Temperature sensors, drug tests and disease detection devices made out of paper: the future of green electronics has kicked-off with the INNPAPER project. The four-year project aims to develop alternative solutions to traditional electronics. It is funded by the European Commission and has a budget of €7.5 million.
The purpose of INNPAPER will be to integrate a series of alternative electronical devices in a common platform. These are composed of paper and inks especially designed for printing electronical devices. This marks a milestone in the search for an alternative to traditional electronics, whose materials pose an environmental problem known as electronic waste or e-waste.
By 2021 the project will develop three devices that will show the wide range of applications of this technology: smart labels to measure temperature, humidity, and pressure, to monitor the preservation of food products; drug detection devices for cannabis in saliva and caffeine in liquids; and diagnostic devices for influenza virus and streptococcus A bacteria, which causes amygdalitis.
Spinverse will contribute to the development of the exploitation, dissemination and business plans for the technology. The project is lead by the Spanish technological research Centre CIDETEC Surface Engineering and has a total of 15 European partners including research centres, universities, technological companies, and SMEs. In addition to Spinverse and CIDETEC, the following organizations take part in the project; Guarro Casas, Biolan Microbiosensores and Scienseed (Spain), the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, Marseille University and Vertech Group (France), Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland), Skanem (Norway), Varta and Securetec (Germany), YD Ynvisible (Portugal) and Coris Bioconcept (Belgium).