Canatu announces Kickstarter product launch at Plastic Electronics 2012

Dan Rogers - 10 Oct 2012

An accessory using a novel nanomaterial touchscreen will be launched via the Kickstarter project in the coming weeks, according to nanotechnology developer Canatu.

Based in Finland, Canatu supplies carbon NanoBuds that can be used as a conductive layer alternative to indium tin oxide, which is considered too brittle for flexible electronics.

David Brown, CTO at Canatu, announced the plans to launch the Qii accessory at the Plastic Electronics 2012 conference in Dresden, Germany.

Kickstarter allows visitors to commit to buying one of the products on the site - guaranteeing funding that allows developers to realise their concept. The site's most famous product launch was another accessory, the Pebble wristwatch, which can present messages wirelessly transmitted from the wearer's smartphone. Pebble gained over $10 million (€7.8 million) in orders via Kickstarter.

Business case

Canatu discussed the planned Qii launch in the 'Integrated smart systems: business case' session of the Plastic Electronics 2012 conference, part of the Semicon Europa event.

Other presentations came from Seoul National University, which is creating stretchable electronic patches and 'tattoos' for wearable medical sensors (see +Plastic Electronics 4.6); and Isorg, a spin-out of French R&D centre CEA-Liten, which is scaling up printable image sensors (see +Plastic Electronics 5.1).

Dae-Hyeoung Kim, an assistant professor at Seoul National University, explained the development of stretchable electronics based on silicon nanoribbons. These conformable electronics could be used for implants to monitor areas such as the heart or brain. The researchers have also demonstrated a bioresorbable implant that dissolves after three weeks without signs of inflammation.

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