British engineers seek market share in printable electronics

Harry Potter-style electronic newspapers that flash up with breaking news stories may no longer be constrained to the pages of fiction if a new technology takes off.

British engineers are trying to grab a slice of an emerging technology known as printable electronics that could enable a wide range of applications, from flexible solar panels to windowless planes.

By using conductive inks, printable electronics can incorporate electrical circuits into plastic and cardboard for just a few pence per unit. One of the main advantages it offers over conventional electronics is its flexibility.

The technology could change everyday living by bringing intelligence to products, such as smart packaging that could tell a person when to take their medication or how long to leave a dye in their hair.

"Printable electronics opens up a whole new world," says Steve Spruce, operations manager at the Centre for Process Innovation in Sedgefield, part of the government's network of technology centres known as catapults. "It gives you opportunities in terms of both design and function."

While the technology is never going to replace conventional electronics, largely because it does not contain as much complexity, the potential global market for printable electronics is vast. Applications range from flexible batteries, sensors for lighting products, foldable electronic displays, advertising posters and smart packaging.

The CPI is working on developing a UK supply chain in an attempt to improve the country's share of the printable electronics market. Mr Spruce says the technology is beginning to see more interest, particularly in areas such as energy development where printable electronics could be used to print photovoltaic cells.

Cormac Neeson of Crown Technology, a packaging company, says the project aims to drive wider low-cost use of the technology in the UK. "We're likely to see it being used in more high-end packaging first of all before it gets driven into the mass consumer market like drinks cans which are more price sensitive," he says.

In packaging, the technology could be used to monitor the freshness of the food or the shelf-life, or to make it stand out so it has more "blink appeal" for consumers.

The UK has several companies already active in printable electronics. Cambridge-based PragmatIC Printing makes the flexible microcircuit - the brains of the electronic system - which is thinner than a human hair and can be embedded in any flexible surface.

"It's like the processor inside your laptop," says Scott White, chief executive officer at PragmatIC. "The idea from our perspective is to make it so it is very thin and flexible so that it can be easily integrated into a wide variety of product types, everything from packaging, clothing to wearable technology."

In January, PragmatIC completed a £5.4m funding round to scale up its manufacturing operations, with Arm Holdings, the UK technology group, investing in the group.

Mr White believes the two biggest markets for the company in the short term are smart packaging for consumer goods and wireless traceability of documents for security and identification. It is working with a number of household brands including Procter & Gamble, Hallmark, Hasbro and De La Rue, the banknote printer.

"A lot of the applications we're focused on don't need the same level of complexity [as silicon chips], but they need the cost of it to be substantially lower because it's going on something that might only cost a few tens of cents," Mr White says.

Printable electronics also offers opportunities in the medical industry. The CPI is working with CompanDX, a Nottingham-Trent University spinout, and Sapient Sensors to develop a low-cost disposable portable testing device that could detect bovine tuberculosis in cattle in just a few minutes - helping to limit the spread of the disease.

It works by using a printed sensor that can indicate the presence of bovine TB from blood, rather than the week-long skin test currently in use. The prototype will be available at the end of next year, with full commercialisation likely to happen in 2017, according to CPI.

Another company, Kromek, is working with CPI to develop printed sensors for breast cancer screening, where the flexible sensor could be embedded inside the breasts.

"Is the UK going to do every aspect of printed electronics and be a world leader in everything, almost certainly not," Mr White says. "But I think there are certain areas where we do have world-leading technology and the right surrounding elements of the supply chain to put that in place."

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