A competition for R&D funding to promote technology in the European large electronics sector is launched by the Technology Strategy Board.
The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) is asking UK companies to take part in a funding competition for collaborative research and development projects that aim to stimulate technology within the European Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) community.
The TSB will contribute up to Eu4 million and the European Commission will provide additional support up to Eu2 million to co-fund participation by UK companies. This is part of a larger European ERA-NET Plus competition with total funding of up to Eu18.2 million.
The funding competition opens on October 24 and first-stage applications must be submitted by January 31, 2012.
Organic and large area electronics (also known as plastic electronics, printed electronics or organic electronics) allow electronic circuits and devices to be produced using relatively low-cost printing processes onto any surface, whether rigid or flexible, and over large areas.
It will lead to the creation of whole new generations of products, such as conformable and roll-able electronic display screens, large-area efficient lighting, low-cost solar cells, low-cost radio frequency identification (RFID) and memories, and flexible and environmentally friendly batteries.
Full information about the Organic Large-Area Electronics European competition for collaborative R&D funding is available here (www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/olae-organic-large-area-electronics.ashx).
Interested companies should also visit the competition website at www.olaeplus.eu where they can register their profiles and identify potential collaborative partners.
The global market value for OLAE technology is forecast to increase from just over Eu1bn today to more than Eu200bn by 2027. Europe has a lead in the development of OLAE technology and a key objective of this coordinated programme is to enhance the supply chain by improving materials and processes.
As well as stimulating technology and collaboration within the European OLAE community, the programme also aims to contribute to knowledge and technology transfer from laboratory to manufacture, thus significantly accelerating the speed of innovation and industrial development of OLAE in Europe.
