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Printed intelligence to generate new business for industry in the Navarre region in Spain
09.09.2009
Required expertise and new business to be built using the roadmap outlined by VTT
A centre of excellence for printed intelligence is to be built in the Navarre region in Spain. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is delivering a roadmap study on printed intelligence to the Asociación de la Industria Navarra for this purpose. The study outlines what kind of expertise will be required for research and development in printed intelligence in the future and what kind of applications are to be expected in the selected branches of industry. The new centre of excellence is expected to generate significant new business while supporting sectors in which the region is already strong.
Printed intelligence applications in Navarre include the food industry,
medicine and renewable energy. For the Asociación de la Industria Navarra, the
roadmap offers a comprehensive and multi-dimensional operating guide. It
features three future scenarios for each of the selected sectors, a listing of
the technologies that best fit each of these scenarios and their feasibility
for commercial use.
The roadmap has been prepared by a team
of experts at VTT with an exceptionally broad range of cross-discipline
expertise enabling the gauging of the potential and practical applications of
the technology. International transfer of expertise on this scale is
unprecedented in the area of printed intelligence.
Development
has also been pursued in cooperation with local experts. This cooperation has
run smoothly and is expected to continue after the delivery of the roadmap
study.
The final stage of the project started in August with
the selection of the principal technologies to be developed and their
practical applications and with the securing of the expertise necessary for
their development.
The centre of excellence is particularly
expected to generate complete commercial practical applications that support
sectors in which the Navarre region is already strong.
‘Printed
intelligence’ refers to electronic functionality manufactured using
traditional printing technologies. The method is suitable for a number of
platforms such as product packaging. Finland and VTT are acknowledged as world
leaders in the field, thanks to the Printed Electronics and Optical
Measurements Innovation Centre, PrintoCent.
The roadmap study
was commissioned by the community of Ayuntamiento de Estella-Lizarra in the
Navarre region and is being funded by the Spanish’s Ministry of Science and
Innovation and the Government the Navarre. Navarre is an autonomous region in
Spain.
The value of the commission for VTT is just under EUR
100,000 at the moment. A total of EUR 4.2 million has already been invested in
the building of the centre of excellence for printed intelligence in Navarre.
A total of EUR 900,000 will be invested in equipment for the centre of
excellence between 2008 and 2010. The operating budget for 2011 will be EUR
1.1 million.