FlexEnable (Cambridge, UK), a leader in the development and industrialisation of flexible organic electronics, has raised $11M Series B financing. Coretronic, a major Taiwanese LCD backlight module manufacturer, has made a strategic investment alongside significant European family offices. The initial $11M investment includes options for a further $14m and is expected to finance FlexEnable through to mass production ramp up of flexible displays and liquid crystal optical modules at Asian display manufacturing partners. The funds will also be used to scale up the company’s organic materials production capacity to meet the growing needs of display manufacturing partners entering volume production.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG is presenting innovative applications for the automotive industry at LOPEC, the leading international trade show for flexible, organic and printed electronics. Together with Heidelberg's InnovationLab, the company will be presenting printed sensors for battery monitoring and RECARO car seats at the end of March. Heidelberg had already set up its own business unit for the industrial development, manufacture, and sale of printed electronics for this growth market and also established production at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site. In the future, electronic components and sensors for digital applications, particularly from the healthcare and logistics sectors, as well as retail, or the automotive industry, will be produced here using state-of-the-art printing technology.
An international team of scientists have produced a fully woven smart textile display that integrates active electronic, sensing, energy and photonic functions. The functions are embedded directly into the fibres and yarns, which are manufactured using textile-based industrial processes. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, say their approach could lead to applications that sound like sci-fi: curtains that are also TVs, energy-harvesting carpets, and interactive, self-powered clothing and fabrics.
