This pilot action GRAPHENE-CA paves the road to the FET Flagship "Graphene-Driven Revolutions in ICT and Beyond" (GRAPHENE). The GRAPHENE flagship ambition is to bring together a focused, interdisciplinary European research community that aims at a radical technology shift in information and communication technology that exploits the unique properties of graphene and related two-dimensional materials. Graphene research is an example of an emerging translational nanotechnology where discoveries in academic laboratories are rapidly transferred to applications and commercial products. Graphene and related materials have the potential to make a profound impact in ICT in the short and long term: Integrating graphene components with silicon-based electronics, and gradually replacing silicon in some applications, allows not only substantial performance improvements but, more importantly, it enables completely new applications.