Smart electronics are an increasingly important part of everyday life. More than ever, they are integrated into an expansive array of everyday products which is evident from the explosion in numbers of devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). The current trend is for each device to have its own IP address, but in future individual devices will not require their own IP address as they will be a part of a local network with a single connection point to the internet. This allows greater scalability leading to the Internet of Everything. Flexible electronics on substrates like plastic will be behind the creation of this Internet of Everything as it drives the integration of electronics into everyday objects such as packaging. PragmatIC Semiconductor is a leading developer of large-area electronic logic and memory on flexible substrates and part of the strategic roadmap for this technology is the realisation of so-called CMOS which offers low-power and greater circuit functionality. A significant barrier to achieving flexible CMOS is the lack of compatible p-type oxide semiconductors. This prosperity partnership addresses this need, and by working with an academic team drawn together from the Universities of Bath, Cambridge and Liverpool, the 5-year project will target new precursors and materials, manufacturing processes, devices and circuit designs, in a concerted and cohesive research program. The additionality of this prosperity-partnership is rooted within the well-founded existing collaborations of the project team, as well as the extensive range of expertise and world-class facilities that the consortium brings together. The outcomes of the fundamental research represent a significant contribution to the global state-of-the-art. In terms of the technological and commercial outcomes, PragmatIC Semiconductor is well placed to exploit this fundamental research to realise its full impact. The importance of this to the UK economy cannot be overstated. The UK has the world's 6th largest electronics industry with an annual turnover of >£100 billion. This prosperity partnership will contribute to the consolidation of the UK's leading position in design through the development of the underpinning electronics for IoT devices. It will also enable new electronics manufacturing in the UK with associated wider supply chain benefits. As well as functionality, flexible electronics offers the opportunity for some more sustainable outcomes. The global Electronics Industry is a significant contributor to CO2 emissions and other pollution. The sector is working hard to reduce its CO2-footprint by a switch to 100% renewable energy supplies, however this will only eliminate 60% of the projected emissions, because the remainder of the fixed embedded carbon resides within feedstock chemicals and gases and heating/cooling. PragmatIC Semiconductor has already developed a manufacturing process than uses a hundred times less energy and water than a conventional silicon "fab" and results in thousand times lower CO2e. The company has also committed to the "Race-to-Zero" pledge of reaching net-zero by 2050. Part of this effort of achieving this target lies within prosperity-partnership and together we are evaluating alternative manufacturing processes for parallel rather than serial thin-film deposition. This approach will potentially increase efficiency in terms of precursor chemical consumption, at the same time as reducing energy use. The company's Circular Economy team will make Life Cycle Assessments of the processes arising from the prosperity-partnership and will embed the research across its technology and product development. Silicon-based electronics became a scalable technology through the development of CMOS in the 1970s. Our aim is for this work to have a similar impact on large-area flexible electronics, allowing the scalability that will lead to the sustainable creation of the future Internet of Everything.

Electech, covering areas such as sensors, power electronics, embedded computing, wireless communication technology, autonomous systems and large-area electronics, is predicted to play a foundational role in the future development of industries and value chains. It is central to Innovate UK's core strategy and its importance to future economic growth cannot be overstated. It is vital that the UK maintains a strong electronics design and technology base in the face of international developments. The proposed European chips act (February 2022), will mobilise 43 43 billion euros by 2030 in 'policy-driven investment' for the EU's semiconductor sector. The US CHIPS Act will result in a $280 billion investment to bolster their semiconductor capacity, catalyse R&D, create regional high-tech hubs and grow a more inclusive STEM workforce. The UK has a very vibrant but dispersed, electronic systems academic community, organised into larger activities in the universities of Glasgow, Imperial College London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Southampton, University College London and Queen's University Belfast as well as satellite activities in a range of other universities. The community have been able to organise into an effective electronic systems community via the eFutures network (EPSRC eFutures2.0: Addressing Future Challenges grant, May2019-2023). In addition to growing the community, the objectives of the existing eFutures2.0 network had been to explore multidisciplinary opportunities for the sector. The successes of eFutures include: the organisation of 20+ in-person and online events (1825 attendees); the creation of a new website and a YouTube channel with 34 videoed talks (speakers from 19 countries) with a total of 1180 views; increased network membership by over 400% and move from a pure mailout model to include social media, achieving 64% of event attendees who had not previously engaged with the network; the delivery of two new, strategic landscaping reports: 'UK Landscape in AI & Brain-Inspired Computing Hardware' (Q4 2021) and 'Electronics for Healthcare: R&D across the UK' (expected Q1 2023). The 2021 Report had national media coverage, follow-up events (150 attendees), an upcoming, high-value proposal and a mention in the EPSRC Delivery Plan. The Healthcare Report results from online and in-person events (264 attendees) leading to a Programme Grant proposal. The network funded six multidisciplinary, concept projects (£78k), benefitting 11 academics across ten UK and four international universities; and delivered focussed engagement with 59 early-career and 30 mid-career researchers via two in-person workshops and online training. Ultimately, the aim is to further enhance the impact of UK electronics systems academic research and put the community in a strong, competitive position for collaboration with both national and international researchers, and industry. As highlighted above this will be achieved by continuing to build and growing network membership, organising the Net-Zero multidisciplinary event to engage our community more broadly in the area with other academic areas and companies to tackle this key topic, represent a strong focus on the electronics systems academic community in the UK, supporting early career researchers and growing the community by encouraging interaction or the national and international level and increasing the funding. We will achieve this by building on the successes of the eFutures2.0 activity with the same leadership team and steering group. The success and commitment to this activity is indicated by the in-kind commitment of £64,000 from our steering group companies.