German printing equipment supplier Heidelberg and Technical University (TU) Darmstadt have extended a joint research platform into printed electronics to 2012.
The R&D division of Heidelberg and TU Darmstadt's Institute for Printing Presses and Printing Methods have been working on printing technologies for new products, with the aim of generating added value for print media in future. Prototypes include an EL display integrated into a point-of-sale application and a printed keyboard based on conductive polymers.
Representatives from the print equipment firm discussed R&D progress in functional printing technologies at a recent forum organised by the company. Manfred Jurkewitz, head of R&D at Heidelberg, said in his presentation that printed organic electronics is one approach that has the potential to disrupt printing technology in the future.
Cluster
The partners - along with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, chemical producers BASF and Merck, and other industrial and research partners within a 90km radius of Heidelberg - form part of a government-funded organic electronics cluster that is establishing a printed electronics supply chain.
In autumn 2008, the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research named the group the winner of its leading-edge cluster competition, where up to €40 million is being invested in cluster partners' research projects over a five-year period.
One of these includes an initiative to develop materials and manufacturing processes, and test prototype displays with integrated control circuits and line control for displays. Printed circuit technology on flexible substrates allows flexible displays to be made cost-effectively, for use in packaging and coded price displays on shelves.
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Heidelberg
The German printing equipment supplier is part of a government-funded organic electronics cluster
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InnovationLab
The German organic electronics cluster, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research
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