Project: Sinfoni

Launched in 2012 and financed under the Investissements d’Avenir (investments for the future) scheme for structural projects at competitiveness clusters, Project SINFONI covers the national supply chain for flax and hemp plant-based technical fibres for use as materials, bringing together complementary industrial operators and academics active throughout the value chain.

The main objectives of the project:

• To guarantee materials producers the volume and price availability of a range of granulates, fibres and reinforcements (compounds, non-wovens, UD, wovens) for the construction and composites markets
• To provide plant-based materials with optimised performance
• To ensure that the upstream supply chain meets quality standards through implementation of a traceability system
• To supply materials with proven environmental benefits

The impact of the project:

• Creation of a collective range of fibres and reinforcements able to generate application co-developments outside the project’s target domains
• Establishment of an innovation pool covering the performance optimisation of the range: enhanced mechanical performance, new functionalities (interface, fireproofing, waterproofing)
• Creation of the SINFONI Club, an interest community for disseminating the project’s results and instigating collective structural initiatives promoting the use of the materials on a wider scale
• Creation of an observatory monitoring the technical plant-based fibre materials markets, reporting developments, how the sector operates, the available resources and LCA data
• Creation of a Technical Plant-based Fibre Materials – Good Practices working group to disseminate the keys to procurement success throughout the value chain, from field to end product
• Publication of 12 technical data sheets covering the entire procurement value chain for granulates/fibres/semi-finished products for materials, validated by inter-laboratory testing
• Publication of Memento 2020 “Overview of the technical plant-based fibre markets for materials (excluding wood) in France”