Project Call 4.0 - NextFlex

About

Project calls fulfill one of the Institute’s primary goals: fostering technology innovation and commercialization.

Project Call 4.0 (PC 4.0) focuses on areas identified in the Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) Roadmap developed by NextFlex Technical Working Groups. This roadmap is developed by industry, government, nonprofit, and academic subject matter experts, and reviewed by the Institute’s Technical and Governing Councils. It circles back to identify gaps where the MRL lags other aspects of the FHE system.

A wide range of topics comprise this latest project call. Specifically, the six Manufacturing Thrust Area and three Technology Platform Demonstration topics for PC 4.0 are:

Manufacturing Thrust Area

Technology Platform Demonstration

FHE device encapsulation and overmold
Advanced 3D electrical design software solution
Evaluation and development of connectors for FHE devices and e-textiles
Development of a carrier system appropriate for sheet-to-sheet FHE manufacturing
High layer count FHE processing with IC interface demonstration
Flexible battery integration and reference designs

Large-area sensor system for structural health monitoring
Minimally invasive wearable flexible devices for monitoring of fluid-based biomarkers
Lightweight flexible electronics platform for UAV and drones

Project Call 4.0 awarded $12 million (including $7M in cost-share contribution from participants) in funding for seven projects to further promote FHE adoption and development in the US advanced manufacturing industry.