Role of materials data science and informatics in accelerated materials innovation

The goal of the Materials Genome Initiative is to substantially reduce the time and cost of materials design and deployment. Achieving this goal requires taking advantage of the recent advances in data and information sciences. This critical need has impelled the emergence of a new discipline, called materials data science and informatics. This emerging new discipline not only has to address the core scientific/technological challenges related to datafication of materials science and engineering, but also, a number of equally important challenges around data-driven transformation of the current culture, practices, and workflows employed for materials innovation. A comprehensive effort that addresses both of these aspects in a synergistic manner is likely to succeed in realizing the vision of scaled-up materials innovation. Key toolsets needed for the successful adoption of materials data science and informatics in materials innovation are identified and discussed in this article. Prototypical examples of emerging novel toolsets and their functionality are described along with select case studies.