Invest in Finland

Functions

EUR 10 million boost for research into flexible and printed electronics

18/08/2009

PrintoCent aims to turn research in flexible and printed electronics into business.More than EUR 10 million has been invested in the PrintoCent innovation centre located at the University of Oulu, Finland, in projects and equipment that aim to convert research results in printed electronics and optical measurement technology into industrial and business activity. The funding was provided by the European regional development fund, the State Provincial Office of Oulu's education department, the City of Oulu and private companies.

Oulu is already a global leader in the field of flexible and printed electronics, according to University of Oulu’s FiDiPro professor Ghassan E. Jabbour from the Arizona State University. PrintoCent refines the results of ongoing research and development projects into business with the help of prototypes and product demonstrators. 

“PrintoCent will be developed as a hub for printed electronics, fotonics and bioinformatics,” says Professor Ghassan E. Jabbour, who is also the director of the innovation centre’s teaching programme. “The sector offers a huge amount of opportunities for Finland in terms of new business, jobs, training and everyday products.” Such products could include, for example, solar panels integrated into household windows or wallpaper, or a sports shirt that also works as an MP3 player and pulse meter.

In the future the infrastructure being built in Oulu can be utilized by Finnish and foreign companies in their research. Professor Ghassan E. Jabbour believes that centre’s potential customers could include packing companies who could research the possibilities for monitoring their packages, for example whether the packages have been opened or if they have been damaged in transit.

PrintoCent's objective is to reinforce Finland's position as one of Europe's leading innovation centres in printed electronics and optical measurement technology. The new three-year programme will aim to take research results from laboratories into industrial production and products in cooperation with Finnish and foreign companies. The aim is to generate new companies and hundreds of industrial jobs in the Finnish region of Oulu, which is famous for its electronics expertise.

Funded by the European regional development fund, the State Provincial Office of Oulu's education department, the City of Oulu and companies, a project entitled "Printed electronics innovation environment 2009–2011" has commenced, building a pilot manufacturing environment for printed electronics and diagnostics for VTT in Oulu. The environment will serve the development of manufacturing and production methods as well as equipment from laboratories towards industrial manufacturing.

PrintoCent was established by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, University of Oulu, Oulu University of Applied Sciences and Oulu Innovation Oy. Oulu has already established an international reputation as a centre for the development of mobile technology.

Sources:  IT Viikko, Business Oulu

 

Back to the top

Back to the top