OE-A Names Fellows and Winners of OE-A Competition

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New visions and creative concepts in the area of organic and printed electronics are what the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association), a working group within VDMA, aims to promote in its annual OE-A Competition. Once again, there were numerous submissions coming from all corners of the world this year. The five best submissions were rewarded at LOPEC 2018, the international trade fair and conference for printed electronics, in Munich, Germany.

“Once again, the OE-A competition was a big success this year and attracted a lot of attention from both companies and LOPEC visitors”, says OE-A Chairman, CTO of CDT UK and Sumitomo Chemical Fellow, Dr. Jeremy Burroughes. “The broad range spanned from OLED lights and displays to flexible sensors and printed speakers. This clearly reflects just how far printed electronics has developed over the last few years and that this technology is being implemented by ever more industries,” continues Burroughes.

The jury, consisting of representatives from international companies and institutes, rated 17 submissions from 9 countries in four categories. LOPEC attendees were also allowed a vote. At the OE-A booth, where all demonstrators were on display, visitors were encouraged to choose their favorite exhibit. The awards were distributed during the LOPEC Dinner & Award Show to the following winners:

Best Prototype / New Product Self-Powered Patch for Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosis IMB-CNM-CSIC (Spain)
• Best Freestyle Demonstrator Flexible Supercapacitor System RISE Acreo (Sweden)
• Best Publicly Funded Project Demonstrator 3D Force Touch Sensor CPI (England)
• Printed Electronics Vision Boxcycle – Intelligent Food Storing Container University of Applied Sciences Munich (Germany)
• Public Choice Award T-Book with Audio Enriched Pages  TU Chemnitz & ARKEMA Piezotech (Germany & France)

The OE-A Competition 2018 will soon be launched. More information about the OE-A Competition can be found at www.oe-a.org/demonstrator

Two OE-A Fellows awarded on the occasion of 10 years of LOPEC For the second time, the title of OE-A Fellow was awarded. With this award, OE-A recognizes individuals who have made significant, sustained contributions to the field of organic and printed electronics and to OE-A itself. This year, in light of LOPEC’s 10th anniversary, two people received the OE-A Fellow 2018:

• Prof. Reinhard Baumann Chemnitz University of Technology, Fraunhofer ENAS
• Prof. Harri Kopola VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

“Professor Baumann is one of the founders of OE-A and served the OE-A Board of Directors for 12 years,” says Burroughes. “His contributions by forming networks between the industry, research institutes and universities, as well as his longstanding support of LOPEC as chair of the Scientific Conference, among other positions, have led to positive developments of both LOPEC and the industry,” explains Burroughes, while presenting the certificate. Professor Kopola is also highly regarded by OE-A and across the industry: “20 years ago, Professor Harri Kopola, a pioneer in the field of printed electronics, set up a research institute for printed electronics at VTT. His influence on EU-level decision-making, as well as his large networks, including both academic and industrial stakeholders, have been instrumental in promoting the industrialization of printed electronics internationally,” says

Burroughes. “As a longstanding OE-A member we are looking forward to continuing our overall collaboration, as well as to the upcoming OE-A meeting at VTT in Finland.”

OE-A presents two LOPEC Start-up Forum Awards 2018 Young companies are supported by OE-A at the LOPEC Business Conference. Many innovative companies are looking for investors to bring their products and ideas to life. To continue the development of their technology and marketing strategies, they presented their companies during the Start-up Forum. “Through the numerous presentations by young companies, we were able to see that the printed electronics industry is continuing to develop and grow," says Dr. Peter Fischer, LOPEC Business Conference Chair, OE-A Board Member and Chief Operating Officer at Thin Film Electronics. A jury consisting of international industry leaders and researchers determined the winners. 

Two awards were presented:

Best Business Case
Copprint – Conductive copper inks are finally ready for prime time Dr. Ofer Shochet, Copprint (Israel) 

Most Impactful Technology Product
Printed and flexible receive coils for magnetic resonance imaging Prof. Ana Claudia Arias, InkSpace Imaging (United States)

Based on the great interest in the demonstrators and lectures -- particularly from end-users, OE-A will once again distribute awards in various categories during the next LOPEC, which is scheduled to take place on March 19-21, 2019.