Merck KGaA announced that it has launched the “Printed Organic Switches and Chips“ project (Polytos) together with its partners in the excellence cluster known as the “Forum Organic Electronics“. The aim of this project, which is being sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and conducted by a consortium headed by Merck, is to develop new materials, concepts, components, manufacturing processes and software for printed organic circuits with integrated sensors for applications in the packaging industry. These systems could some day be used as printed smart labels, namely intelligent and flexible transponders that are applied to a film together with their antenna and can transmit information. They are primarily used in the logistics and packaging sectors. Aside from Merck, the consortium partners involved in the project are BASF SE (Ludwigshafen), Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH (Mannheim), PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG (Fürth), Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart), SAP AG (Walldorf) as well as the University of Heidelberg, the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mannheim. Copaco GmbH & Co. KG (Mainz), Innovation Lab GmbH (Heidelberg) and VARTA Microbattery GmbH (Ellwangen) are associate partners. The consortium partners are aiming to complete the first basic demonstrators in a three-year period. The total costs of Polytos will amount to around € 13.8 million. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will provide funding of around € 7.2 million; the industry partners will contribute around € 6.6 million themselves. The object of Polytos is to develop printed organic circuits with integrated sensors capable of recording data such as temperature, humidity or light exposure. Interfaces are used to read this information. These types of printed organic circuits could be used as printed smart labels in the future. Smart labels are already used today in the packaging of pharmaceutical products, other high-quality products, e.g. luxury goods, or critical care products such as blood transfusions. Smart label technologies available today have numerous economic and technical problems that severely limit their usability. In particular, high implementation and operating costs prevent their wide-scale application. For example, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are typically used only for larger packaging volumes (e.g. palettes) in logistic processes. They are only equipped with sensors in a very few number of selected applications. More complex smart labels are capable of recording environmental parameters, yet their application is extremely expensive. The smart labels being developed by Polytos are based on organic electronics, thereby making cost-effective production via printing processes possible. This makes them economical and efficient in production as they can be applied using mass-production techniques.
Q1 Results: Merck Benefits from Global Diversification in a Challenging Environment
Merck generated net sales of € 5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023. This corresponds to an increase of 1.8% over the year-earlier quarter (organically 0.8%). Sales growth was in particular attributable to Healthcare, which delivered significant increases in its business with new medici ... more
Merck chief financial officer steps down
Marcus Kuhnert has decided to step down as Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Executive Board of Merck as of June 30, 2023. He will continue to serve as a Member of the Executive Board of E. Merck KG until July 31, 2024. The Board of Partners of E. Merck KG has appointed Helene von R ... more
Merck Announces Significant Investment in the World’s Largest Integrated Specialty Gases Facility
Merck announced an agreement with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to support expansion plans at its semiconductor manufacturing site in Hometown. This expansion is part of Merck's Level Up growth program, announced by its Electronics business sector in late 2021, which aims to invest over ... more
LANEXO Inventory Manager - The fast track to an ultra-efficient, audi-ready lab
LANEXO® Inventory Manager - innovative reagent and chemical tracking system specially designed to work more effectively and safely in analytical and research laboratories more
Milli-Q Services for Your Water Purification System
Tailored service plans ✓ Preventive maintenance visits ✓ Traceable and auditable documentations & tools ✓ more
Integrated Water Purification System Delivering Type 1 and Type 2 Water Direct from Tap Water
Intuitive touchscreen ✓ Simple and intuitive Q-POD and E-POD dispensers ✓ A10 TOC-Monitor ✓ more
LANEXO Inventory Manager - The fast track to an ultra-efficient, audi-ready lab
Say goodbye to manual stock keeping. LANEXO® inventory manager does it all for you. Comprised of web and mobile apps plus RFID labels, LANEXO® lets you easily register, track and monitor lab consumables, giving you instant access to real-time inventory data – like SDS, owner, opening and ex ... more
Milli-Q Services for Your Water Purification System
Our Milli-Q water treatment system is a sophisticated piece of equipment equipped with highly sensitive technologies. We offer tailored service plans, preventive maintenance visits and support regulated environments. Through the new MyMilli-Q online solution, you can simplify your equipment ... more
How can you overcome routine administration tasks that steal 40% of your laboratory's valuable time?
This whitepaper demonstrates how digital laboratory productivity technology can liberate scientists to prioritize innovation. more
You’re using surfactants like Triton X-100? The REACH clock is ticking …
In the new Application Note "Comparison of Greener Detergents in Mammalian Cell Lysis & Downstream Applications" more
Measuring environmental impact: Elix® system water purification vs. a distillation apparatus
Long-term environmental sustainability and continued reduction in the consumption of non-renewable raw materials is increasingly important for more
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life – from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclero ... more
Machine learning deployed to fast-track industrial optimization process
An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, the Technical University of Munich, and Robert Bosch GmbH deploy Bayesian Machine Learning methods to fast-track the optimization process of coati ... more
Bosch increases investment in startups
Investments in startups are on the rise. In 2017, institutional investors and companies invested 147 billion euros in these enterprises – nearly three times as much as in 2012. Bosch, too, is increasing its investment in external startups, providing Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) ... more
Bosch Solar Energy and Linde bolster collaboration to establish a new ‘solar cluster’ in Germany
Linde Nippon Sanso (LNS), a company of The Linde Group, and Bosch Solar Energy, have announced an extension of their collaboration at Bosch’s new crystalline Si solar cell manufacturing site in Arnstadt, Germany. Under the new agreement, LNS will supply silane and ammonia gas, both critical ... more
Today, Pepperl+Fuchs is known by customers around the world as a pioneer and an innovator in electrical explosion protection and sensor technology. Our main focus is always on your individual requirements: With a passion for automation and groundbreaking technology, we are committed to work ... more
Chemovator, the business incubator of BASF, opens its doors for startups outside of the company
For five years, Chemovator has been working under the umbrella of BASF to develop scalable and investable business models from ideas that originated from within the company. As of now, the incubator opens its doors to all early-stage startups working on the successful and sustainable future ... more
BASF starts 2023 better than expected in a stagnating environment
“BASF started off 2023 better than analysts had expected – and in a stagnating and difficult economic environment,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. The BASF businesses with customers in the agricultural and automotive sectors made a sub ... more
BASF breaks ground on acrylic acid complex at Zhanjiang Verbund site in China
BASF has broken ground on a new production complex at its Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China, that includes plants for glacial acrylic acid (GAA), butyl acrylate (BA) and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA). Planned to come on stream by 2025, the complex will have an annual production capacity of a ... more
Industrial implementation of the ammonia synthesis - How does it work?
In September 1913, the first industrial-scale ammonia production plant came on stream at BASF in Ludwigshafen. The Haber-Bosch process for ammonia synthesis, which was first successfully operated at BASF Ludwigshafen in September 1913, was the decisive step into the age of mineral fertilize ... more
BASF-YPC Company Limited is a large scale petrochemical 50:50 joint venture between BASF and Sinopec. With a total investment amounting to USD 2.9 billion, its IPS (Integrated Petrochemical Site) I Project was started in September 2001 and put into commercial operation in June 2005. Our mis ... more
BASF Construction Solutions GmbH
BASF Construction Polymers GmbH, Trostberg, Germany, is a leading innovator and producer of construction and oilfield polymers. Our product portfolio for construction chemicals consists of superplasticizers, dispersants, plasticizers, rheology modifying agents, stabilizers, defoamers and ai ... more
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. more
Creating 3D objects with sound
Scientists from the Micro, Nano and Molecular Systems Lab at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research and the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials at Heidelberg University have created a new technology to assemble matter in 3D. Their concept uses multiple ... more
Joining forces: fast-as-lightning 3D microprinting with two lasers
Printing objects from plastic precisely, quickly, and inexpensively is the goal of many 3D printing processes. However, speed and high resolution remain a technological challenge. A research team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Heidelberg University, and the Queensland Uni ... more
Microscopic Octopuses from a 3D Printer
Although just cute little creatures at first glance, the microscopic geckos and octopuses fabricated by 3D laser printing in the molecular engineering labs at Heidelberg University could open up new opportunities in fields such as microrobotics or biomedicine. The printed microstructures ar ... more
Evonik and Siemens Energy commissioned a pilot plant sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that uses carbon dioxide and water to produce chemicals. The necessary energy is supplied by electricity from renewable sources. The pilot plant is located in Marl, ... more
BMBF Project NEMO: Research on New OLED Materials Successfully Concluded
After three years of intensive research in the field of new solution-processable materials for OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes), Merck and ten other partners from industry and academia have successfully concluded the "New materials for OLEDs from solutions" (NEMO) project co-funded by ... more
BMBF Joint Project for New Chip Fabrication Technology
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is sponsoring an extensive joint project headed by Carl Zeiss on EUV lithography (Extreme Ultra Violet). This new technology has major potential to further miniaturize microchips and will play a key role in increasing their perfor ... more
Continuing its focus on providing market-leading sustainability solutions to customers worldwide, SAP AG announced its intent to acquire TechniData AG, the world’s leading provider of product safety and environmental, health and safety (EHS) solutions. Through this acquisition, SAP intends ... more
VWR International, Inc. Selects SAP for Worldwide IT Solution
SAP AG announced that VWR International, Inc., a global leader in the distribution of scientific supplies, has chosen mySAP.com(R) as the information technology platform to optimize operational performance across its worldwide operations. VWR International will deploy enterprise portal, bus ... more
THE INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE for the Life Sciences Industry
Introduce patient-oriented, integrated, and automated processes that are transparent and connected to the physical world more
As the market leader in enterprise application software, SAP is at the center of today’s business and technology revolution. SAP helps you streamline your processes, giving you the ability to use real-time data to predict customer trends across your entire business. SAP is committed to help ... more
PolyIC, BASF, Evonik Industries, Elantas Beck and Siemens have announced the launch of a new German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)-sponsored alliance project called MaDriX to advance the development of high-performance printable Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. ... more
Touch sensors based on the PolyTC® technology offer transparent, conductive and flexible possibilities for touch screens and capacitive keys in any variants. Furthermore, this technology enables the setup of flexible circuit structures as passive devices for a huge variety of further applic ... more
