The Technology Strategy Board (www.innovateuk.org) will contribute up to €4 million and the European Commission will provide additional support up to €2 million to co-fund participation by UK companies.  This is part of a larger European ERA-NET Plus competition with total funding of up to €18.2 million.  The funding competition opens on 24 October 2011 and first-stage applications must be submitted by 31 January 2012.

Organic and large area electronics (also known as plastic electronics, printed electronics or organic electronics) allow electronic circuits and devices to be produced using relatively low-cost printing processes onto any surface, whether rigid or flexible, and over large areas.  It will lead to the creation of whole new generations of products, such as conformable and roll-able electronic display screens, large-area efficient lighting, low-cost solar cells, low-cost radio frequency identification (RFID) and memories, and flexible and environmentally friendly batteries.

Full information about the Organic Large-Area Electronics European competition for collaborative R&D funding is available at:
http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/olae-organic-large-area-electronics.ashx

Interested organisations should also visit the competition website at http://www.olaeplus.eu where they can register their profiles and identify potential collaborative partners.

The global market value for OLAE technology is forecast to increase from a little over €1bn today to more than €200bn by 2027.  Europe has a lead in the development of OLAE technology and a key objective of this coordinated programme is to enhance the supply chain by improving materials and processes.  In addition to stimulating technology and collaboration within the European OLAE community, the programme also aims to contribute to knowledge and technology transfer from laboratory to manufacture, thus significantly accelerating the speed of innovation and industrial development of OLAE in Europe.