"With progress in nanotechnology, biophysics, and polymer synthesis, colloidal science has reached a new level of importance. A large variety of complex colloids of different shapes, with binding specificity, and variable softness has been synthesized, opening quite exciting ways for engineering materials at the nanoscale. The purpose of COMPLOIDS is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the Physics governing the self-organization and the dynamical behavior of complex colloidal particles in the bulk, under confinement and out of equilibrium. For this purpose, the partners will consider a variety of novel, experimentally accessible colloidal systems that share the common properties of anisotropy, associativity and softness of their constituent particles. A well-coordinated combination of experiment, theory and simulation will explore the fundamental Physics, define similarities and differences between the systems considered and search for common underlying mechanisms of self-organization that are distinct to these complex and highly versatile colloidal systems. The technical objective of COMPLOIDS is to apply the gained knowledge with the goal of engineering novel materials in close collaboration with participating high-technology EU-companies. Young researchers will also profit from COMPLOIDS in a variety of ways. They will be exposed in high-level research working, within a highly connected and interdisciplinary team of researchers and developing state-of-the art tools in the Statistical Physics of Soft Matter. Further, they will attend world-rate graduate programs and courses in the participating academic partners and they will obtain hands-on experience of the industry sector through the participation of industrial partners."