Blue Spark and NTERA Team Up to Demonstrate Thin Battery and Printed Electronic Display Technologies for Use in Smart Cards

CLEVELAND & RADNOR, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blue Spark Technologies, the leading supplier of thin, flexible printed battery solutions, announced today that it will partner with NTERA, the leading developer of flexible, all-printed color changing display technologies, to demonstrate the world’s lowest voltage battery-display system. The first demo will be presented at CARTES 2008 in Paris (Nov 4-6), an international conference and exposition focused on the global plastic card manufacturing and technology market.

According to industry experts, the market for smart cards has been steadily expanding, reaching USD $12 billion worldwide in 2007 with over four billion smart cards (i.e., embedded chip cards) shipped. This growth can be attributed to several major trends, including the need for increased security and authentication to counteract fraud and identity theft, the growing popularity of contactless payment, and consumer attraction to wallet-size cards integrating visual, interactive and tactile innovations.

In combining Blue Spark Technologies’ innovative battery chemistries and application design capabilities with NTERA’s ultra-thin, color-changing, 1.5 Volt compatible display technologies, the companies can provide added value to card makers, helping them to reduce material costs and streamline manufacturing, assembly and integration processes. In addition, both Blue Spark’s and NTERA’s products, materials and manufacturing processes are eco-friendly and completely disposable.

Matt Ream, vice president of marketing for Blue Spark Technologies, notes: “For card companies, this partnership represents a remarkable synergy between two leaders in the burgeoning smart card and printed electronics space. Our thin, flexible batteries provide the ideal flat-profile, ‘green’ power source needed to power NTERA-enabled aesthetically pleasing color changing displays. Together, our technologies uniquely help manufacturers of smart cards to gain greater business value, along with increased consumer attention and buy-in.”

Chris Giacoponello, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for NTERA, adds: “Because of their fundamental cost and integration advantages, low-voltage, all-printed technologies will drive the success of the printed electronics revolution. We are seeing rapidly growing interest in our NCD™ technology for smart cards, smart objects and smart packaging. Low power consumption will be a critical success factor for these applications, and 1.5 Volt systems are ideally positioned to meet market performance requirements.”

In the vast global card market, the cost-effective printed electronics product offerings and expertise of Blue Spark Technologies and NTERA are directly applicable to smart cards, which include:

• Gift and loyalty cards (frequent flyer/frequent buyer)
• Bank credit and debit cards
• Contactless payment and stored value cards
• Transit cards
• Secure access identification cards and badges
• One-Time Passcode (OTP) cards for access to brokerage accounts, monetary wires, IT and other high-value security assets

The companies’ thin battery and electrochromic technologies also have broad applications in other markets, such as smart packaging, interactive merchandising displays, greeting cards, toys and novelty items.

About Blue Spark Technologies

Blue Spark Technologies, Inc. is the leader in developing flexible, printed, “green,” proprietary power source solutions for battery-powered printed electronic systems. The company was founded as Thin Battery Technologies in 2002 with patented technology and technical leadership from Energizer (Eveready Battery Company). Blue Spark customers include manufacturers, product designers, and integrators across multiple industries including: interactive packaging, RFID, pharmaceutical, powered smart cards, and novelty items. Users of products powered by Blue Spark batteries enjoy increased efficiency, greater convenience and portability, improved safety, lower manufacturing and assembly costs, higher profit margins, and greater environmental responsibility. For more information, visit www.bluesparktechnologies.com or call +1 440 249 5400.

About NTERA

NTERA, Inc. is the leading developer of advanced, fully printable electrochromic materials enabling display and color change applications for Smart Cards, Smart Packaging and Smart Objects. NTERA’s NanoChromics™ Ink Systems enable very low cost manufacturing of printed electronic displays on a variety of flexible substrate materials using industry standard printing techniques and equipment. These ultra-thin, sunlight-readable, low power NCD™ displays can be integrated into any number of products, including plastic cards, packaging, smart labels, RFID systems, greeting cards, toys and games, and consumer electronic devices. NTERA, Inc. is based in suburban Philadelphia, PA USA, with research and development facilities in Dublin, Ireland. For more information, visit us at www.ntera.com or call +1 610 828 6530.

NTERA, NanoChromics and NCD are trademarks of NTERA.