Enfucell wins new EU funding as member of FLEXIBILITY consortium

Thursday, 08 September 2011 08:44

The FLEXIBILITY consortium, consisting of Enfucell, Siemens, VTT, Varta Microbattery and seven other leading European technology companies and universities, has been granted a 4,9 million euro project funding by the EU commission of which Enfucell's share is 258.000 euros. The project is coordinated by the Dresden University of Technology and has a life span of four years.

FLEXIBILITY, which stands for Flexible Multifunctional Bendable Integrated Light-Weight Ultra-Thin Systems, aims at significantly advancing the competitiveness of Europe in the area of multifunctional, ultra-lightweight, ultra-thin and bendable organic large area electronics (OLAE) systems.

The developed OLAE components include disposable and rechargeable batteries, solar cells, DC charging electronics, loudspeakers, audio amplifiers, analogue signal generators, motion and temperature sensors, RF receiver circuits, as well as a touch screen. By combining these components, a variety of novel multifunctional OLAE systems is possible.

Based on a fully printed sound module, the following complex demonstrators are developed:

• Textile integrated audio module including broadcast radio and solar supply
• Active receiver tag for wireless streaming of acoustic data and advertising
• Security tag system with acoustic alarm, motion and/or temperature sensors

Flexibility combines the complementary competences of 3 large companies, 4 SMEs, 1 research institute and 3 universities. Participating countries are Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Greece and Switzerland.

The Flexibility funding is part of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which - according to the European Commission's website - bundles all research-related EU initiatives together under a common roof playing a crucial role in reaching the goals of growth, competitiveness and employment; along with a new Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), Education and Training programmes, and Structural and Cohesion Funds for regional convergence and competitiveness. It is also a key pillar for the European Research Area (ERA).

Enfucell Oy

With main focus on printed electronics, Enfucell Oy is a Vantaa, Finland based technology company with its roots in the Helsinki University of Technology, today known as the Aalto University School of Science and Technology. Enfucell has developed SoftBattery®, a thin, flexible 1.5 - 6 V environmentally friendly power source optimally utilized in disposable and short lifetime products. SoftBattery® applications include RFID, micro sensors, displays, OLED, functional packaging & media, cosmetic and pharmaceutical transdermal delivery systems. Enfucell's customers and partners include many of world's largest corporations in their fields.

Enfucell's SoftBattery® technology has been recognized as The Technology Pioneer 2007 by World Economic Forum, The Red Herring 100 Europe in 2007 and The Guardian European Cleantech100 in 2008. In addition, Dr. Xia-Chang Zhang, CTO of Enfucell was appointed as one of ten most influential Chinese in the world in 2007, and nominated as an honorary professor of the East China University of Science and Technology.

Enfucell was founded in 2002 and employs ca. ten people, having also a presence in the United States and France. The largest shareholders are Pontos Oy, AMK-Holding Oy, and Vera Venture, a Finnish governmental venture fund, holding the majority together. Other shareholders consist of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co., and ca. 10 private shareholders, including Dr. Zhang, a co-founder of Enfucell and the developer of the SoftBattery technology. Enfucell is also financially supported by Tekes, The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. In total Enfucell has raised ca. 7,2 million euros by May 2011.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Risto Huvila, COO Enfucell, tel. +358 400 755 661, 
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