Polytechnique Montréal launches program for sustainable electronics and eco-design

Polytechnique Montréal announced the Collaborative Research and Training Experience in Sustainable Electronics and Eco-Design (CREATE SEED) initiative, a partnership between 20 Canadian and international universities and industrial companies to promote eco-design and improve the way electronic waste is recycled.

The project team, lead by Department of Engineering Physics Professor, Clara Santato, an expert in organic electronics at Polytechnique Montréal has been awarded $1.65 million over the next six years by NSERC.

In terms of research, CREATE SEED will rethink electronic product design, using conventional inorganic electronics and emerging organic technologies, combined with the development of manufacturing processes that minimize e-waste’s environmental footprint. For example, plans include smartphones made from biodegradable, upgradable components (e.g. organic transistors, organic light-emitting diodes) as well as organic materials such as melanins, tannins, lignin, green chemistry materials.

The initiative comprises 20 researchers from Polytechnique Montréal, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), McGill University, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, the University of British Columbia, and is supported by the National Research Council of Canada, École de technologie supérieure (ETS), HEC Montréal, the Printability and Graphic Communications Institute, the Université de Montréal, the Université de Sherbrooke, New York City University’s Queen’s College, the University of Nigeria – Nsukka and United Nations University.

Industrial partners include the European Chemical Society, Bioastra Technologies, Celestica, MiQro Innovation Collaborative Centre (C2MI), Optel Group, Insertech, Intel, Medtronic, Sacré-Davey Engineering and Pyrocycle.
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