The
spin-off status of the University of Minho has been granted to two new
companies, working in high potential technological areas in terms of
development and social and economic impact: NanoPaint and SOLFARCOS. The new
projects are related to electronics and materials engineering and also
biological engineering. ENGINews found out more about the new UMinho’s
spin-offs.
NanoPAINT was established to develop and commercialize electroactive inks to be applied as sensors. The company started its activity in 2016 and was immediately granted the status of spin-off of the UMinho. The company closely cooperates with the research group in Electroactive Smart Materials, from the Center of Physics of the University of Minho, led by Professor Senentxu Lanceros-Mendez. NanoPAINT’s team is composed of:
- Juliana Oliveira, MSc in Advanced Materials’ Physics of the School of Sciences of the UMinho. Currently, her research area is materials engineering, focusing on polymeric-based sensors and actuators produced by printing technologies.
- Jivago Nunes, degree in Optoelectronics and Lasers of the University of Porto and MSc in Materials Engineering of the UMinho, is a cofounder of several technological companies. His research interests are smart materials, sensors and actuators and generation and storage of clean energy.
- Nélson Castro, completed his Integrated Master Programme in Industrial Electronics and Computer Engineering at the EEUM. His research area is materials engineering, focusing on electronic characterisation and instrumentation of materials to be used as printed sensors and actuators.
Juliana Oliveira refers: “There were already a few market solutions of sensors and printed electronics based on insulating and conducting ink, developed in the last decade, such as transistors, resistances, condenser and some types of sensors. However, there were no printed materials which were able to measure pressure, impact or other physical variables. This led NanoPAINT to face this market gap as a business opportunity, thus developing other types of printed materials”. Using sensors is becoming more of a market need, as most devices are now controlled through an external input. When there is a large number of sensors, the device control and efficiency will increase. By creating sensors in the form of printed materials, it is possible to significantly reduce the production costs. It is also easier to implement them in devices and consequently increase their usage potential. Based on this idea, NanoPAINT developed ink solutions to be used in existing printing systems. The company is working on new methods and materials to increase their product range, thus contributing towards the sustainable development of more efficient and environmentally friendlier devices.
As far as a further cooperation with EEUM is concerned, Juliana Oliveira states: “There is a new generation of printed sensors being developed for several applications in automobile industry, domotics, sports, biomedical applications, etc. In fact, there are many possible markets for NanoPAINT’s products, as there are many types of sensors and many physical volumes to be measured. This variety implies a customised development of products for each application and it is therefore necessary to research and develop new materials, new architectures, new production and implementation processes. The future will certainly be related to replacing solid components with printed and flexible materials which are environmentally friendly, and this will certainly depend on new knowledge in several engineering areas”.
Juliana Oliveira refers: “There were already a few market solutions of sensors and printed electronics based on insulating and conducting ink, developed in the last decade, such as transistors, resistances, condenser and some types of sensors. However, there were no printed materials which were able to measure pressure, impact or other physical variables. This led NanoPAINT to face this market gap as a business opportunity, thus developing other types of printed materials”. Using sensors is becoming more of a market need, as most devices are now controlled through an external input. When there is a large number of sensors, the device control and efficiency will increase. By creating sensors in the form of printed materials, it is possible to significantly reduce the production costs. It is also easier to implement them in devices and consequently increase their usage potential. Based on this idea, NanoPAINT developed ink solutions to be used in existing printing systems. The company is working on new methods and materials to increase their product range, thus contributing towards the sustainable development of more efficient and environmentally friendlier devices.
As far as a further cooperation with EEUM is concerned, Juliana Oliveira states: “There is a new generation of printed sensors being developed for several applications in automobile industry, domotics, sports, biomedical applications, etc. In fact, there are many possible markets for NanoPAINT’s products, as there are many types of sensors and many physical volumes to be measured. This variety implies a customised development of products for each application and it is therefore necessary to research and develop new materials, new architectures, new production and implementation processes. The future will certainly be related to replacing solid components with printed and flexible materials which are environmentally friendly, and this will certainly depend on new knowledge in several engineering areas”.
Juliana Oliveira refers: “There were already a few market solutions of sensors and printed electronics based on insulating and conducting ink, developed in the last decade, such as transistors, resistances, condenser and some types of sensors. However, there were no printed materials which were able to measure pressure, impact or other physical variables. This led NanoPAINT to face this market gap as a business opportunity, thus developing other types of printed materials”. Using sensors is becoming more of a market need, as most devices are now controlled through an external input. When there is a large number of sensors, the device control and efficiency will increase. By creating sensors in the form of printed materials, it is possible to significantly reduce the production costs. It is also easier to implement them in devices and consequently increase their usage potential. Based on this idea, NanoPAINT developed ink solutions to be used in existing printing systems. The company is working on new methods and materials to increase their product range, thus contributing towards the sustainable development of more efficient and environmentally friendlier devices.
As far as a further cooperation with EEUM is concerned, Juliana Oliveira states: “There is a new generation of printed sensors being developed for several applications in automobile industry, domotics, sports, biomedical applications, etc. In fact, there are many possible markets for NanoPAINT’s products, as there are many types of sensors and many physical volumes to be measured. This variety implies a customised development of products for each application and it is therefore necessary to research and develop new materials, new architectures, new production and implementation processes. The future will certainly be related to replacing solid components with printed and flexible materials which are environmentally friendly, and this will certainly depend on new knowledge in several engineering areas”.
SOLFARCOS, founded in 2016 and headquartered at the Centre of Biological Engineering (CEB) of the EEUM, focuses on developing and marketing pharmaceutical and cosmetic technologies, as well as analytical techniques for application in biotechnology research. The company specialises in research and development in Biotechnology/Health/Nanomedicine and provides consulting and management services to support European projects in the field of Nanomedicine.
With NanoPAINT and SOLFARCOS, the University of Minho’s spin-off ecosystem has been increased to 42 projects, 39 companies and 3 projects.
