Acceleration Consortium: Self-Driving Labs for Molecular and Materials Discovery

材料和分子在人类历史上发挥了决定性的作用，从石器时代到青铜时代，再到推动信息时代的半导体。它们也是解决气候变化、塑料污染和癌症等许多世界上最紧迫的重大挑战的核心。多伦多大学(UofT)的加速联盟(AC)成立于2021年，正在利用其在人工智能(AI)和自动化方面的优势，实现按需材料时代。想象一下，在这样一个世界里，我们可以迅速开发出最需要的具有成本效益的高性能材料，例如用于有效捕获和利用大气中二氧化碳的催化剂、低碳水泥、轻质可生物降解复合材料、用于水过滤的膜，以及用于癌症治疗和未来流行病的有效分子。AC是一个通过发展自动驾驶实验室(SDL)来革新材料发现的全球社区。虽然传统的材料创新速度慢得令人望而却步，成本也高得令人望而却步，但SDL结合了人工智能、机器人技术和先进计算，从根本上减少了将材料推向市场的时间和成本，从大约20年和大约1亿美元减少到短短1年和100万美元。这些自主实验室预测、合成和测试材料的特定性能特征(例如，导电性)，然后重复和改进这一过程，通过将这三个步骤集成到一个自动化系统中，在发现过程中“闭合循环”。AC召集了来自UFTT及其合作机构不列颠哥伦比亚省大学(UBC)的顶尖研究人员，以及国内和全球的学术界、工业界和政府合作伙伴，以开发世界领先的加速发现中心。这个开放的创新生态系统将使用SDLS作为一种平台技术，以促进跨学科合作，推动满足真正需求的研究和商业化。材料创新对于一个可持续、健康和有弹性的社会至关重要。咨询委员会将专注于三个研究支柱：i)可扩展的SDL技术的开发；ii)分子和材料的弹性应用；以及iii)SDL革命的伦理、未来和经济，以促进SDL技术的工业采用，并确保所有加拿大人受益。由加拿大和AC的跨学科、行业和地理领域的知名专家领导的世界材料革命的时机已经成熟。

Materials and molecules have played a defining role in human history, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the semiconductors that propelled the Information Age. They are also central to solving many of the world's most pressing grand challenges such as climate change, plastics pollution, and cancer. Launched in 2021, the Acceleration Consortium (AC) at the University of Toronto (UofT) is leveraging its strength in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to realize the Age of Materials on Demand. Imagine a world where we can rapidly develop the cost-effective, high-performance materials that are needed the most, such as catalysts for effective atmospheric CO2 capture and utilization, low-carbon cement, lightweight biodegradable composites, membranes for water filtration, and potent molecules for cancer treatment and future pandemics. The AC is a global community revolutionizing materials discovery through the development of self-driving laboratories (SDLs). While traditional materials innovation is prohibitively slow and expensive, SDLs combine AI, robotics, and advanced computing to radically reduce the time and cost of bringing materials to market, from ~20 years and ~$100 million to as little as 1 year and $1 million. These autonomous labs predict, synthesize, and test materials for specific performance characteristics (e.g., conductivity) and then repeat and refine this process, "closing the loop" on the discovery by integrating these three steps into one automated system. The AC convenes top researchers from UofT and partner institution University of British Columbia (UBC), with domestic and global academic, industry, and government partners, to develop the world's leading accelerated discovery centre. This open innovation ecosystem will use SDLs as a platform technology to facilitate transdisciplinary collaboration, driving research and commercialization that addresses genuine needs. Materials innovation is critical for a sustainable, healthy, and resilient society. The AC will focus on three research pillars: i) Development of scalable SDL technologies; ii) Molecular and materials applications for resilience; and iii) Ethics, futures, and the economy of the SDL revolution, to promote industrial adoption of SDL technologies and ensure that all Canadians benefit. The world is ripe for a materials revolution-led by Canada and the AC's renowned experts across disciplines, sectors, and geographies.