The EU has put £2m into County Durham's printable electronics centre PETEC.
Paid through parent organisation the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI): "Additional funding from the European Regional Development Fund is to install equipment in the newly opened clean room in PETEC," said CPI.
The European cash, sourced through development agency One North East, doubles the investment made by the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board to develop the centre last year.
PETEC has been set up with industrial printing equipment to develop production technology for plastic electronics.
"The large area coating equipment (LACE) project is enhancing the region's growing technology capabilities, enabling development and prototyping for plastic electronic applications in printable photovoltaics [PPV] and solid state lighting [SSL]," said PETEC. "It will create 40 jobs, assist 20 specialist businesses, and provide university training courses in PPV and SSL techniques."
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