Experts Explore Smart Materials Opportunities in Northeast
Ohio
CLEVELAND, April 22, 2016 — Northeast Ohio wants to be
smart about growing smart materials expertise and innovation in our
region. Smart materials are materials that have one or more
properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled
fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture,
or pH.
“Northeast Ohio is internationally recognized for
innovation in both smart materials and eWriting,” explains
Dr. Albert M. Green, CEO of Kent Displays Inc., based in Kent,
Ohio, and the maker of Boogie Board eWriters.
To make sure Northeast Ohio capitalizes on its strengths in this
area, Team NEO and the FlexTech Alliance brought together more than
70 local experts from academia and industry in Kent. The purpose
was to encourage the participants to share insights and build
alliances to expand regional, national and global leadership in
commercialization of a particular area of smart materials: flexible
electronics.
Called the Flexible Electronics Workshops, the event focused on
the impact of smart materials on flexible electronic devices and
the future of eWriting. Participants learned how handwriting
will co-exist with digitization and the components and technology
existing and being developed to make it happen. Kent Display
provided support for the event.
“Team NEO and its regional economic development partners
are focused on driver industries – those that are projected
to drive the most significant job growth in our region,” said
Team NEO CEO Bill Koehler. “Flexible electronic technology
impacts nearly every one of those industries; they are innovating,
producing and consuming it. We are committed to making our
region the place to go for people who want to innovate and
companies that want to excel in flex tech.”
Featured speakers over the two-day workshop included: Michael
Dudzik of IQM Research Institute who spoke about his work on
identifying applications and uses for flexible hybrid electronics
in the automotive industry, Penkanok Sriwiriyanont of Kimberly
Clark who spoke about smart materials usage in personal care
products, John Voultos from DuPont who demonstrated how DuPont is
using smart materials to integrate sensors into vehicles, and
Michael Mallamaci of Parker Hannifin who spoke about his
company’s smart materials usage in industrial
applications.
Team NEO is committed to advancing innovation in flexible
electronics. Companies interested in getting connected should
contact Team NEO.
About Team NEO
Team NEO is an economic development organization focused on
creating jobs for Northeast Ohio’s residents. In collaboration with
our partners, it leads the region’s business attraction
efforts, supports business retention and expansion work as
Northeast Ohio’s JobsOhio affiliate, accelerates the impact
of innovation in the region, and aligns strategies and resources
within the economic development network to maximize its impact. In
addition, Team NEO provides tools to assist employers in attracting
talent to the region. For more information, visit www.teamneo.org and
www.clevelandplusbusiness.com.
About FlexTech
Alliance
FlexTech Alliance, headquartered in San Jose,
California, is devoted to fostering the growth, profitability and
success of the flexible and printed electronics supply chain, and
the many application areas enabled by this new class of electronic
intelligence. FlexTech Alliance offers expanded collaboration
between and among industry, academia, and research organizations
for advancing flexible, printed electronics from R&D to
commercialization.