E-Tex: Industrial proof-of-concept of the UGent e-textile platform (E-Tex)

CMST has developed in the past 10 years a toolbox of modular techniques to reliably integrate electronics on textile. For each of 3 techniques, a patent was granted in the US and the EU. Which combination of techniques is required depends on the properties of the textile substrate and the amount of washing cycles the smart textile should withstand. In this project we want to procure a pilot assembly line to integrate electronics on textile according to our techniques in a reproducible way. This will allow us to produce for each combination of techniques a series of highly identical test samples, and a comparative analysis will allow us to quantify the relative contribution of each technique in enhancing the reliability, and as such also the value of each patent. The pilot line will help attract new industrial collaborations and can form the basis for a service spin-off. A first license deal and potential client for the service spin-off is expected at the end of a granted VLAIO R&D project with Sioen in which our platform is used.