A fundamental challenge in design research today is to define the design programs that suggest how we can turn our days scientific knowledge and technical development into design for new forms of living that will provide foundations for a more sustainable way of life. Through a cross-disciplinary and cross-national network in architecture, textiles and interaction design the consortium will build and train a new research community to take on this challenge in practice based design research from a broader perspective, in collaboration between academia and the private sector, combining areas of design where Europe by tradition have a very strong position. The proposed ArcInTex ETN aims to strengthen the foundations of design for new forms of more sustainable ways of living by connecting architecture, textiles and interaction design in a training network for Early stage researchers. Deepening connections between textile, architectural and interaction design will open up for new reflective foundations of the design for living in an age of technological innovations, designing for adaptive and responsive environments connecting the scales of the body, the interior and the building. By a combination of in depth specialization, collaborative project work training and company internship, the ESRs of the network will form a highly trained avant-garde ready to take on fundamental challenges both in academia and in the private sector building their work practice on new ideas of material thinking and design thinking with emphasis on sensitive design expressions for reflective living. By strong focus on practice based design research the ETN will contribute to further establish design research at a level similar to that of engineering science in areas of special importance for the design of our future ways of living, which is crusial for academia and private sector collaboration in the given areas of design research.

A growing desire for continuous data collection, real time information and connectivity has resulted in increased demand for electronic functionalities that are fully integrated in everyday objects. Consumer electronics, healthcare, wearable electronics, IoT and smart packaging are examples of market segments that follow this trend. Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the state of the art to create electronic functions; however, this technology creates an ever increasing strain on the environment because recycling and/or dismantling of the PCB can hardly be done. A radical sustainability improvement requires disruptive electronics manufacturing processes, technologies and materials. Printed electronics are more environmentally friendly than the traditional PCB, due to their additive character (printing instead of etching), the absence of chemical etching materials, low energy demanding process conditions and possibility for recovery or re-use of substrates and (metallic) inks. Thereto, in ECOTRON, flexible, organic & printed electronics are advanced through a multidisciplinary approach involving biobased materials, innovative (print) processes, and device and module dismantling technologies. Furthermore, recycling technologies and standards will be developed that are eventually integrated in a process design for a printed electronics recycling plant. Simultaneously, the lifetime of printed electronics is improved for larger implementation of printed electronics into everyday products. ECOTRON will create use-case demonstrators in existing state-of-the-art electronics products in consumer electronics, smart packaging, healthcare and wearable electronics market segments to demonstrate the potential environmental enhancements.

The InSCOPE project will set-up an open access pilot line service for Hybrid TOLAE (H-TOLAE) technologies capable of sampling products at TRL6-7. It positions itself in between R&D and industry and deploys a service for validating potential H-TOLAE products. Manufacturing progresses beyond R&D level (TRL5 towards 6) by improving processes, functionality and reliability allowing sampling at high quality and in relevant numbers needed for industrial qualification (TRL 6-7). The applications addressed cover automotive, healthcare, smart packaging and buildings. After InSCOPE, the Pilot line service will remain accessible to interested parties. The pilot line is serviced by top European RTD’s with leading technological positions and state of the art equipment in the domain of H-TOLAE. InSCOPE will set up an open access pilot line infrastructure for H-TOLAE technology, which is modular ensuring a comprehensive toolbox of printing, assembly, production integration and process validation distributed over the partners. InSCOPE will ensure interoperability between the differing modules at the partners enabling end-users to combine different processes step from different partners in their process flow. It will accelerate the uptake of H-TOLAE technology by delivering a public handbook describing functionalities, production guidelines and design rules of H-TOLAE, including new opportunities for “traditional” electronics. Validation of the pilot line service by 4 Showcases and 15 development cases are included within the project. The Showcases consist of H-TOLAE product prototypes at TRL 5 to be matured on functionality and on manufacturability. The showcases will steer the pilot line improvement. They are selected based on their economic impact as well as the technological status of the product and production in Europe. The development cases are devoted to new functionalities enabled by H-TOLAE. They are aimed at SME’s interested in exploring the broad advantages H-TOLAE.