The Solvay chemical group (Brussels / Belgium; www.solvay.com), as lead investor, is to invest USD 10m in the recent capital increase of Plextronics (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania / USA; www.plextronics.com), giving it a minority share in the company. Plextronics develops and markets polymer-based technologies for printed electronics such as displays, solar cells and RFID smart tags.

Solvay’s investment complements two other research agreements – between the company's subsidiary Solvay Solexis and Thin Film Electronics (Linköping / Sweden; www.thinfilm.se) for the development of polymer ink for printed electronic circuits, and with the Georgia Tech Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE; www.cope.gatech.edu) in Atlanta, Georgia / USA. Plextronics says that it is creating technology that will enable it to produce 15 bn of these parts, which are based on printed electronics, by 2015.