Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayerbms.com) is to partner with independent researcher Holst Centre (Eindhoven / The Netherlands; www.holstcentre.com) in the development of flexible electronics. Jaap Lombaers, managing director systems-in-foil at Holst Centre said BMS will become a leading materials supplier to the centre’s existing partner network. Bernd Steinhilber, senior vice president and head of functional films at BMS, added: “We are committed to deliver improved films product solutions to our customers addressing new applications within the flexible electronics industry,” adding that the partnership in Holst Centre will provide an opportunity to bring together competent industry in an open innovation surrounding. “The growing demand for increased functionality in the materials we supply is matched perfectly with the improvements we expect from this collaboration,” he concluded.

Holst Centre develops generic technologies for wireless sensors and flexible electronics and was established in 2005 by nano-electronics specialist IMEC (Flanders / Belgium; www.imec.be) and independent research organisation TNO (Delft / The Netherlands; www.tno.nl). It is an advocate of a smart foils industry, starting with materials and equipment suppliers delivering to manufacturers of smart foils such as organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting and battery or organic photovoltaic (OPV). At the end of the chain are producers of smart devices that develop products by integrating foils with various functionalities.