Fig. 1

The concept of Stem Materials. (Top) A fiction vision of Stem Materials, which aim at mimicking living organisms (the marine gastropod mollusk “Aporrhais pespelecani” is taken as an example of adaptation to environmental changes), designed and assembled from a base of primitive units for self-reacting to external inputs. The development of Stem Materials’ concept asks for contributions from a wide variety of scientific disciplines and communities, in a complex integration of quantum mechanics and chemical synthetic biology, chemistry and genetics, engineering and manufacturing, in a truly and inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary approach. (Bottom) The main aspects which have to be investigated in order to achieve Stem Materials, as identified by the experts involved in the foresight exercise which launched the concept of Stem Materials