David Savastano, Editor02.11.15
The market for flexible electronics is growing, and some companies are beginning to expand into the production phase. PragmatIC Printing is one such company that is heading into mass production of flexible, ultra-thin and low-cost microcircuits.
Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, PragmatIC Printing designs and manufactures electronic logic circuits that introduce intelligence and interactivity into a wide range of products and applications, such as sensors, processors and wearables. The company just completed a £5.4 million ($8.2 million) funding round, led by Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) with support from ARM Holdings and existing shareholders to scale-up its operationsto 100 million flexible integrated circuits.
Scott White, CEO of PragmatIC Printing, said that he is seeing two main types of applications.
“First, there are new applications enabled by flexible electronics that were not previously viable using conventional electronics,” White said. “This includes, for example, many types of smart packaging. These applications have huge potential, but are developing slowly since they require our customers to develop a complete business case and get comfortable with the entire supply chain that would deliver them.
“Second, there are existing applications that can be made more compelling or cost-effective with flexible electronics,” White continued. “The most obvious example here is RFID, which can be delivered using silicon-based tags but cannot reduce cost far enough to enable item-level tagging. These kinds of applications have proven (and still growing) market opportunities, but generally need more scale and maturity in the manufacturing chain in order to achieve the potential cost reductions offered by flexible electronics.
White said that the funding will allow the company to hire more staff and to enable the scale-up of its production capacity to 100 million flexible integrated circuits later this year.
“We will increase our production scale in order to support higher volume commercial deployment, and accelerating our circuit design activities around three key areas: sensors, processors and wireless communications,” White said. “This will enhance our capabilities in our existing target markets, including smart packaging, security printing and hybrid electronics, as well as provide a platform to support evolving applications related to the Internet of Things.”
The company has been making advances in its circuitry, which is opening up new opportunities.
“Our key recent advances relate to improved maturity in our production process, which allows us to reliably plan significant scale-up of manufacturing and also supports the delivery of significantly more complex functionality than we had previously expected,” White noted.
PragmatIC has had successful collaborations, although confidentiality agreements limit what White can discuss. White reported that the company’s technology platform “creates a microcircuit thinner than a human hair that can be easily embedded in any flexible surface.” The company has previously announced development projects with major corporations such as Procter and Gamble, De La Rue plc and Hallmark.
“We have several products that are ‘commercial’ in the sense of shipping for revenue, but still in confidential projects and in very low quantities compared with the market opportunity,” White said. “They are progressing towards higher volumes. However, this requires development of the entire supply chain, not just our piece of it. Our general approach has been to build commercial relationships across all parts of supply chain in order to help progress this, but also to have an appropriately realistic perspective on how long it can take these things to mature.”
While printed electronics systems can be complex, simple projects can be quite interesting.
“Technically, the most interesting projects are ones that involve highly complex electronic functionality (in some cases, well beyond the level that most people believe is feasible with flexible electronics),” White said.
“However, the most commercially interesting projects are often far simpler in how they use the technology to achieve a very specific objective,” he added. “For example, the concept of making a bottle label with flashing lights: this requires a relatively low complexity electronic circuit, but has generated huge interest from beverage brands due to its immediate and obvious benefit in brand promotion.”
Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, PragmatIC Printing designs and manufactures electronic logic circuits that introduce intelligence and interactivity into a wide range of products and applications, such as sensors, processors and wearables. The company just completed a £5.4 million ($8.2 million) funding round, led by Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) with support from ARM Holdings and existing shareholders to scale-up its operationsto 100 million flexible integrated circuits.
Scott White, CEO of PragmatIC Printing, said that he is seeing two main types of applications.
“First, there are new applications enabled by flexible electronics that were not previously viable using conventional electronics,” White said. “This includes, for example, many types of smart packaging. These applications have huge potential, but are developing slowly since they require our customers to develop a complete business case and get comfortable with the entire supply chain that would deliver them.
“Second, there are existing applications that can be made more compelling or cost-effective with flexible electronics,” White continued. “The most obvious example here is RFID, which can be delivered using silicon-based tags but cannot reduce cost far enough to enable item-level tagging. These kinds of applications have proven (and still growing) market opportunities, but generally need more scale and maturity in the manufacturing chain in order to achieve the potential cost reductions offered by flexible electronics.
White said that the funding will allow the company to hire more staff and to enable the scale-up of its production capacity to 100 million flexible integrated circuits later this year.
“We will increase our production scale in order to support higher volume commercial deployment, and accelerating our circuit design activities around three key areas: sensors, processors and wireless communications,” White said. “This will enhance our capabilities in our existing target markets, including smart packaging, security printing and hybrid electronics, as well as provide a platform to support evolving applications related to the Internet of Things.”
The company has been making advances in its circuitry, which is opening up new opportunities.
“Our key recent advances relate to improved maturity in our production process, which allows us to reliably plan significant scale-up of manufacturing and also supports the delivery of significantly more complex functionality than we had previously expected,” White noted.
PragmatIC has had successful collaborations, although confidentiality agreements limit what White can discuss. White reported that the company’s technology platform “creates a microcircuit thinner than a human hair that can be easily embedded in any flexible surface.” The company has previously announced development projects with major corporations such as Procter and Gamble, De La Rue plc and Hallmark.
“We have several products that are ‘commercial’ in the sense of shipping for revenue, but still in confidential projects and in very low quantities compared with the market opportunity,” White said. “They are progressing towards higher volumes. However, this requires development of the entire supply chain, not just our piece of it. Our general approach has been to build commercial relationships across all parts of supply chain in order to help progress this, but also to have an appropriately realistic perspective on how long it can take these things to mature.”
While printed electronics systems can be complex, simple projects can be quite interesting.
“Technically, the most interesting projects are ones that involve highly complex electronic functionality (in some cases, well beyond the level that most people believe is feasible with flexible electronics),” White said.
“However, the most commercially interesting projects are often far simpler in how they use the technology to achieve a very specific objective,” he added. “For example, the concept of making a bottle label with flashing lights: this requires a relatively low complexity electronic circuit, but has generated huge interest from beverage brands due to its immediate and obvious benefit in brand promotion.”