The International Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics (iCBIE) was formally established in Hangzhou on October 15, 2018.
The center brings together leading figures in the field of flexible electronics at home and abroad. John A. Rogers, a pioneer of the world's flexible electronic technology, has been appointed as the chairman. Professor Yonggang Huang from Northwestern University and Professor Xue Feng from Tsinghua University are co-directors of the Global Research on Flexible Electronics and Intelligent Technology in the Hangzhou Economic Development Zone.
Taking the leading role in the global flexible electronic technology transformation as the strategic theme, iCBIE will give full play to the comprehensive advantages of bio-integrated electronic technology and flexible electronic technology. It will closely integrate the leading research of international flexible electronics technology with the major needs of the development and transformation of flexible electronics technology in China. iCBIE will strive to break through the major scientific theories and key technologies related to flexible monitoring of human health to make a fundamental, strategic and prospective contribution to China and even the world.
iCBIE will become an international base for the research and innovation of flexible electronics technology as well as a world-class comprehensive research institute. At the same time, this center will also act as a bridge to build cooperation between Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone and the Northwestern University. It will help bring relevant research findings from the University to Hangzhou.
Academician Rogers explained why he wanted to establish such a research institution in Hangzhou.
He said that Hangzhou has the unparalleled advantages of other cities in terms of technological innovation, transformation of scientific and technological achievements, innovative services, innovative entrepreneurial opportunities, and collection of resources. Hangzhou promotes the accelerated development of flexible electronics technology. So "Let us remember today, at the right time, and the right people, start to do the right thing."
Professor Feng suggested the establishment of iCBIE also marks the first step of Zhejiang's move towards “China’s Soft Valley”. The talent gathering effect generated by it can quickly turn the flexible electronics center into a technical source and an engine of the world's flexible electronics industry.
Academician Rogers, as a pioneer in the research of flexible electronic technology, has ushered the flexible electronics industry from the traditional hard inorganic electronics technology industry, and promoted flexible electronics technology to incorporate mathematics, physics and biology. The transformative forces of the physical and biological worlds create an extraordinary impact on changing the possibilities of future life forms.
With the establishment of the center, the core competitiveness of Zhejiang's flexible electronics industry will be further enhanced. In addition, it will facilitate the incubation and development of many flexible electronics technology-related enterprises, and help Zhejiang become a veritable “China Soft Valley”.
About John A. Rogers
John A. Rogers is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the American Academy of Science and Arts, Lecturer of Northwestern University and Director of the Center for Bio-integrated Electronics Technology. He has also served as a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Swanlund and was a Director of the Seits Materials Research Laboratory, Director of the Condensed Matter Physics at Bell Labs, and a Junior Fellow at Harvard University. Professor Rogers has made numerous pioneering contributions in the field of flexible electronics, including microfluidic fiber (2004), stretchable silicon (2006), biodegradable electronic devices (2010), and solar cells with record-breaking conversion efficiency (2012), which has been selected into the top ten technical breakthroughs of the MIT Technology Review four times. Professor Rogers has published nearly a thousand papers in high-impact journals such as Nature and Science. He has transformed many scientific research products into commercial products through commercialization and has embarked on an extraordinary path from basic theory and prototype devices to industrialization of results.
