Brief Project Overview:

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Back Conductive Layer Nanoparticulate Cathode Layer Anode Nanoparticulate Separator Layer Partnership for Innovation in Wisconsin’s Packaging & Printing Industry Cluster University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering PI: Raj Veeramani Co PIs: Marc Anderson, Dan van der Weide, Paul Peercy, Rich Rothaupt (UW-Stout) NSF Award #IIP- 0650321 3 Year Award Start Date: 15 January 2008 Key Attributes of our Innovation Ecosystem: Brief Project Overview: The goal of this project is to foster innovation-driven sustainable economic growth in Wisconsin’s packaging and printing industries by: Catalyzing innovation through knowledge creation, technology transfer and industry application of emerging novel packaging and printing technology resulting in the development and commercialization of unique high-value products, processes and services; Building human capital through workforce education and training to build know-how and application of innovative packaging and printing materials and processes; and Enhancing enabling infrastructure for networking, collaboration, problem-solving and entrepreneurship to capitalize on innovation-based opportunities through collaborative product development and commercialization. Uncoated area Questioning & Curiosity: This PFI project has provided a fertile setting for industry and academic partners to jointly engage in the investigation of strategically significant innovation opportunities that can greatly enhance the competitiveness of Wisconsin’s packaging and printing industries. Coated area Superior anti-corrosion and anti-UV-fading of color properties through nanoparticulate coatings Risk Taking: We have pursued several high-risk/high-payoff technical and non-technical efforts in this project, such as designing a low-cost passive sensor RFID tag, and coordinating a statewide unified effort to form the Wisconsin Sustainability Network. Conductive paper, printed battery schematic, and “peel-and-stick” label with printed battery underlay Openness: This project has achieved high-visibility and gained participation from industry and academic partners from across the state of Wisconsin. Each of the three working groups has had regular meetings that served as forums for open exchange of ideas and feedback that guided our progress. Program Activities: Antenna coupling design and real-time piggybacking signal measurements for commercial AD-222 UHF tag • Program has 3 thrust areas, each led by an university-industry collaborative team: • (1) Working Group on “Polymer / Inorganic Nanoparticulate Oxide Coatings for Improved Packaging Functionality” • (2) Working Group on “Printable Power Systems for Sensing and Auto-ID in Packaging ” • (3) Working Group on “Sustainable Packaging, Printing and Plant Operations” Collaboration Across Fields: This project is highly multidisciplinary in nature with faculty involvement from electrical and computer engineering, environmental and water chemistry, industrial and systems engineering, packaging , printing, graphics and communications departments. Participants from industry also represented different perspectives including packaging and printing technologies, product design, and plant operations. Wisconsin Sustainability Network Portal www.wsnportal.org Top Contributions: 1. We have researched and demonstrated the effectiveness of nanoparticulate inorganic coatings to achieve superior and novel performance characteristics of packaging materials. We have also developed and demonstrated the ability to print composite coatings to create a printable power source on packaging and battery-embedded label. 2. We have designed an innovative approach to “piggyback” sensory information onto the backscattered signal modulation of a standard passive UHF RFID tag. 3. By launching the Wisconsin Sustainability Network portal, we are fostering a collaborative statewide effort to help businesses succeed through sustainable strategies and sustainable business practices. Placing Partners in “New Environments” & “Playgrounds”: The involvement of a diverse group of industry and academic partners provided many opportunities for exposure to new concepts and technologies. Industry visits to campus and faculty visits to companies and the collaborative group discussions led to crosspollination of ideas and creative thinking that had a big impact on this project. Partners: • Leading/Inspiring for Surprising or Unexpected Results: • The active engagement and support of our industry partners in the formative stages of this project was very inspiring, and validated the significance of this effort. This project has achieved many unexpected findings: • The inorganic nanoparticulate coatings can serve as a superior replacement for the current epoxy/organic based anti-corrosion coatings used in food canning, and can thereby be a solution to the BPA and other health related concerns facing the canning industry. • Our theoretical models and experiments with the “piggy back” concept confirm the ability to achieve ultra-low-power sensing, and thereby to enable wireless sensing using low-cost RFID infrastructure. • Appleton • Bemis Flexible Packaging • Great Lakes Packaging Corp. • Green Bay Packaging • InPro Corporation • Kimberly-Clark • Kraft Foods • Menasha Packaging • NewPage Specialty Papers • Quad Graphics • Seneca Foods • Tosca • University of Wisconsin-Stout • Waukesha County Technical College Top Challenges: 1. Economic downturn caused most of our industry partners to shift attention to pressing, short-term activities and outcomes 2. Difficulties in arriving at arrangements for use of IP related to this project has delayed commercial development and applications. 3. Lay-offs and turnover at participating partner companies has resulted in loss of PFI project champions in some companies, and also increased work pressures for others limiting their time availability for the PFI project. . PFI . . National Science Foundation Partnerships For Innovation Grantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010 Arlington, VA