First International Symposium on Flexible Electronics (ISFE)

The First International Symposium on Flexible Electronics (ISFE) will be held in from 6-9 April 2008 in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). This conference will provide an opportunity to present and discuss recent advances in all topics related to flexible electronics, from the material to the circuit and system levels. The enormous increase of the applications of Flexible Electronics makes it necessary to create such a conference. The scientific program consists of invited and contributed presentations as well as one poster session.

I will be the Chairman of the ISFE Symposium. Prestigeous researchers from academia and industry are members of the Organizing and Technical Committees: Prof. Michael S. Shur, Prof. Jamal Deen, Prof. Magali Estrada, Prof. Yue Kuo, Prof. Bill Eccleston, Prof. Takao Someya, Dr. Paul Heremans, Dr. Gerwin Gelinck, Dr. Hagen Klauk, Dr. Warren Jackson (HP), Dr. Euan Smith (CDT), Dr. Erik van Veenendal (Polymer Vision), Dr. Tolos Voutsas (Sharp Labs of America),...

Papers are solicited on the following topics:
Materials for Flexible Electronics, Processing for Flexible Electronics, Device technologies, Physics and Characterization of TFTs on flexible substrates, Amorphous and polycristalline TFT, Transparent TFT, Organic and polymer TFT, OLED physics and characterization, Numerical and compact modeling of TFTs and OLEDs, TFT circuits on flexible substrates, Flexible AM-LCDs, Flexible AM-OLEDs, Flexible PVDs, Flexible large-area sensors and actuators...

The deadline for abstract submission will be December 3 2007.

ISFE is organized by the Engineering Conferences International Foundation, together with the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (the university of Tarragona, to which the Chairman, that is, myself, belongs).

The conference will be held in the Hotel Imperial Tarraco, close to the historical centre of the city of Tarragona, in Catalonia (Spain). The hotel, with a high standard of comfort and select international cuisine, is overlooking the "Balcony on the Mediterranean", which offers a wonderful view over Miracle Beach on the Mediterranean sea.

Tarragona is located in the south of Catalonia, in the northeast corner of the Iberian Peninsula.
Tarraco (the Roman name for Tarragona) was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. On 30 November 2000, the UNESCO committee officially declared the Roman archaeological complex of Tàrraco a World Heritage Site. This recognition is intended to help ensure the conservation of the monuments, as well as to introduce them to the broader international public.

Speaking about Tarraco’s climate, the famous Roman poet Virgil wrote: "The climate blends and confuses the seasons singularly, so that all the year seems an eternal spring." Thanks to its temperate climate, with an average yearly temperature of 23ºC, its clean beaches with fine and gloden sand, and its singular artistic and architectural heritage, Tarragona is one of the most important tourism hubs in Europe.

I truly encourage researchers on flexible electronics to submit abstracts to ISFE, and have good chances to get to know the most recent developments in the field, to make useful networking and also to enyoy some days in the beautiful city of Tarragona!

"Be Flexible" 2007

The 2007 "Be Flexible" Forum will be held in Munich (Germany) on December 5-6 2007 at the Hotel Le Meridien (Munich).

This Forum `be-flexible´ was created by Fraunhofer IZM-Munich to deal with the most recent research and innovations in the world of flexible electronics. It is an interesting event for exchanges of experiences of scientists, applied researchers, equipment suppliers and users in flexible electronics. It is also a good opportunity to meet people from the leading companies and suppliers.

The Forum will consist of two Workshops: Thin Semiconductor Devices (December 5) and Flexible Electronics Systems (December 6). Some interesting papers will be presented. In the area of device physics and modeling, I want to mention a paper entitled "Conduction mechanisms in conjugated polymers", by N. Sedghi, M. Raja, D. Donaghy, and W. Eccleston, from the University of Liverpool. Prof. Eccleston's team is a pioneer in the field of physics and compact modeling of organic devices.

Besides, December 7 will be an Open Day to visit the Fraunhofer IZM facilities.