Flexible and printed electronics applications are appearing more frequently in the market, in a wide range of formats. Displays is one promising area, and Ynvisible is growing rapidly in the display space. 
 
ynvisible printed electrochromic (EC) display technologies are finding opportunities in a wide range of applications, from point-of-purchase and promotional items to smart labels and brand security. The company has closed a $4.4 million private placement, and in major news recently acquired Consensum Production AB, which will allow Ynvisble to begin high volume roll-to-roll printing of electrochromic displays.
 
Ynvisible Interactive Inc.’s CEO Jani-Mikael Kuusisto said that the company is meeting with numerous end-users to see how its EC display technology can be used in products.
 
“Numerous brand owners and product developers are keen to learn and test how electrochromics (EC) can be used as the visual human interface in a range of smart everyday objects and IoT devices. Curiosity toward interactive printed graphics is very high,” Kuusisto reported. “After going public last year, our company has had improved access to financing, which has helped us build our production capability and capacity, and continue growing our team for sales, marketing, customer support and product management. At this point, we are positioned to deliver meaningful commercial quantities. Our prototyping and client-focused tailored R&D services are picking up, but all this exciting work is on-going under confidentiality agreements. 
 
“The significance in all this is that we are focused and eager to see client-driven applications come out into market, driving revenues for both our clients and us,” he added. “The company’s focus and actions are geared to accelerating our business and increasing our revenue. The new funds will be used to support these objectives. We can’t wait for the world to see what we are working on with our customers.”
 
The addition of Consensum is a huge move that will benefit both Ynvisible and its customers.
 
“With Consensum, we will have so much more to offer to our clients,” Kuusisto said. “The Consensum team is experienced in taking different printed electronics technologies into full roll-to-roll production and in related technology transfer to other production locations. Their roll-to-roll equipment and facilities can help us leap-frog into high volume roll-to-roll production, which is already a requirement in some of our client cases. We can further expand our capabilities beyond electrochromic technology, better partner with suppliers of other printed electronics technologies and progress toward more integrated systems.
 
“Further, we are excited about becoming a member in the printed electronics ecosystem in the Linköping-Norrköping area. It is a region with pioneering work in electrochromics printing and with tons of exciting work in printed and paper-based electronics. Couple this with the networks we already have in place, we expect many great things to happen,” Kuusisto added.
 
Last year, Ynvisible moved its headquarters from Portugal to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Kuusisto said that being a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture List (Ynvisible Interactive Inc. – TSXV: YNV) and having headquarters in Canada has been very good for the company. 
 
“I feel that having that seal of approval from the Exchange – which was an arduous process – has made us a more credible supplier to globally leading brands,” Kuusisto observed. “Our operations in Canada are still small. Most of our production and development operations continue to grow in Europe, leveraging the strong ecosystems we are linked to. But with particularly strong market pull in North America, we expect to begin expanding our presence in Canada, especially on the sales front, to be closer to these energetic clients and partners.”
 
In February 2019, Ynvisible announced that it is working on contracts for smart labels, with products due to reach commercialization by the end of 2019. Kuusisto noted that Ynvisible has demonstrated several benefits of using printed electrochromic technology in smart labels. 
 
“Electrochromics provide clear, dynamic and very practical visual indicators to smart labels, and can be integrated in numerous different ways to the label design,” he added. “EC’s ultra-low power consumption is critical in smart label applications – the ability to power the display with printed batteries or even with the residual energy from RFID reading are huge benefits over other electronic display technologies. The ability to print the EC, even directly onto the label substrate, and ease of system integration reduces the total cost of ownership for using electrochromics as the interactive visual interface.”
 
The security document and anti-counterfeiting space is another area of interest.
 
“Electrochromics can be used in a myriad of different ways in security and anti-counterfeiting,” said Kuusisto. “Our proprietary technology offers many of the same advantages as in smart labels, and for both overt and covert levels of authentication. However, our company does not develop the end security solutions. Our lead client in this field is a globally leading security and identity solutions company. They lead the development and we likely never fully know how they integrate ECs into the system.
 
“Beyond the field of security, in the world of brand authentication, our ECs can act as visual indicators for simultaneous authentication and quality control purposes,” he added. “Fake goods should never reach the consumer, and perhaps the brand owner doesn’t want to burden them with steps to check and worries of product authenticity. The same display that is used for authentication in the retail chain can ultimately guide the consumer in the use of the product and enhance the brand experience. Of course, lack of such features in the final product can lead the consumer to question the product’s authenticity.”
 
To date, all the public uses of ynvisible technology so far have been in promotional print, point-of-purchase and retail display applications.
 
“In the past few years, we’ve directed our focus to integrating electrochromics into smart products and working with brand owners and product developers. As the product developments and launches are led by our clients, they control when they are ready to release the product to market. We are actively supporting our clients toward these targets, and hope such products will soon be released,” Kuusisto reported. “The growing number of client prototyping projects and cases going into first production runs is a validation that our technology has value as a dynamic and interactive visual interface in smart products.”
 
Kuusisto is understandably optimistic when it comes to discussing the future of Ynvisible.
 
“In the next 12 months, we are focused on client cases and supporting their efforts to incorporate our technology into their smart products,” he reported. “We are able to provide a full suite of services to help brand owners take electrochromics into use in their products. We expect first products to be launched in market, and hope that after that the flood-gates for our business will open. In the five-year timeframe, we expect to have established ynvisible as the go-to brand for interactive printed graphics for a wide range of end applications. We aim to offer the leading tools for design, inks for production, and quality control systems.”