A 14-strong European consortium has secured 1,742,245.00 million Euros of EU funding for production of high quality natural fibres for the SME natural fibre sector. The research is part funded by the European Commission under its FP7 (Framework 7) programme.

These companies and the EU will commit a total of 2,228,311 million Euros to the project. This will include Associazione Nazionale Costruttoridi Macchine e Stampi per Materie Plastiche e Gomma, Kenaf Eco Fibres, Centro Europeo Sviluppo Applicazioni Plastiche and ICMA from Italy, European Industrial Hemp Association from Germany, EKOTEX from Poland, AcXys from France, Omega Makina Ltd from Turkey, GreenGran and DLO from the Netherlands, MoveVirgo Ltd, British Plastics Federation, InControl Ultrasonics Ltd and Smithers Rapra Technology from the United Kingdom. 

As the SME-AGs and SMEs in the natural fibre producing and polymer sectors do not have the technical expertise or the financial resources to innovate themselves, an externally co-funded programme of research is needed. Through this programme, RTD performers, experts in the necessary fields, will perform research on behalf of the SME-AG to provide a step change in the efficiency of the natural fibre composites supply chain. This will provide exploitable IPR for the SME-AGs and, through a targeted programme of dissemination, generate interest in the field, allowing SMEs further to innovate through the development of equipment for end-users. After completion of the project, the commercial viability of the UltraFibre process will have been demonstrated.