The innoLAE conference was designed to facilitate knowledge sharing between industry and academia to encourage collaboration, support innovation and, ultimately promote the growth of the field and advance the state-of-the-art. For five years the innoLAE conference not only met this unique brief, but steadily grew to become recognised as ‘the premier UK event’, Dr Mark James, Merck Chemicals.
The conference managed to attract equal and growing interest from both industry and academia - researchers, manufacturers, integrators and users. Over 5 years the conference and preceding industry day, received registrations from 807 unique delegates representing 323 institutions across 27 countries.
During this period of growth, the conference was able to maintain the unique academia: industry balance which makes it such a productive space. Many attendees listed the vocational mix of speakers and delegates as the most valuable and distinctive characteristic of the conference.
‘Best UK event. Great mix of academic and industrial presenters and attendees.’ innoLAE 2019 delegate
‘Top class delegates.’ innoLAE 2016 speaker
‘A good place to meet the innovators in university and industry.’ innoLAE 2019 programme committee member
InnoLAE Conference Delegate Composition
Programme
‘Outstanding conference. High quality talks are really impressive.’ innoLAE 2018 speaker
innoLAE Conference Programme Growth
Delegate feedback highlights their appreciation of the quality and scope of the innoLAE programme. The conference programme committee helped the centre deliver a consistently high calibre, uniquely balanced conference programme featuring parallel and plenary talks, topical workshops, internationally-renowned keynote speakers and innovative poster presentations.
The conference has established a reputation for quality amongst academics and industry – evidenced by the constant growth, and recent steep increase, in attending countries and abstracts submitted in the call for papers.
The programme has highlighted the most recent, innovative and exciting aspects of large-area electronics - including topics not tackled by other conferences in this field - through 178 parallel track presentations, 13 keynote addresses, 5 topical workshop and a total of 201 posters across the five years!
‘An excellent program, with some of the best "players" in the area.’ innoLAE 2018 speaker
‘I learned a great deal, much more than I expected.’ innoLAE 2015 delegate
‘The quality of invited speakers has been amazing. Whilst quite large the conference is very intimate.’ innoLAE 2019 poster presenter
‘I got the chance to talk to renowned experts and extend my network of contacts.’ innoLAE 2019 delegate
Sponsorship
The conference’s growing reputation encouraged increasing sponsorship investment, with innoLAE 2019 receiving the highest number of conference sponsors. Sixteen organisations sponsored at least one innoLAE conference. Five of these sponsors choose to continue sponsoring subsequent conferences, with Novacentrix returning as gold sponsor of the poster prize every year, and CPI taking platinum sponsorship for the past three years.
‘Excellent conference - it has established a significant position in the UK Large Area Electronics sector’ innoLAE 2016 sponsor
innoLAE Sponsors
Exhibition
‘Our company exhibited for a 3rd year at innoLAE and each year we find new collaborators and partners and I learn something new, which is great.’ innoLAE 2017 exhibitor
The conference exhibition showcased leading companies’ expertise, facilities and latest developments - providing value to the delegates as well as to the 42 companies who exhibited over the five years. This valuable opportunity to engage with a highly targeted audience from multiple countries allowed exhibitors to raise brand awareness, generate new leads and find new talent. Exhibitors also commented on the value of staying up-to-date with the field’s progress and state-of-the-art.
‘I think the mix of speakers and exhibitors is great - it really supports the principles of innovation.’ innoLAE 2017 delegate
InnoLAE Industry Networking Day
'Fantastic networking opportunity.' Industry day 2019 delegate
InnoLAE industry networking day is the UK’s leading annual gathering of experts in research, technology innovation and manufacturing of LAE. It has been consistently well received by attendees and has enabled the formation of local and international connections necessary to accelerate innovation in the field.
324 people have attended this networking day over the three years, representing an average of 78 organisations each year. Delegates valued the chance to learn about industry needs, discuss challenges, identify opportunities and forge collaborative links through a programme of panel discussions, 90 second company pitches, overview presentations and networking time.
The event particularly aimed to unlock market opportunities by connecting companies across the LAE supply chain with technology end-users who could voice their needs and learn about emerging state- of-the-art capabilities. The panel on end-user needs has featured contributions from Jaguar Land Rover, Costain, GlaxoSmithKline, Savortex, SAATI, Unilever, ARM, Greiner, Beko and the National Institute for Health Research - covering applications in automotive, e-textiles, built environment, pharmaceuticals, packaging and the internet of things.
'We expected to meet some development partners and we were VERY successful.' Industry day 2017 delegate
'This is a great showcase for the printed electronics sector. It goes from technology suppliers to technology users including some excellent overview of the sector.' Industry day 2019 delegate
The innoLAE conference has become recognised as a key LAE event on academic and industrial calendars. ‘A must attend event for all those involved in printed/emerging electronics’, innoLAE 2019 Conference exhibitor, Jeremy Davis, founder of Semitronics.