Work has begun on PETeC, the £10m government-funded plastic electronics prototyping and research facility planned for NETPark, County Durham.
"This centre will provide a bridge between the lab and the factory to facilitate the commercialisation of new products," said Dr Mike Pitkethly. "With ever-increasing competition from places such as India and China, it is crucial that the UK continues to offer the world class facilities for developing plastic electronic products, and PETeC will be integral to the UK’s competitiveness in this emerging group of technologies."
Pitkethly is CEO of Cenamps, a centre for emerging small-scale technologies, which hosted the PETeC ground-breaking ceremony along with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI).
Two funders of the project are regional development agency (RDA) One North East and the Northern Way.
"One North East is very proud to be a partner in PETeC and to see it working along side local and regional universities and industries, but also at a national level," said Kim Wong, emerging technologies manager at One North East. "This illustrates the level of commitment the RDA places on innovation and the generation of new jobs, products and services resulting from emerging technologies."
PETeC will offer space, resource and expertise for companies to research and develop plastic electronics to the pre-competitive, or mini-production stage.
Amongst the resources are clean rooms, laboratories and reel-to-reel production equipment.
"PETeC will be established as a national prototyping operation providing world-class facilities, services and expertise at the hub of a UK-wide network in plastic electronics," said Cenamps.
Applications for plastic electronics are foreseen in smart packaging, real-time newspapers, intelligent signage, point-of-care medical diagnostic devices, drug delivery devices, flexible solar cells and solid state lighting.