New centre in North Wales is latest addition to UK plastic electronics network

Bangor University has been chosen to host a new business-facing test facility for plastic electronics.

The Centre for Lifetime and Reliability Testing (Claret) aims to occupy an increasingly important gap in the value chain for plastic electronics: device testing services.

Jeff Kettle, a lecturer in Electronic Engineering at the university, remarks: staff at Bangor: '[Staff at Bangor] were among the first to start in plastic electronics and have been into it since day one; the difference is we also have an emphasis on lifetime and reliability testing.

'Claret gives a stronger focus for what we have already been doing and provides a greater impact when we speak to industry.'

Finding a niche
Claret will deepen the pool of existing industry-academia services on offer within the UK; currently concentrated at five plastic electronics centres of excellence (Pecoes) in Manchester, Cambridge, Sedgefield, Swansea, and Imperial College in London.