Program extends applicability of Thinfilm's current development work on integrating printed sensors with memory to home care and patient monitoring applications.
OSLO, August 22, 2012 - Thin Film Electronics ASA ("Thinfilm") (OSE: THIN.OL) announced today that its award-winning Addressable Memory TM was chosen by a FlexTech Alliance-funded consortium as a key component in a printed sensor platform to monitor temperature and blood oxygen content. Thinfilm will deliver its Addressable MemoryTM to the new program led by PARC, a Xerox Company, and the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). The project will also use technology from Thinfilm and PARC, integrating printed memory and sensors.
"Emerging technologies in printed, flexible, and organic electronics are poised to impact the $300 billion global medical device market as governments, insurers and patients seek to bring down healthcare costs," states Lux Research in their recent report Keeping the Doctor Away: The Opportunities for Emerging Electronics in Healthcare.
"The disruptive potential of printed electronics is enormous, especially for markets such as health care where printed sensor systems will be a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions," said Davor Sutija, CEO, Thinfilm. "Selection by the FlexTech program is a strong validation of the technical merits of Thinfilm's integrated printed electronics platform and demonstrates the applicability of our core technology to areas as broad as medical devices."
In applications requiring single-use, disposable sensors, traditional silicon-based electronic devices are too expensive. Printed sensor systems, as thin as a piece of paper, are uniquely appropriate for such high-volume medical applications.
Projects funded by the FlexTech Alliance are vetted by the FlexTech Technical Council, consisting of distinguished technologists from companies including Lockheed Martin, Qualcomm, E Ink, Applied Materials, Dupont Teijin Film and the US Army Research Lab.
Today's announcement follows Thinfilm's selection by Bemis, a Fortune 500 packaging company, to develop an intelligent packaging platform based on Thinfilm's integrated printed electronics platform.
About the FlexTech Alliance
The FlexTech Alliance is the only organization headquartered in North America exclusively devoted to fostering the growth, profitability and success of the electronic display and the flexible, printed electronics supply chain. FlexTech Alliance offers expanded collaboration between and among industry, academia, government, and research organizations for advancing displays and flexible, printed electronics from R&D to commercialization. To this end, the FlexTech Alliance, based in San Jose, Calif., will help foster development of the supply chain required to support a world-class, manufacturing capability for displays and flexible, printed electronics. More information about the FlexTech Alliance can be found at the industry portal: www.flextech.org.
About Thinfilm
Thin Film Electronics ASA (Ticker: THIN.OL) is a leader in the development of printed electronics. The first to commercialize printed rewritable memory, Thinfilm is creating printed system products that will include memory, sensing, display and wireless communication-at a cost-per-functionality unmatched by any other electronic technology. Thinfilm's roadmap of system products integrates technology from a strong and growing ecosystem of partners to enable the Internet of Things by bringing intelligence to disposable goods. Company headquarters are in Oslo, Norway, with product development in Linköping, Sweden, sales offices in San Francisco, USA, and Tokyo, Japan, and manufacturing in Pyongtaek, South Korea. www.thinfilm.no
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For more information, please contact
Johanna Puustinen
Senior Communications Manager
+47 918 78 673
jp@thinfilm.no