Smart Label project
Eurecat creates a cutting-edge technology that opens the door to the creation of intelligent objects that had not been raised so far
The innovation has been possible thanks to the first labels with sensors made with printed electronics, which have been designed and created by the technology center in Mataró.
Ramon Roqueta has incorporated this technology into some of its wine bottles, making it possible to verify its contents without opening them.
Barcelona, February 25, 2019.- The Eurecat technology center (member of Tecnio) will present this year at the Mobile World Congress a new technology based on print electronics that opens the door to the manufacture of intelligent objects connected to the Internet that had not been raised so far, as is the case of a bottle of wine that will show at the fair, where it is possible Verify its contents without opening it, thanks to the sensors that it has incorporated in the label.
This is possible because the bottle has a smart tag with printed electronics, without batteries, which contains temperature and quality sensors that allow monitoring of the product with the closed bottle, through Near Field Communication technology, which makes possible a power and wireless communication to a mobile application.
Labels, which have been manufactured with silk-screen printing on an industrial scale by Germark, have been applied, for the first time, to some bottles of the Ramon Roqueta winery, which will be implanted, as a test, within its distribution chain to the consumer . The data received will be stored in a cloud, so they will be ready to give information about the product since it leaves the winery
The project has focused on industrial production, identifying and solving the challenges for the mass manufacturing of this type of labels, which are considered to have great potential in sectors such as packaging, logistics and food, among other areas.
“The use of printed and hybridized electronics for connection of objects within the Internet of Things increases traceability and understanding of the use of products, so that it can be optimized and improved throughout its life cycle,” explains the general director of Eurecat Business, Miquel Rey.
In his words, the new technology “offers the possibility of providing connection products or objects where it has never been considered to incorporate electronics, through a technology compatible with the current systems of production of the graphic industry and electronics”, so it opens up “A totally sustainable and viable business model”.
According to the director of the Technological Drive of Functional Print and Integrated Devices of Eurecat, Paul Lacharmoise, “this technology gives a great added value, because it gives producers and consumers access to monitored products, that allow to maximize their use, with a sustainable return well above the incremental cost of incorporating the sensors into the product. ”
At the environmental level, in addition, this innovation “presents a high level of sustainability, without the need for batteries, with the use of recyclable and even biodegradable materials”, in addition to reducing plastic and metal materials in the manufacture of sensorized products, what “implies a reduction in its environmental footprint,” says the researcher who coordinated the project, Claudia Delgado.
The large-scale production of smart labels began in 2016 and has had a million euros of funding, within the Interacciona project, of the public program Collaboration Challenges of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The technological units of Eurecat of Functional Printing and Embedded Devices and of Smart Management Systems have contributed to its development.
More information:
Roger Puente
Product Manager
Germark, S.A.
Tel. (+34) 934 751 400
C/e: roger@germark.com