International Study of
Hybrid Flexible Electronics
Kickoff Meeting 12/3/8
Duane Shelton
August 27, 2008
World Technology Evaluation Center, Inc.
WTEC mission
Inform U.S. agencies, universities, and
research community of science and
technology abroad in critical fields
Baltimore, Lancaster, Johnstown, Arlington.
Acknowledgements
…and over 400 expert panelists, thousands of foreign hosts
Why Conduct International Assessments?
 Guide U. S. R&D investments
 Look for good ideas abroad (tech
transfer)
 Find opportunities for cooperation
 Compare U.S. status with that abroad
 Justify investment in R&D. Pointing
with alarm is an example
Why Point with Alarm?
 Research and education are changing rapidly abroad
 Greatly increased investments are producing
substantial outputs—we can learn from abroad
 Further, since we care about U.S. leadership of
engineering, we need more resources to compete
 Pointing with alarm can be a motivator, e.g. Rising
Above the Gathering Storm -> ACI, America
COMPETES Act
 Kostoff has shown that the PRC has passed the U.S. in
scientific papers in Compendex
WTEC Past:
Over 60 Studies Since 1989
 Brain-Computer Interfaces (DOD, NSF,
NIBIB, NINDS, 2 foundations)
 Catalysis by Nanostructured Materials (NSF,
DOE, AFOSR, DTRA)
 Simulation-Based Engineering & Science (24
programs at 4 agencies)
 WTEC also staffs the Nanotechnology
Coordination Office and Inter-Agency
working groups, and provides workshops
WTEC Future International Studies
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Stem cells for tissue engineering
Spinal cord injury
Personal and service robots
Hybrid flexible electronics
WTEC Methods
 Write grant proposals that can pass peer
review
 Establish a coalition of sponsors who have
resources to make it happen
 Recruit a great panel from Government
nominations
 Conduct the study effectively; Government
participates in decisions—like where to go
 Maintain good host relations, so we can
return in future studies
 Publish an outstanding report
From Draft Statement of Work
 What is the position of foreign R&D
relative to the U.S.?
 What are the barriers in development
that can be learned abroad?
 What are the innovations and ideas that
are worth exploring in the U.S.?
 What are the opportunities for
international collaboration?
Proposed Timeline
Dec 08
Kickoff Meeting
Mar 09
U.S. Baseline Workshop (Optional)
May 09
Study Tour Europe
Jun 09
Study Tour Asia (Optional)
Jul
Final workshop at NSF
09
Aug 09
Final report draft
Sponsorship Benefits:
International Assessment Study
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Leverage of full study for price of a workshop
Advances interagency cooperation
Recognition in report and website
Advance review of report
Ideas for initiatives and cooperation
Find out what your counterparts abroad are up
to
Basic International Assessment Study
4-person panel of U.S. experts
Kickoff meeting with panel
Advance work to pick sites and get access
Study about 20 sites in one week (in Europe)
Workshop to present findings to professional
community, with proceedings
 Written report: Introduction, Exec Summary plus 4
technical chapters, appendix has site report for each
site
 NSF (ENG and ECCS) has committed $160K for this
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Some Options for a Broader Study
 Additional study tour in second
region—Asia ($140K)
 U.S. baseline workshop ($40K)
 More panelists for broader scope
($40K each 1-area, $60K 2-areas)
 Book by major publisher ($30K)
Impacts: Initiatives
 DARPA Flat Panel Displays Initiative
 DOD/DOC Electronic Packaging
Initiative
 NTSC Electronics Manufacturing
Initiative
 National Nanotechnology Initiative
 Benign Manufacturing MUSES Program
 Spin Electronics Program
Announcement
 Tissue Engineering Strategic Plan
More Informaton
 Web site at wtec.org
 Ben’s presentation on WTEC methods
later
 Shelton at 717-659-7714 or
shelton@wtec.org
Distinguished Panelists
 NSF Director (Colwell)
 Directors of DOE Office of Science (Trivelpiece,
Dresselhaus)
 Chief of Naval Research (Mooney)
 Director of NIGMS (Cassman)
 Chief Scientist of the USAF (Feigenbaum)
 Vice presidents for research of IBM, Bell Labs,
Seagate Technology
 Presidents or provosts of UC (Berkeley, San Diego
and UC system) and Rensselaer
 Over 400 other engineers and scientists
Report Editing
 Our reports are of academic quality with
full citations, etc.
 Analytical chapters written by experts
Site reports are merely an appendix
 They are edited several times
 We always have to extract chapters
from holdouts
 Published in 9 books; we now have an
international technology series with
Springer with 4 published
E-skin for Robots -- From Japan
Researchers have developed a rubber that is able to conduct electricity well, paving the way
for robots with stretchable "e-skin" that can feel heat and pressure like humans.. "Objects that
come into contact with humans are often not square or flat. We believe interfaces between
humans and electronics should be soft." Takao Someya, University of Tokyo, in Science August
7, 2008
A Hybrid Flexible Camera System—from
Illinois
"We believe that some of the most compelling areas of future application
involve the intimate, conformal integration of electronics with the human body,
in ways that are inconceivable using established technologies." "This approach
allows us to put electronics in places where we couldn't before. We can now,
for the first time, move device design beyond the flatland constraints of
conventional systems." John Rogers, Nature, August 7, 2008