Why does the work we do at ECOTRON matter? 🌍🔋 If you missed the talk by our Corne Rentrop or Peter Bancken yesterday at LOPEC, don’t worry—you can still catch them today and tomorrow! Hear firsthand why printed electronics are key to the future of circularity in electronics. Or just drop by our stands! You’ll find us at AMIRES, VTT, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, ITENE, and TNO. See you soon!
ECOTRON
Appliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing
Innovative technologies for sustainable functional & printed electronics
About us
ECOTRON is a Horizon Europe project aiming to improve the sustainability, circularity and recyclability of printed electronics (PE). ECOTRON consortium, consisting of research centers (TNO - Holst Centre, CEA, VTT and ITENE), a university (POLIMI), industry (Técnicas Reunidas, Beckton Dickinson, Signify, POLAR and Johnson & Johnson - Janssen) and an SME (AMIRES), focuses on: * Circular build-up of electronics: recycling of substrate (solvolysis, chemical recycling) metal recovery (supercritical fluid extraction, solvometallurgy), reversible interconnects (Diels-Alder, Gecko) and separation technologies (Photonic, Sacrifice layer); * Renewable and compostable electronics: biobased or compostable materials for substrates and inks; * Setting up PE recycling protocols and developing a blueprint for an industrial-scale PE recycling plant. Developed technologies will be demonstrated in 4 use-cases: * Medical application: On-body drug dosing system (Beckton Dickinson) * Consumer electronics: Light foil (Signify) * Wearable electronics: Sports/activity tracker (POLAR) * Smart packaging: Temperature sensing labels for drug packaging (Janssen - Johnson & Johnson) This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101070167.
- Industry
- Appliances, Electrical, and Electronics Manufacturing
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Type
- Partnership
- Founded
- 2022
Updates
-
LOPEC 2025 is just around the corner! Join us next week in Munich for the leading event in flexible and printed electronics. ⏳🔋 Our partners AMIRES, ITENE, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, TNO, Signify, VTT will have stands at the event, and we’d love for you to stop by! 🤝
-
-
Did you know that half of our work packages are led by women? That’s 4 out of 8! In science and engineering, balance like this isn’t always the norm, but at ECOTRON, we believe it is necessary. A big shoutout to Vincenzina Barbera, Helga Szambolics and Cristina González Buch, but also Inmaculada Lorente Gómez, Miriam Lorenzo Navarro, Lina Kadura, Dejanira Araiza Illan and Lara Jabbour for leading the way!
-
-
Printed electronics (PE) are a better alternative to conventional printed circuit boards (PCBs), offering: ✅ Lower energy, water, and raw material consumption ✅ Flexible, transparent, and stretchable designs ✅ Breathable properties enabling new applications Until now, few quantitative comparisons have been made between PE and PCB. To bridge this gap, Corne Rentrop, Jan Brusselaers and Marieke van Diemen conducted an evaluation study. Key Findings: 📉Lower Environmental Impact – PE outperforms PCB across all sustainability indicators, with significantly higher resource efficiency and lower pollution intensity. ⚡ Significantly Reduced Energy & Material Use – The water-intensive PCB industry couldn’t even be mathematically compared to PE’s zero-water production process. 📏 Lighter by a Factor of 16.14 – Per surface area, PE is over 16 times lighter than a typical 2-layer PCB! 📖 Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/dcV_DK35
-
-
ECOTRON reposted this
Join us at LOPEC 2025! 👇 It is the perfect opportunity to explore the latest in organic and printed electronics, connect with innovators, and discover what’s next for the industry. 🤝 Meet us at the conference & at the exhibition at booth F012, to learn more about our projects and new opportunities for funding in this field ⤵️ ℹ️ Convert2Green, ECOTRON, LUMINOSITY_EU, BOOSTER-OPV, SuPerTandem, MultiSpin.AI, HyperImage & UltraSense EU. See you in Munich! 👋
-
-
What challenges have we overcome so far? Have a look. 🎥 Tecnicas Reunidas Ramon Pericet-Camara, PhD Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives Helga Szambolics TNO Holst Centre Corne Rentrop VTT Merja Teirikangas Politecnico di Milano Vincenzina Barbera ITENE Cristina González Buch
-
🐛 Did you know that silkworm cocoons contain a protein called sericin, known for its biocompatibility? A new paper exploring the unique characteristics of sericin and its potential uses, such as conductive ink in sustainable electronics, co-authored by our simone vesentini, has just been published. Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/dp2a4UvP