative. Building on the comprehensive agenda, participants made concrete progress in the areas of data governance, interoperability, and knowledge management. For MaterialDigital, the meeting provided important impulses to further expand synergies with the NFDI-MatWerk Initiative and to coordinate joint technical developments more closely.

Selected Discussion Topics and Results of the NFDI-MatWerk AHoD

Below you will find a selection of the discussion topics from the 2026 All-Hands-on-Deck Meeting. Further details are available in the official review on the NFDI-MatWerk website.

• Interoperability with the Material Digital platform and with FAIRmat has been enhanced, enabling a smoother exchange of data and concepts across platforms and projects.

• Work has begun on aligning application ontologies and higher-level ontologies to support seamless data search and reuse.

• Progress has been made in implementing modern data workflows in practice, with semantic interoperability also being a key topic within this consortium. A prime example was a multi-step process for nanoindentation, image analysis, and simulations.

• The workshop on knowledge graphs developed a strategic plan for the further development of the MSE Knowledge Graph, with follow-up tasks for implementing a functional prototype.

• A presentation on the MaterialsCommons4EU project addressed the challenges of internationalization and the opportunities for broader acceptance.

The MaterialDigital platform is pleased to participate in AHoD once again and thanks the NFDI MatWerk initiative for the constructive exchange.

News from the MaterialDigital Initiative

AeroMatPass-X

We warmly welcome AeroMatPass-X to the MaterialDigital community! The project launched in January and has a one-year funding period. The project consortium is focused on digitizing the early supply chain in the aviation sector to implement a digital material passport. Material data is to be standardized and made available and exchanged in a trustworthy manner via open data ecosystems, particularly for participants in the early supply chain. Data structures will be built based on a material ontology to enable interoperability and harmonization with various data formats and domain ontologies. Additionally, external testing laboratories will be integrated as data providers. Further information on the project can be found on the project website.

2025 Galileo Prize Awarded to Dr. Markus Schilling

In November 2025, the DGM, the DVM, and the VDEh Steel Institute awarded Dr. Markus Schilling the Galileo Prize 2025. The Galileo Prize honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of materials testing. This may involve the development and/or establishment of testing methods, their practical application, their theoretical understanding, as well as the advancement of the field at the organizational and normative levels.

As an ambassador for digitalization in materials science and engineering, Dr. Schilling is playing a decisive role in driving the integration of digital approaches into experimental materials testing. Particularly noteworthy is how he conveys motivations, challenges, and practical solutions in a clear and accessible manner—always supported by concrete examples from real-world practice. In addition, he is a strong advocate for the standardized description of data and supports the consideration of digital aspects in the revision of standards.

We warmly congratulate Dr. Markus Schilling on this award and recognize his contribution to our field.

Insights into the PMD | Focus Areas

Community Interaction

Exchange within the MaterialDigital Community

The monthly community meetings began in February and are open to all ongoing MaterialDigital projects as a forum for exchange and networking. In addition to providing insights into the platform’s current activities, the meetings offer a space for questions, discussions, and direct exchange between the projects.

Would you like to attend the meetings regularly? Then we’d be happy to add you to our mailing list. Please email us at: community@material-digital.de.

Project Essentials Guide

At the March meeting, the Project Essentials Guide was also presented—along with the accompanying templates and materials for project communication. The guide brings together key elements for a consistent visual identity across MaterialDigital projects and presents them in a clear and organized manner. These include the MaterialDigital logo, PowerPoint and poster templates, and various icons.

All MaterialDigital projects are invited to use these materials in their communications. We are particularly pleased when the MaterialDigital logo is used in presentations, posters, or other formats. In this way, you help raise the visibility of the initiative’s activities and strengthen the projects’ collaborative efforts to the outside world.

You can find the link to all materials on the Community Concept Board. Alternatively, you can contact us directly at any time: community@material-digital.de.

Workflows

In the Focus Area Workflows of the MaterialDigital platform, work at the beginning of the year focused on preparing for the previously mentioned walkthrough sessions on February 11 and March 18, 2026. To this end, new demonstrators for pyiron were created, statements regarding version management were refined, and work on concepts for the semantic annotation of workflows was expanded. Furthermore, the new version of SimStack was continuously developed and presented for public use for the first time during the walkthrough.

The work on semantically annotated workflows is also being incorporated into a review article on the interoperability of workflow solutions, which has recently constituted a second focus of activities within this work package. In addition to Semantikon, the article presents various other interoperability strategies and examines the extent to which they complement one another. In this context, the ability to extend these strategies to experimental processes is particularly important. Another article summarizes the activities of the currently funded associated projects on the topic of workflows.

Work was also conducted on workflows for data transfer between different project partners. During a face-to-face meeting of the architecture team on February 25 and 26 at Birlinghoven Castle, the evaluation and further development of the necessary infrastructure were discussed.

Semantic Interoperability

Version 3.0.0 of the PMD Core Ontology (PMDco) Released

The Semantic Interoperability focus area of the MaterialDigital platform has released Version 3.0.0 of the PMD Core Ontology (PMDco), the latest version of our central semantic foundation for the representation of knowledge and interoperable data. This release represents a significant milestone for the PMD Semantic Interoperability working group and reflects several years of collaborative conceptual work, implementation, discussion, and validation across projects and disciplines. We thank all participants for their valuable and productive contributions to this new PMDco version.

PMDco is a cross-domain mid-level ontology for the field of materials science and engineering. It provides a common semantic foundation for consistently describing materials, processes, properties, and models, and for linking data from different sources. This foundation enables interoperability between tools, organizations, and domains — going far beyond the mere exchange of files.

The ontology is deliberately designed to be extensible and application-independent and can be combined with existing standards as well as domain-specific ontologies. In digital materials workflows, it thus serves as a semantic framework for the structured integration of data, models, and methods.

With version 3.0.0, based on the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), PMDco has reached a level of maturity that enables its reliable use as a reference point for semantic integration in the MSE field. At the same time, it is designed to provide a stable foundation for domain-specific extensions as well as for knowledge-based workflows.

This release is based on consolidated modeling decisions, a revised conceptual clarity, and practical use cases from the MaterialDigital ecosystem.

For further information and documentation, please visit the following links:

• https://github.com/materialdigital/core-ontology
• https://w3id.org/pmd/co/
• https://materialdigital.github.io/core-ontology/docs/

Review at the VMAP User Forum 2026 – Valuable Exchange Within the Community

On February 24 and 25, industry experts, researchers, and innovators gathered at the VMAP User Forum 2026 to discuss the further development of standards for computer-aided engineering and digital manufacturing — and PMD was there! Topics of focus included the virtual characterization of new materials, sustainable manufacturing processes, and the development of semantic knowledge platforms for AI.

The Semantic Interoperability working group presented the PMD Core Ontology (PMDco) and demonstrated how semantic technologies:

• structure and link standardized simulation and CAE data,
• link domain concepts across tools and organizations, and
• make engineering data machine-interpretable.

The discussions confirmed that interoperability should go beyond mere file exchange. Initial approaches demonstrate how VMAP data can be linked with semantic concepts such as PMDco to better contextualize results, consistently map terminologies, and improve reuse in analyses, traceability, and AI/ML pipelines.

We look back on a successful event and look forward to deeper collaboration on semantic standards and interoperable engineering data.

Recent Publications in the MaterialDigital Initiative

New CEN Workshop Agreement CWA 18353: Recommendations for Consistent Terminology in Materials Science Ontologies

Semantic technologies — including ontologies and knowledge graphs — are increasingly being used to manage material and process data in accordance with the FAIR principles. However, in materials science, engineering, and manufacturing, large amounts of heterogeneous data are often difficult to access and integrate, which limits comprehensive analysis and reuse.

Although bottom-up developed ontologies are attractive in practice, specific questions arise regarding consistent terminology definition—such as naming conventions, concise and unambiguous definitions, sources and provenance of descriptions, multilingual terms, relationships between concepts, and quality assurance.

The CEN Workshop Agreement CWA 18353:2026 addresses these challenges. It offers recommendations and a repeatable workflow for the identification, definition, and maintenance of terminology for application ontologies in materials science and engineering. The goal is consistent, scalable, and interoperable ontology development that is oriented toward specific use cases and datasets and complements existing terminology standards and best practices.

You can find the document here:

https://www.cencenelec.eu/media/CEN-CENELEC/CWAs/RI/2026/cwa18353_2026.pdf

From our community for our community

Don't miss out: 50th edition of the MPA Conference

Join the MPA Conference 2026 – Materials, Processes, Applications, taking place in Stuttgart from October 5 to 7, 2026. Following its debut in 1975, the conference will celebrate its 50th edition in 2026.

The conference brings together experts from academia and industry to discuss current challenges and developments in the fields of materials, manufacturing processes, and technical applications.

Participants can look forward to a series of exciting presentations, including topics such as big data and AI methods, as well as advanced manufacturing.

Further information and registration: https://materials-for-future.com/

Join ICAA 20: 20th International Conference on Aluminium Alloys

Discover the latest in aluminium science and technology at ICAA 20, 13–17 September 2026, in Berlin. This conference unites researchers and industry experts to explore everything from alloy design and processing to application-driven developments.

Students and early-career professionals are encouraged to participate, with dedicated awards recognizing emerging talent.

Register now to secure your spot and connect with the aluminium community: https://dgm.de/icaa/2026/

New Funding Opportunities for 2026 – Horizon Europe – 2026 Industry Calls

Several calls for proposals are available under the Industry pillar of the 2026 Horizon Europe program. Of particular interest to our community is the call:

HORIZON-CL4-2026-01-MAT-PROD-23 – Accelerating the discovery and development of chemicals and innovative advanced materials through digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI)

Submission deadline: April 21, 2026, 5:00 p.m. (Brussels time)

You can find more calls here: https://hadea.ec.europa.eu/news/horizon-europe-2026-industry-calls-now-published-2025-12-19_en

If you are already working on a proposal, we wish you the best of luck with your submission!

The PMD team