Mid-October, the ENLIGHTENED consortium gathered at TracXon's production site in Eindhoven in The Netherland, for its 24-month meeting. With the final year of the project now ahead, partners used the meeting to take stock of what has been achieved, see printed electronics manufacturing up close, and agree on the priorities that will carry the project to its close in August 2027.
The first part of the meeting was dedicated to a structured review of the project's status and results. Each partner presented where their work stands, from materials and printed solar modules to the electronics that integrate them and the applications they are designed to power.
Looking at the full value chain in one room is one of the strengths of a consortium like ENLIGHTENED. It makes it easier to spot where results in one layer unlock progress in the next, and where effort is still needed before the project ends.
Hosting the meeting at TracXon gave partners the chance to see printed electronics manufacturing in action. TracXon is a foundry for printed and flexible hybrid electronics, taking products from co-design and prototyping through pilot batches to manufacturing at scale.
For a project focused on scalable integration methods, the study visit was more than a tour. It showed how the processes developed in the lab can translate into industrial production, which is exactly the step ENLIGHTENED aims to prepare for.
One of the samples
Hand-over of the samples.
The highlight of the meeting was a concrete result of the consortium's joint work: a battery replacer with an integrated printed organic solar cells, battery and assecory electrinics. Instead of relying on a disposable battery, it harvests energy from ambient indoor light to power low-power devices.
The battery replacer was presented to the group and multiple units were handed over to each end used for further testing. For a project whose goal is to demonstrate that light energy harvesting can meet the needs of real products, putting a working prototype in partners' hands is an important step from research towards application.
It is still a prototype. The next phase is about testing it where it matters: inside real products.
1) Three partners will now evaluate the battery replacer for integration into real products and applications:
2) This end-user evaluation directly supports one of ENLIGHTENED's core goals: validating the function of the project's demonstrators with the companies that would use them.
3) Beyond the evaluation, the consortium discussed at length how to make the most of the remaining months and took decisions on the next steps towards the project's close.
4) Detailed timeplan for the remainder of the project
5) Possible submission to LOPEC - OE awards
On site: Anthny and Mallory from 4MOD Technology, Anders Elfwing from Epishine (coordinator), Andrii and Thomas Heumüller from FAU Solar, Robert Tone from FLEXOO, Birger from Fraunhofer ISE, Richard from Imperial College London, Guillaume from InVirtus Technologies and Corne Rentrop and Manoj fromk TracXon (host).
Online: Pedro from ONiO and Sanna from Pricer.
for hosting us and opening the doors to their production
Corne is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of TracXon, a printed electronics foundry in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He co-founded the company in 2022 as a spin-off from TNO at Holst Centre, where he had worked as a project leader in hybrid printed electronics and led several EU-funded initiatives.
TracXon takes printed electronics out of the lab and into everyday manufacturing, producing hybrid flexible electronics through roll-to-roll printing and component assembly. As Corne puts it: “We print electronics that can bend and stretch.” Sustainability is central to the approach: printing only the material that is needed avoids waste, and Corne has co-authored research on printed electronics as a lower-impact alternative to the conventional PCB.
In ENLIGHTENED, this expertise connects directly to the project’s core ambition: the integrated roll-to-roll assembly of light energy harvesters and flexible hybrid electronics for IoT devices. Introducing printed electronics management systems in PV application, is combining 2 sustainability aspects in one! Energy harvesting and low energy/materials processes.
The coming months will show how the battery replacer performs in real products. Follow the project on LinkedIn and at horizon-enlightened.com for updates.