The Brandenburg-based start-up Inuru, a pioneer and manufacturer of innovative and cost-effective lighting concepts, has launched its semiconductor mass production of OLEDs. With the opening of the “Dragon Factory” in Wildau near Berlin, the company reaches an important milestone and creates the conditions for further growth.
Consumers will soon be able to benefit from the technology in their everyday lives. For example, Inuru can use its OLED technology to produce pharmaceutical packaging that uses a light signal to alert patients to the correct intake or expiration date. As well as in the textile industry, the printed OLEDs can be applied to everyday and safety clothing in the form of illuminated warnings.
A first in Europe
Inuru is the first European company to develop a manufacturing process for OLED technologies in which luminous, wafer-thin layers are printed on conventional PET plastic. The opening of the factory now lays the foundation for scaling the product to the mass market. The production system now makes it possible to manufacture all products fully automatically and cost-effectively on a single production line. As a result, manufacturing costs can be reduced by around 90% compared to conventional processes – a revolution for the semiconductor and packaging industry.
The Dragon Factory is now intended to help meet the growing demand for printed lighting electronics. The possible applications for intelligent lighting are manifold. So far, the technology has mainly been used in the consumer goods sector. Here, the company has already entered into partnerships with well-known brands such as Coca Cola, Cattier Champagne or Displate. But according to Patrick Barkowski, CTO and co-founder of Inuru, this is about to change: “Inuru is only at the beginning of its journey. We will soon be able to display interactive content on packaging as well.”
Sustainability potential
The two founders see enormous potential, especially in terms of sustainability: “Inuru can revolutionise the recycling system in the long term,” says CEO and co-founder Marcin Ratajczak. “Our vision is to fundamentally improve the waste problem. By integrating replayable displays, packaging such as Tetrapaks could be reused and filled with new content. This can then lead to a more economical use of materials.”
The Dragon Factory, which opened on 11 March, aims to not only help achieve these goals, but will also accelerate the development of further innovative product solutions.