Notes by Akshat Jiwan Sharma

I thank we work India for organising sustainability summit 2025 to help drive real change towards decarbonising the commercial real estate sector. I gained valuable insights from the esteemed speakers especially around policy and regulation in this space.  My own thoughts kept pulling me towards some of the more technical challenges which are quite significant.  The current strategy of making buildings sustainable focuses on reducing the carbon footprint of a building during its operation and construction. In the operational stage the challenge is to ensure that the building can run on green energy. Heating and cooling are the heaviest users of energy and thus obvious targets for decarbonisation.  Since buildings these days scale vertically it's impossible to cover the energy requirements from rooftop solar panels. Unless solar panels can be installed vertically along the facade, the surface area would be too limited to generate any significant power. The idea has been tr...

My comments on a reddit discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/materials/comments/1nmooy5/comment/nfg6vub/ Tribology is a very important subfield of Mat sci and highly relevant anywhere there are moving parts. Like many other materials science domains its cross disciplinary and overlaps with automotive , aerospace ,manufacturing and even nano systems. I think its definitely worth studying and one should atleast  know about core concepts. From a purely research point of view the field is quite deep especially as it is being developed for nano systems and other emerging areas like triboluminescence. It does have a future. Wear is one of the major failure mechanism in materials and lots of resources are allocated to minimise it. Turbines,engine components, tyres ,cutting tools all suffer from wear and constant monitoring and refinement of process parameters is necessary.Many coatings are designed to reduce friction and wear Diamond like carbon films are cutting edge if you can build some...

I thank the European Commission for organising European Research & Innovation (R&I) Days 2025 and giving me a chance to participate in the event discussing the future of European research. Europe has had a long and storied tradition of science with philosophers like Locke,Hobbes,Descartes,Spinoza laying the groundwork for a scientific revolution producing the finest scientists who pushed the boundaries of human knowledge ,ushered the industrial revolution and birthed the modern world. Yet today the EU finds itself at crossroads struggling to retain talent and capitalise on its inventions. Horizon Europe defines key enabling technologies that could propel the EU far ahead of its competitors. Past Records show that Europe has the capability to do it. Its achievements in electronics,semiconductors,wind energy and development of advanced composites like GLARE are a testament to its enterprising citizens. Europe has made strong contributions in open source software and while some of...

I thank the Australian Academy of Science for inviting me to the Science at the Shine Dome 2025, a 4 day event celebrating the shining stars of Australian Science. 26 new fellows were elected to the academy in 2025 during the event and I offer heartiest congratulations to all of them. In the last few decades the Australian scientific community has carved out a niche for itself on the world stage and created an ecosystem that now attracts some of the best talent in the world. Nevertheless the academy, on the 4th day of the event,released a report evaluating AU's preparedness to meet scientific and technological challenges of the future. Materials science was identified as one of the key areas where shortages need to be addressed. In the short-term AU govt can meet the demand by allowing easier immigration especially as many talented scientists are facing challenges in immigrating to the USA. But in the long term AU will have to cultivate its own talent. Minerals play a big role in A...

 3 Sep 2025 Powergen 2025 Enabling the Energy Future — The Hidden Role of Advanced Materials Powergen 2025 brought together leading names in the industry —Rolls Royce, GE, Suzlon ,Imco alloys,Magaldi,Polycab,Hydrogen Association of India among others to strategize on how best to meet the power requirements of the future. Energy is the most important sector one on which all other industries are dependent upon directly. The panelists discussed challenges associated with Distribution and transmission of energy and dependence on copper. Creation of composites for wind turbines, especially the high cost of carbon fiber, was flagged as a concern. Hydrogen storage and limited lifetime of electrodes necessitating stack replacement was also discussed. These are challenging problems that have no straightforward answers. While for AC electrical transmission the dependence on metals would continue. But for HV low current transmission carbon based conductors could prove very useful. Wind turbin...

Absolutely electrifying experience at the Semicon India 2025. I got a chance to interact with representatives from Imec,Tokyo electron, SMC,LAM research,STI,Canon,AMD,Micron,Canon, ASML,Zeiss and learn about their expansion plans in India.  I was really excited to learn about companies manufacturing SIC crystals to meet the demands of the power sector. Manufacturers were highly optimistic about its chances claiming that it outperforms GaN in both cost and efficiency. Another surprise was learning about glass surface patterning through electrochemical discharge. It was especially encouraging to see enthusiastic participation from students eager to learn about the semiconductor industry and drive the transformation in the coming decades. Among the thought leaders AI unsurprisingly remained a topic of much discussion — though concerns were raised around its sustainability & the need to decarbonise the manufacturing process. The conference provided a much needed thrust to India's a...