Infineon heads up €35m green electronics project
Infineon Technologies is heading up a €35m, three year European project to make the electronics supply chain more sustainable.
EECONE (European ECOsystem for greeN Electronics) brings together 49 European companies and institutions as well as CSEM in Switzerland and Orbotech in Israel to investigate sustainable technologies along the entire value chain, from design, manufacture and use all the way to recycling.
The project launches this week and will investigate a total of ten application examples from the widest possible variety of fields in terms of developing green electronics. The applications are from the areas Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Health, Information and Communication Technologies, Aviation and Agriculture.
This will include reducing the amount of material used by making circuit boards thinner or smaller, or improving sustainability by introducing materials which are easier to separate during recycling as well as designs that are easier to repair.
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The technologies involved could also make it possible to reuse and recycle electronic components and develop[p energy harvesting technologies and AI to prolong the service lives of electronic equipment, while tools for more sustainable electronic design, including comprehensive impact assessments for the use of electronics, are to be developed as well.
EECONE is one of the Key Digital Technologies research projects supported by the European Union as a Joint Undertaking.
“Electronics are fundamental to improving the sustainability of many applications. But this is not sufficient, electronics themselves have to become greener,” said Constanze Hufenbecher, Infineon Management Board member and Chief Digital Transformation Officer.
“Infineon is pleased to take on the lead role in the research project EECONE in order to advance the circular economy together with our partners along the value chain. The only way to achieve sustainability from design and use and all the way to recycling is by working together.”
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EECONE is aligned with the 6R concept (Reduce, Reliability, Repair, Reuse, Refurbish, Recycle) for green electronics and also covers the use, dissemination and standardization of electronics and will train specialists in handling electronic refuse.
The 49 EECONE Research Project Partners
- 4Mod Technology (FR)
- Acorde Technologies Sag (ES)
- Agencia Estatal Consejo superior de Investigaciones cientificas (ES)
- Aniah SAS (FR)
- Arcelik A.S. (TR)
- Atea Sverige AG (SE)
- AT&S – Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik (AT)
- Centre national de la Recherche scientifique (FR)
- Charokopeio Panepstimio (EL)
- CNES – Commissariat a l’Energie atomique et aux Energies alternatives (FR)
- Dassault Systemes (FR)
- Design and Reuse (FR)
- EcoDC AG (SE)
- Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Forderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (DE)
- Get electronique (FR)
- Institut mikroelektronickych Aplikaci SRO (CZ)
- Institut polytechnique de Grenoble (FR)
- Interactive fully electrical Vehicles SRL (IT)
- Interuniversitair Microelectronica Centrum (BE)
- Leonardo – Societa per Azioni (IT)
- Luna Geber Engineering SRL (IT)
- Melsen Tech A/S (DK)
- Nerosubianco SRL (IT)
- Orbotech Ltd. (IL)
- Ozyegin Universitesi (TR)
- Premo, S.L. (ES)
- Research Institutes of Sweden AB (SE)
- Robert Bosch GmbH (DE)
- Siec Badawcza Lukasiewecz – Instytut Mikroelektronik i Fotoniki (PL)
- Silicon Austria Labs GmbH (AT)
- Smartsol SIA (LV)
- Soitec SA (FR)
- STMicroelectronics SAS (FR)
- Synano BV (NL)
- Technicka Univerzita v Liberci (CZ)
- Technische Hochschule Deggendorf (DE)
- Tecnologias Servicios telematicos y Sistemas SA (ES)
- Teknologisk Institut (DK)
- Tetradis (FR)
- Thales dis France SAS (FR)
- Università degli Studi di Perugia (IT)
- Université catholique de Louvain (BE)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
- Ustav teorie informace a Automatzizace AV CR VVI (CZ)
- Vitesco Technologies France (FR)
- Weeecycling (FR)
Associated Partners
- Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique SA – Recherche et Developpement (CH)
- Swiss Vault Systems GmbH (CH)
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