Sensors

Founded in 1942, VTT's mission was to "to engage in technical research for the benefit of science and society".

PST Sensors (pty) Ltd is a spin-out of the University of Cape Town, founded by Professor Margit Harting and Professor David Britton, to commercialise their printed silicon technology. PST Sensors is actively commercializing its first range of temperature sensors, and promoting the worldwide adoption of printed silicon electronics.

Researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) are showing the way toward low-cost, industrial-scale manufacturing of a new family of electronic devices.

Sensors do not require transistors and generally speaking have a simpler structure than displays or logic circuits. Printing works well with sensors because the manufacturing does always not require high resolution or accurate registration.

InkTec was formed in 1992. It has 375 staff, of which 80 are involved in R&D. The company had annual sales last years of $74.8million and is a publicly listed company. The company is very active in printed electronics, offering a variety of conductive inks as well as printing services.

The company was founded by local investors together with Dr. Xia-chang Zhang in 2013, inventor of SoftBatteryTM and one of the founders of Enfucell. Kunshan Printed Electronics worked in co-operation with a local machinery company to set up a R2R printed battery mass production line with a capacity up to 40 million cells a year.

Clothing+ has been in business for more than 15 years and was a pioneer in the mass production of textile-based heart rate measurement systems. The company is divided in two business units: Sports and Medical. While Sports has grown faster recently, they expect that Medical will become the main part of the business in the longer term. In July 2015, they were acquired by Jabil Circuit.

Meggitt A/S is located in Denmark and is part of Meggitt PLC, a FTSE 100 global engineering company with annual sales of £1.6 billion. They own and develop InSensor, a technology based on thick film piezoelectric ceramics. They use screen-printing to make various piezoelectric devices in sensing and energy harvesting. One particularly successful device made with InSensor is an ultrasonic transceivers for medical imaging.

Vista Medical was established in 1989, with the initial aim to develop pressure mapping for medical applications (support surfaces, hospital beds, etc...). They are based in Canada and their holding company (PatienTech) is in the USA. Vista Medical partners with Stryker to help grow the business in the medical bed and support surface market. Last year, they re-launched a whole new product line under the name BodiTrak.

Tactonic Technologies, LLC was formed in October 2010 to develop and commercialize a new pressure imaging technology. Tactonic has invented a new method for high resolution pressure imaging, called Mechanically Interpolating Pressure Sensing (MIPS). Their core IP is about reducing the amount of material required to build a large sensor array, without sacrificing resolution. The final result is a high resolution pressure mapping using a low resolution sensor array.

In 2007, KWJ merged with Transducer Technology, Inc., adding the development of the next generation of nano-technology based sensors (electrochemical). KWJ's Screen Printed Electrochemical Sensor (SPEC) is a new generation of toxic gas sensor technology. The electrochemical device is based on current measurement (amperometric). SPEC sensors can be fabricated in very small sizes and require only microwatts of power for operation.

Tekscan manufactures force sensors but their business model is slightly different than their competitor's . Tekscan is a company manufacturing measurement systems: they make sensors but 3/4 of their business is the integration into a complete instrument for the customers. They specialize in medical applications in particular.

NikkoIA is a French company making organic-based image sensors with an exclusive worldwide license from Siemens who originally developed the technology. The company has achieved making some prototypes with minimal investment so far. One to watch over the coming years to see if they can create viable commercial products.

Based in Austria, the company was founded in 2006 by Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci and Philipp Weissel who wanted to specialize on developing, producing and marketing intelligent multi-layer surfaces. They have developed two families of capacitive sensors: touch sensors for control panels and pressure sensors for store shelves. Plastic electronic is an engineering company, making products using existing materials and processes.

Sensitronics is one of several companies making force sensing resistors. These sensors can be used for such applications as computer input devices, musical instruments, interactive toys, robotics fingertips, automotive, sports, or medical applications. Sensitronics is based on a licensing model. The company transfers the knowledge to licensed factories around the world where the sensors are produced. Sensitronics have recently designed new variants of their force sensors to better target specific applications.

DropSens specialize in the design and manufacture of tools for electrochemists. Their product line is composed of: screen-printed electrodes, reagents, and potentiostats (electrochemical instrument). It is small company with a good know-how and expertise in screen printed electrodes.

Rolith, Inc announces the successful demonstration of Transparent Metal Grid Electrode technology based on its disruptive nanolithography method (Rolling Mask Lithography - RML(TM)).

XinNano Materials Inc is a Taiwanese supplier of CVD CNT powders and inks. They have traditionally supplied into the X-ray and field-emission display markets, but are now in the processing of diversifying into the touch sensor markets where their CNTs can be used to produce transparent conductive films.

Zytronic Displays Limited is providing touch solutions (sensors and drive/sense electronics) based on a micro wire grid concept. Their target markets are medium-sized ATMs, game consoles, industrial units, etc. Their products are durable and robustest and they currently occupy a healthy market niche.

O-Film is a Chinese touch panel manufacturer that has acquired that metal mesh technology developed by NanoGrid. They company has already set up a manufacturing line and is fast increasing its sale units and revenue into the consumer electronic market. The technology has a compelling value proposition because it improves performance and reduces cost.