On July 31, the Government of Canada announced a $25 million investment to help build a state-of-the-art advanced materials research facility in Mississauga. This is a partnership between two of our members, the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).
This is another example of how Canada’s printable and organic electronics (PE) industry is gaining steam, eager to take advantage of billions of dollars of opportunity emerging in market verticals around the globe.
The new facility will pursue materials chemistry, formulation design, prototyping, testing, and chemical process engineering, to develop the printed electronics, devices, sensors and smart materials needed to take advantage of new opportunities in emerging market verticals such as medical, automotive, aerospace, defence, building automation and packaging.
It takes an ecosystem to build an industry
At the CPEIA, this is exactly the kind of market-driven collaboration we work to achieve among our membership.
The only way for Canada to compete on the global stage is to create a cohesive eco-system that unites industry-leading multinationals, innovative SMEs and public research organizations that are working on some aspect of PE with potential end users in relevant market verticals.
In the year since our launch, we have worked hard to build a Membership base that’s representative of this ecosystem. We have passed 60 members, from across Canada and abroad, and plan to reach 120 by the end of 2016 to encompass the full ecosystem the Canadian industry can draw upon.
Our outreach to other industry associations such as PAC, Packaging Consortium, the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) and the Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA) has led to strategic partnerships that we are levering to create meaningful joint programs for our respective members where there is cross-cutting interest.
The first two of these programs launched this month, IntelliPACK for the Intelligent Packaging industry and IntelliBUILD for the Intelligent Buildings industry. We are already drawing stakeholders in these verticals together through joint webinars, workshops and white paper working groups.
These programs have one collective purpose – create cutting edge products and applications enabled with PE that have the market pull to generate new economic opportunities for Canadian industry and our international partners.
Spreading the word
Last April, we took the reins of Canada’s single dedicated industry event, the Canadian Printable Electronics Symposium (CPES), and repositioned it from a small technical meeting into an international event double in size and scope from its previous years. For 2016, we plan to double again. CPES2016 will be held at Sheridan College’s Brand New Conference Centre in Toronto, April 19-20.
On other fronts, we are also launching this month a new industry careers portal, OPE-Careers.com, and continue to build our Speakers Bureau and marketing services to help our Members promote themselves and the industry more effectively to potential partners and customers.
Check out our new Program Menu on the homepage of our website that describes these programs in detail.
The CPEIA achieved a lot in its first year, well beyond our initial goals. We have an exciting plan for the future to help our Members build strong businesses in and around printable and flexible electronics in Canada. Our team will be working hard to extend our programs and create more opportunity for your organization.
For more details on what we have achieved since CPES2015, read our latest Quarterly Report, now available online.