3M, through its New Ventures business, has invested in Printechnologics, a German printed electronics specialist, aimed at joint efforts for providing innovative solutions for electronic circuitry on paper or foil. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Printechnologics developed custom alterations to conventional printing methods with extremely high scalability and cost advantages to address mass markets. The technologies can facilitate a broad range of solutions across b2b and b2c channels. This opens significant global market potential.

Stefan Gabriel, president, 3M New Ventures, commented, “Printechnologics has developed game changing technology enabling printed circuit structures on paper. We see various innovative application areas that provide significant growth opportunities and access to new markets for 3M.”

“Among others, we explore anti-fraud solutions that could save billions of dollars for our customers. Possible applications are smart packaging to prevent counterfeiting or anti-fraud solutions in the gaming market in connection with our multi-touch displays,” added Voyl Divljakovic, vice president and general manager, 3M Electronic Solutions Division.

“In the future, most paper products will include electronic data carriers enabling them to store data and communicate with the environment. We start connecting print products with online content," said Sascha Voigt, co-founder of Printechnologics.

“Printechnologics offers one of the most cost efficient printing solutions for electronics on paper,” Jan Thiele, co-founder of Printechnologics, added. “The results are environment-friendly, low-cost data structures that open up visionary possibilities in countless application areas. We are proud to work with an outstanding partner like 3M to explore new application fields outside of our current core business.”