FlexTech Alliance, San Jose, Calif., announces that the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded it $75 million over five years in a Cooperative Agreement to establish and manage a Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) for Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE). The award is being matched by more than $96 million in cost-sharing from non-federal sources, including the City of San Jose, private companies, universities, several U.S. states, and not-for-profit organizations.
FlexTech Alliance, a research consortium and trade association, proposed a San Jose-based hub and node approach to create the FHE MII. It comprises 96 companies, 11 laboratories and non-profits, 42 universities, and 14 state and regional organizations. It will be the first of seven MIIs to be headquartered on the West Coast. The DoD’s Manufacturing Technology Program Office (ManTech) oversees the institutes.
The Institute’s activities will benefit a wide array of markets beyond defense, including automotive, communications, consumer electronics, medical devices, health care, transportation and logistics, and agriculture. While the Institute will be headquartered in San Jose, existing nodes around the country already have in place an infrastructure ready to solve some of the known manufacturing challenges. The Institute will distribute R&D funds via competitively bid project calls. Industry-generated technology roadmaps will drive project calls, timelines, and investments.
Additionally, education and training in FHE manufacturing will be emphasized to expand the available workforce. A “Flex School” concept will be developed through partnerships with community colleges, teaching and research universities, trade associations, and professional societies.
Flexible hybrid electronics, an emerging manufacturing capability, enables the integration of thin silicon electronic devices, sensing elements, communications, and power on non-traditional flexible substrates. FHE has the potential to re-shape entire industries, from the electronic wearable devices market, to medical health monitoring systems, to the ubiquitous sensing of the world around us – also known as the Internet of Things. To be successful, the Institute will need to engage aspects of the integrated circuit (IC) industry, the graphics printing industry, and the electronic assembly/packaging industry.
