NextFlex Names Founding Members

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NextFlex, America's Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Institute, today officially welcomed its founding members in conjunction with the 2016FLEX Conference and Exhibition in Monterey, California. During the event, which opens today, NextFlex will be convening meetings of its Governing and Technical Councils, as well as an intensive series of Technical Working Group sessions.

Since opening membership in November 2015, NextFlex has signed 30 Partnership Agreements with industrial, academic, and non-profit organizations. These founding members will play a role in shaping the technical and program direction of NextFlex and are eligible to conduct Institute-funded projects, at least 50 percent of which must be cost-shared by members.

Flexible hybrid electronics comprise a set of technologies that bring together printed electronics manufactured on flexible substrates with semiconductor devices. NextFlex's mission is to advance manufacturing maturity for these technologies in forms that can be attached to skin, vehicles, or other structures, or can be bent, rolled, folded, and integrated physically in ways that traditional rigid electronics cannot.

"The NextFlex founding members represent a diverse group of leaders in flexible hybrid electronics manufacturing and education that will each bring unique manufacturing capabilities and needs to our Governing and Technical Councils," noted Malcolm Thompson, Ph.D., NextFlex executive director. "We look forward to their contributions as the Institute moves forward with fulfilling its charter."

The NextFlex founding members are as follows:

Corporate Members: SI2 Technologies, Acellent Technologies, Custom Electronics, Uniqarta, STI Electronics, SRI International, Molex, Eastman Chemical, American Semiconductor, ON Semiconductor, E Ink, Jabil, Brewer Science, Raytheon, and Boeing.

Academic/Non-Profit Members:  Washington State University, Auburn University, University of Arkansas, University of Washington, Team NEO, University of Connecticut, Binghamton University, IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries, Georgia Tech, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of Texas at Austin, IQM Research Institute, University of Arizona, Purdue University, and Western Michigan University.

About NextFlex

NextFlex was founded on August 28, 2015, through the execution of a Cooperative Agreement between the U.S. Department of Defense and the FlexTech Alliance. A public-private partnership, NextFlex is the latest of seven Manufacturing Innovation Institutes funded through the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation to create, showcase, and deploy new capabilities and new manufacturing processes.