Eurostars ranks Thinfilm consortium in top 10% for technology innovation and market competitiveness.
OSLO, November 6, 2012 - Thin Film Electronics ASA ("Thinfilm") (OSE: THIN.OL), a leader in the development of printed electronics, today announced that a Thinfilm-led consortium has been awarded €1.4M by the Eurostars Programme to commercialize display logic for smart tags. Thinfilm will receive direct income of €0.8M. An additional €0.6M will be directed to commercial development activities led by its Swedish partners Acreo and Santa Anna IT Research Institute.
Eurostars supports market-oriented research and development, backing only projects with the strongest commercial potential. The Thinfilm consortium received a Top 10% rating among submitted proposals based on technology innovation and market competitiveness.
"Since the Eurostars Programme was introduced in 2007, the demand for funding has increased dramatically. 750 applications are submitted each year, and only projects that are at the forefront of innovation are funded," says Bjørn Henriksen, Senior Adviser, Division of Innovation, Eurostars at the Research Council of Norway.
The project accelerates the development of disposable smart tags for use in high-volume applications. Thinfilm's integrated smart tags will include printed memory, sensors, and displays, and can be used in applications as diverse as temperature monitoring, electronic price tags, and personal healthcare.
"We are pleased that Eurostars has recognized Thinfilm's technology leadership in printed electronic systems," said Dr. Davor Sutija, CEO of Thinfilm. "Our receipt of the maximum available backing from the Eurostars Programme is a strong validation of our commercial roadmap. Pairing of printed displays with Thinfilm Addressable Memory(TM) expands the functionality of our ultra-low-cost electronic labels."
Receipt of this grant continues Thinfilm's momentum in integrated printed electronic systems. Thinfilm Addressable Memory(TM) was recently selected by a FlexTech Alliance-funded consortium for the development of a printed sensor platform that will monitor temperature and blood oxygen content. Earlier this year Bemis, a Fortune 500 packaging company, selected Thinfilm to deliver its intelligent packaging platform.
Thinfilm has recently received significant cross-industry recognition. In October, Thinfilm won the World Technology Award and The Wall Street Journal named Thinfilm as runner-up for the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award. The recognition by the Wall Street Journal and World Technology Network follows important printed electronics industry awards earlier this year from both the FlexTech Alliance and IDTechEx. Thinfilm was also recently recognized by GigaOm as one of the 15 Most Innovative Companies in mobile.
About Eurostars
The Eurostars Programme ("Eurostars") is a European innovation programme. It is managed by EUREKA. Its purpose is to provide funding for market-oriented research and development with the active participation of research- and development-performing small- and medium-sized enterprises (R&D-performing SMEs). Eurostars is a joint initiative between EUREKA and the EU Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7).
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.
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For more information, please contact
Johanna Puustinen
Senior Communications Manager
+47 918 78 673
jp@thinfilm.no