PolyIC creates smart tickets and cards

Dan Rogers - 03 Sep 2009

Printed electronics company PolyIC is planning the commercialisation of intelligent electronic tickets, card games and product packaging within the next three years.

Wolfgang Mildner, MD of the German firm, claims that PolyIC's printed electronic materials could soon be cheap enough for use in animated tickets for events, interactive trading and gaming cards and high-end product packaging.

Mildner states: 'These capabilities are an extension of typical packaging - they present new opportunities.
'They could start in high-end product packaging, such as consumer electronics.'

Brand protection

A combination of display technologies and RFID integrated into a ticket's electronics would be a good deterrent of counterfeiters, says Mildner.

Mildner notes: 'One point we've seen from industry feedback is the idea of combining RFID with the optical feedback.
'This technology would allow for better differentiation from counterfeits, as this is something that you can't easily reproduce.'

Mildner believes that the company can now move forward, in collaboration with other companies, on the development of sufficient production capacity.

He adds: 'Within the Organic Electronics Association there are some companies that we're partnering with.
'The next step is to discuss with customers and see how to scale this into larger quantities.'

The company plans to make its first step into commercial production with a facility capacity of 'several 10,000s,' says Mildner. While he would not reveal the partners in current development plans, he is confident that the current collaboration will be sufficient to make these manufacturing facilities a reality.

One-offs

PolyIC previously unveiled RFID-enabled tickets with displays in 2007, but advances in organic electronics have meant that commercial opportunities are growing. Organic electronics would allow tickets to be mass-produced at low cost.

Lower-volume applications such as event tickets could provide the initial, commercial use needed to prove that electronic display packaging works. The novelty of a ticket with an integrated display could justify the added premium for the production costs and highlight the possibilities of the technology.

Esquire magazine produced an active display cover for its October 2008 issue, which marked its 75th anniversary. 60,000 copies of the e-ink cover were produced in the US and placed on shelves at stores and newsstands. A similar one-off could be adopted for tickets and lead into larger packaging applications, as Mildner notes.

'The simple animation done on the Esquire magazine, that was done with today's silicon technology. With the help of printed electronics it will be affordable, flexible, thin and sustainable in the future,' he comments.