Partnership for Innovation in Wisconsin’s
Packaging & Printing Industry Cluster
University of Wisconsin-Madison
College of Engineering
PI: Raj Veeramani Co PIs: Marc Anderson, Dan van der Weide, Paul Peercy, Rich Rothaupt (UW-Stout)
NSF Award #IIP- 0650321
3 Year Award
Start Date: 15 January 2008
Key Attributes of our
Innovation Ecosystem:
Brief Project Overview:
Uncoated area
The goal of this project is to foster innovation-driven
sustainable economic growth in Wisconsin’s packaging and
printing industries by:
Catalyzing innovation through knowledge creation,
technology transfer and industry application of emerging
novel packaging and printing technology resulting in the
development and commercialization of unique high-value
products, processes and services;
Building human capital through workforce education and
training to build know-how and application of innovative
packaging and printing materials and processes; and
Enhancing enabling infrastructure for networking,
collaboration, problem-solving and entrepreneurship to
capitalize on innovation-based opportunities through
collaborative product development and commercialization.
Program Activities:
Program has 3 thrust areas,
each led by an universityindustry collaborative team:
(1) Working Group on “Polymer
/ Inorganic Nanoparticulate
Oxide Coatings for Improved
Packaging Functionality”
(2) Working Group on “Printable
Power Systems for Sensing and
Auto-ID in Packaging ”
(3) Working Group on
“Sustainable Packaging,
Printing and Plant Operations”
Partners:
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Appleton
Bemis Flexible Packaging
Great Lakes Packaging Corp.
Green Bay Packaging
InPro Corporation
Kimberly-Clark
Kraft Foods
Menasha Packaging
NewPage Specialty Papers
Quad Graphics
Seneca Foods
Tosca
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Waukesha County Technical College
PFI
Questioning & Curiosity:
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Superior anti-corrosion and anti-UV-fading of color
properties through nanoparticulate coatings
This PFI project has provided a fertile setting for
industry and academic partners to jointly engage in
the investigation of strategically significant innovation
opportunities that can greatly enhance the
competitiveness of Wisconsin’s packaging and
printing industries.
Risk Taking:
Back Conductive Layer
Nanoparticulate Cathode Layer
Anode
Nanoparticulate Separator Layer
Conductive paper, printed battery schematic, and
“peel-and-stick” label with printed battery underlay
We have pursued several high-risk/high-payoff
technical and non-technical efforts in this project, such
as designing a low-cost passive sensor RFID tag, and
coordinating a statewide unified effort to form the
Wisconsin Sustainability Network.
Openness:
Antenna coupling design and real-time piggybacking
signal measurements for commercial AD-222 UHF tag
This project has achieved high-visibility and gained
participation from industry and academic partners from
across the state of Wisconsin. Each of the three
working groups has had regular meetings that served
as forums for open exchange of ideas and feedback
that guided our progress.
Collaboration Across Fields:
Wisconsin Sustainability Network Portal
www.wsnportal.org
Top Contributions:
1. We have researched and demonstrated the
effectiveness of nanoparticulate inorganic coatings
to achieve superior and novel performance
characteristics of packaging materials. We have
also developed and demonstrated the ability to
print composite coatings to create a printable
power source on packaging and batteryembedded label.
2. We have designed an innovative approach to
“piggyback” sensory information onto the
backscattered signal modulation of a standard
passive UHF RFID tag.
3. By launching the Wisconsin Sustainability
Network portal, we are fostering a collaborative
statewide effort to help businesses succeed
through sustainable strategies and sustainable
business practices.
Top Challenges:
1. Economic downturn caused most of our
industry partners to shift attention to pressing,
short-term activities and outcomes
2. Difficulties in arriving at arrangements for use
of IP related to this project has delayed
commercial development and applications.
3. Lay-offs and turnover at participating partner
companies has resulted in loss of PFI project
champions in some companies, and also
increased work pressures for others limiting their
time availability for the PFI project.
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This project is highly multidisciplinary in nature with
faculty involvement from electrical and computer
engineering, environmental and water chemistry,
industrial and systems engineering, packaging ,
printing, graphics and communications departments.
Participants from industry also represented different
perspectives including packaging and printing
technologies, product design, and plant operations.
Placing Partners in “New
Environments” & “Playgrounds”:
The involvement of a diverse group of industry and
academic partners provided many opportunities for
exposure to new concepts and technologies. Industry visits
to campus and faculty visits to companies and the
collaborative group discussions led to crosspollination of
ideas and creative thinking that had a big impact on this
project.
Leading/Inspiring for Surprising
or Unexpected Results:
The active engagement and support of our industry
partners in the formative stages of this project was very
inspiring, and validated the significance of this effort.
This project has achieved many unexpected findings:
(1)The inorganic nanoparticulate coatings can serve as
a superior replacement for the current epoxy/organic
based anti-corrosion coatings used in food canning,
and can thereby be a solution to the BPA and other
health related concerns facing the canning industry.
(2) Our theoretical models and experiments with the
“piggy back” concept confirm the ability to achieve
ultra-low-power sensing, and thereby to enable
wireless sensing using low-cost RFID infrastructure.
National Science Foundation Partnerships For Innovation
Grantee’s Meeting April 25-27, 2010
Arlington, VA
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