Great Significance for the Military

Military forces have great interest in printed electronics. Perhaps it can provide antennas along the full length of a ship, solar electricity generators conforming to the shape of any surface, surveillance insects, disposable radar and many other fanciful concepts. Recently, the US Army gave $50 million to Arizona State University to develop thin computer screens that could be rolled or folded up to go into a soldier's pocket, for example to give a real time map of a battlefield. The US Army also granted $2 million to Universal Display Corporation (UDC) to develop a printed display that could be unrolled from a pen like communications device. As in the civil arena, these ideas are for radical change, not incremental improvement in what went before.