£8m investment in plastic electronics technologies accompanies UK strategy launch

UK: An £8m investment in innovative developments in new plastic electronics technologies is announced today by the Government-backed Technology Strategy Board, to accompany the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson’s launch of a National Strategy for Plastic Electronics.

Plastic Electronics: A UK Strategy for Success identifies the key issues that must be addressed for the UK to continue to be a globally-leading supplier of plastic electronics, and it recommends solutions -- including actions to encourage, co-ordinate and facilitate investment and to support business growth.

The Technology Strategy Board will launch two business-focused competitions, early next year, designed to help facilitate these recommended solutions. The first piece of activity will be in the form of a workshop, to take place in March 2010, where top sector representatives will have the opportunity to compete for a total of £3m that will go towards devising, developing and demonstrating projects that encourage UK business to use plastic electronics in their product development.

The second £5m collaborative research and development competition aims to build the supply chain and to overcome the barriers to UK exploitation of plastic electronics technology.

Lord Mandelson, who launched the UK strategy, said: “The benefits of plastic electronics technology are potentially huge -- for the UK economy, our society and the environment. And the sector is predicted to grow at an astonishing rate over the next two decades.

“The aim of our strategy is to ensure the UK can take advantage of these new opportunities and enhance our world-leading position in the sector; by up-scaling our manufacturing processes, improving our skills and boosting productivity. The Technology Strategy Board’s work will play an important role in this.”

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board said: “Very sophisticated plastic electronics technology already exists but we believe that there are huge opportunities out there for further incorporation of the technology into products. The challenge is to entice companies, especially those from the design sector, to work with the technology.”

Plastic electronics allows circuits to be produced at relatively low cost by printing electronic materials onto any surface, whether rigid or flexible. It is very different from the assembly of conventional silicon-based electronics and will lead to the creation of a whole new range of products.