NextFlex Launches $10 Million Funding Round for Flexible Hybrid Electronics Innovations in Aviation, Digital Health, and National Security

Winning projects will include innovations in FHE devices processing, e-textiles, 3D electrical design, and power source integration.

NextFlex®, America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) Manufacturing Institute, today released Project Call 4.0 (PC 4.0)—the latest call for proposals to fund projects that seek to further the development and adoption of FHE. Response to the first three project calls was staggering, with 178 initial proposals received resulting in over $59M in investment. The total project value is expected to exceed $10 million for PC 4.0. (Project value/investment figures include cost-sharing.)

Project Call 4.0’s very diverse scope of needs represents technology and capability gaps that have been determined by the community over a wide range of application areas—from digital health to commercial aviation to national security needs. These areas cover the spectrum from encapsulation technologies for wearables, high performance and high layer count FHE, to 3-dimensional electronic design software, solutions for challenges in e-textiles, biochemical monitoring platforms, and lightweight electronics for drones and UAVs.

“NextFlex’s Project Call process has proven to be extremely successful,” said Dr. Malcolm J. Thompson, executive director of NextFlex. “We continuously tackle member-identified FHE manufacturing challenges, and with 31 projects already underway from three previous project calls, we expect this to garner even more interest from the FHE community. Topics in Project Call 4.0 build upon successful developments and learning from our previous project calls.”

Project proposals should tackle these industry-driven problems and offer solutions that include a plan for transitioning projects to the U.S. industrial manufacturing base. The project proposals should focus on the following manufacturing thrust areas:

• 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 Demonstration and Reference Designs

To demonstrate these manufacturing capabilities, project proposals can focus:

• Large-Area Sensor System for Structural Health Monitoring
• Minimally Invasive Wearable Flexible Devices for Monitoring of Fluid-Based Biomarkers
• Lightweight Flexible Electronics Platform on UAVs and Drones

More information on NextFlex’s PC 4.0, including proposal submission instructions, can be found here. Parties interested in submitting a proposal are strongly encouraged to register for the NextFlex PC 4.0 Webinar, to be held on Tuesday, August 7, 2018, at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT. The webinar will provide an overview of the Project Call and will outline the timeline for acceptance of pre-proposals.

Contacts

NextFlex
Karen Savala, 408-797-2219

The Hoffman Agency
Christine Li, 408-975-3058