Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the engineering sector. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 5 promising printed electronics solutions.
Heat Map: 5 Top Printed Electronics Solutions
Using our StartUs Insights Platform, covering 1.116.000+ startups & emerging companies, we looked at innovation in the field of engineering. For this research, we identified 165 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and technology among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & emerging companies developing printed electronics solutions. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 165 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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Dycotech Materials – Materials Development
The market for printed electronics includes a variety of products that incorporate a range of modern electronics applications. Printed electronics also require that there is a constant scope for materials development depending on the application. This gives reason for many companies to specialize in research and development (R&D) for printed electronics materials to meet the growing market demand.
British company Dycotec Materials focuses on the R&D of printed electronics materials and products for a wide range of applications, including sensors, photovoltaics (PV), touchscreens, and more. The company’s custom product development capabilities, as well as other tailored solutions, enable customers to realize their products from prototypes to finished electronics.
Mateprincs – Conductive Inks
Modern electronics are moving towards becoming smaller and more compact without compromising on performance. Conductive inks play a key role in the printed electronics industry as they enable superior methods of creating conductive traces on a circuit. The infusion of materials in the ink defines the conductivity of the ink and provides further opportunities for innovation.
Spanish startup Mateprincs is a manufacturer of conductive inks. These inks are applicable for various print form factors such as inkjet, flat screen, and offset lithography. Mateprincs produces inks according to the requirements of each application area including inks for displays, sensors, and clothes, among others. This approach allows for customizing inks to specific application areas, which is currently not possible in the mass production of all-purpose inks.
Omniplytech – Delaminated Electronics
Flexible electronics technology, like in flexible displays or wearables, is gaining popularity among both the consumers and manufacturers. However, there is a major barrier of entry for this technology as the sizing of electronics products creates significant design challenges. Printed electronics technology enables the development of thin-film delaminated electronics for creating the next-generation of electronic devices.
Canadian startup Omniplytech creates a patented delamination process for flexible electronics. The process creates thin-film devices on flexible substrates while maintaining separation between the circuits and carriers. It also integrates seamlessly into existing manufacturing processes.
InkSpace Imaging – Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Coils
The coils within an MRI scanner are vital for generating signals. The quality of an MRI scan largely depends on the fit and finish of the coil itself within the machine. Coils with poor flexibility or fit, due to extra protection from padding, create low-quality images. Current manufacturing methods do not allow for substituting, remodeling, or redesigning of MRI coils, which is where printed electronics enter the picture.
The US-based startup InkSpace Imaging develops a proprietary process to print lightweight, flexible, and customizable MRI coils. Printing coils create a better experience for scanning and ensure high-quality imaging at lower operational costs. Moreover, the printed coils offer patient-specific customizations to further improve the quality of MRI scans.
Copprint – Copper Ink
Printed electronics and small-scale electronic devices are only as fast as the conductivity that the internal circuit provides. Copper is an excellent electrical and thermal conductor with multiple applications in electronic appliances. However, as the size of electronic devices reduces, so does the viability of using normal copper conductors. Copper-based conductive inks allow for high performance while maintaining low cost in additive manufacturing processes.
Israeli startup Copprint manufactures a self-sintering compostable nano copper ink, that is useful for a wide range of substrates. The startup customizes the conductivity of their ink to offer better performance at lower costs, in comparison to currently available silver-based conductive inks.
What About The Other 160 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence so you can achieve your goals faster. The 5 printed electronics solutions showcased above are promising examples out of 165 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
