There is tremendous work being done on printed and flexible electronics by research institutions worldwide. Research is constantly coming up with new approaches, materials and ideas, and an almost limitless array of applications is emerging.

Testing these applications is one of the areas where there is a need for more development. A few research centers are doing this. With the Open Innovation Test Bed (OITB) for printed electronics, the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is bringing testing to European industry.

DTI is leading LEE-BED, an OITB formed through the European 2020 program. The LEE-BED project began in 2019 and has received more than €12 million to develop services and upgrade pilot lines. Right now, 10 companies can gain access to the OITB free of charge.

“Through LEE-BED, we are joining forces with some of Europe’s most prominent research and development institutes and SMEs, to provide consultancy services and access to state-of-the-art facilities within printed electronics. The goal is to strengthen the European competitiveness through novel technologies,” said Zachary James Davis, team manager at Danish Technological Institute.

DTI is well positioned to lead the OITB. DTI is a research and technology not-for-profit innovation organization, with a main mission to assist industry with new technologies. DTI has approximately 1000 employees at three main locations in Denmark, and hosts more than 70 laboratories and 1,000 specialists.

DTI has a lot of experience in the field, having been working on printed electronics since 2016, mainly focusing on development of a silver alternative, namely copper nanomaterials for conductive inks.

“We have a small group of around 25 persons working within printed electronics, energy and micro analysis,” Davis said. “Within printed electronics we are mainly focused on materials, formulation development, printing and testing of printed components, thus we can work along the entire value chain. We have expertise within how to embed and integrate electronics into new and existing products, as well as how to optimize the development process, reducing time from idea to market.”

The benefits of OITB are numerous. Companies can gain access to new technologies without making huge capital investments. Meanwhile, the OITB can perform proof of concept, prototyping and pilot production, as well as patent services.

Davis noted that LEE-BED is already working with four industrial end user cases, with four distinct application areas.

“We are now working with four industrial end users, Swarovski AG working with wearables, MAIER working with automotive plastic parts, Grafietic working with labels and ACCIONA working with construction,” Davids said. “In the fall, we will open our services to external companies and run 10 service packages free of change in order to get LEE-BED started.”

“The Open Innovation Test Bed allows us to work with the leading experts in Europe involved in printed electronics,” Davis added. “Not one institute can do everything, so collaboration with other leading RTOs and companies is crucial in order to provide the right consultancy.  We have formed several service and pilot line access and will provide these on a European level.  DTI will act is the single entry point for access to these services and pilot lines.”

Davis sees great opportunities ahead for printed electronics, and adds that LEE-BED can play a key role in that growth.

“Printed electronics has been around for several decades, in products like membrane switches,” he noted. “However, there are many new applications which will be enabled by printed electronics, such as IoT, eHealth, and smart packaging, just to name a few.  For this to happen, new materials and process will be developed, thus there will be a large demand for LEE-BED services and pilot line access.”