Innovation - driving force for In2tec’s Sustainable Electronic Solutions

Innovation is much talked about since it plays a key role to offer new opportunities for growth, remaining competitive in our commercial world, as well as ensuring our business is sustainable. Taking place across our world, innovation is of global interest as it is also a driving force for the common good, including addressing major challenges.

‘The direction of innovation’ is complex, it can be considered the result of all decisions made on which technological opportunities to engage in by companies, individuals, universities, and governments. Furthermore, the direction of innovation can be set short-term as well as decades to come by the allocation of human and financial resources to different areas of innovation.

Diverse technologies have propelled innovation over the past one hundred years. These include technologies related to combustion engines & transport, and more recently information and communications technology, plus semiconductors all being a leading force in innovation. New and powerful forces are driving innovation today.

It is upheld that in the short-term innovation is easier to foresee and affect. Take the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of vaccines and their mass production were achieved in record time, with redirection of innovation funding and resources instrumental in speeding up the process of innovation for drug development, manufacture, and distribution. Longer term, technological innovations and their outcomes are difficult to predict, and innovation can rapidly change. This is certainly true when facing major challenges, and the case with public pressure when people demand them.

In these circumstances, governments and policymakers can act to influence, direct, and promote the benefits and financial returns of innovation. This has been witnessed with Covid-19 vaccine development. Though of course, it is too simplistic to say that policymakers and government alone work to affect such rapid innovation. There is a whole innovation ecosystem that works to achieve this. The stakeholders of the ecosystem include scientists, engineers, academics & researchers, companies, entrepreneurs, consumers, and societies. Though their motivations are not necessarily aligned, all parties are vital for innovation and can leverage for the common good.

It is widely held that we are now witnessing deepening commitments to sustainability, with the consumer changing how businesses conduct activities, for example demanding technologies that are environmentally friendly and mitigate climate change through carbon footprint reduction.

Innovation at In2tec

At In2tec we recognise that innovation can create opportunities, as well as provide solutions to real-world challenges. For over 20 years, In2tec has been a pioneering force in Flexible Electronics, constantly driving innovation. Our commitment to developing truly sustainable electronics began in 2007, and we have remained steadfast on this path ever since, and we consistently incorporate sustainability into everything we do.

At In2tec, we are dedicated to revolutionising the concept of electronics by embracing a circular vision and extending the lifespan of flexible electronics, compared to traditional "hard" electronics. Our design philosophy thrives on the belief that nothing is impossible. Flexible electronics offer unique design properties, forms, and materials, which in turn present incredible opportunities to create printed circuit boards to be unzipped at their end-of-life providing sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions.

Through our innovative patented ReUSE? technology, we have enabled components to be populated at low temperatures during manufacture, resulting in saving energy. Then these components can be easily removed from PCBs using nothing more than hot water at the end of useful life. This "unzipping" process we call ReCYCLE?, allows even complex components to be extracted, without stress or damage, from used PCBs. These components can then be given a second life, contributing to a circular economy of reused parts.

Here at In2tec, we are fuelled by a passion for our work, and our overarching goal is to "Protect the World for Future Generations by Inspiring Sustainable Electronics." To achieve this, we continuously seek out next-generation thinkers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who share our vision. Through our efforts, we aim to eliminate landfill ewaste by recycling substrates, conductive circuits, and electronic components using ultra-low energy unzipping, while facilitating second-life usage for constituent parts.

Traditional printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) typically achieve a recyclability rate of only 3-5%. Extracting the reusable properties and materials from a populated PCB is a resource-intensive process, consuming significant energy, and time, and resulting in considerable CO2 emissions. This often renders the cost of recycling commercially unviable.

At In2tec, we believe that our patented ReUSE? Highly Recyclable Electronic Circuit Boards offer the solution and paradigm shift that the world urgently needs. By utilising our ReUSE? technology, the usefulness of components does not have to end when the PCB they are mounted on reaches the end of its life. These components can be recycled or reused, generating secondary markets for used components and extending their lifespan. This approach also helps reduce the demand for counterfeit component ‘copies,’ fostering a truly circular economy.

Our design philosophy, ‘that nothing is impossible’ has propelled In2tec to the forefront of innovation in Flexible Electronics. Working across industries, we tailor our solutions to meet the specific needs of each customer, ensuring cost-efficient and sustainable outcomes.

If you would like to know more about sustainable electronic solutions and ReUSE? technologies, please contact us for more information.

E. [email protected]

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www.in2tec.com