This document discusses Imprint Energy's printable battery technology. It begins with an overview of wearable electronics trends and Imprint Energy's business model of developing rechargeable zinc-based batteries. It then analyzes competitors and Imprint Energy's value proposition. Recommendations include developing complementary assets, adopting a licensing business model, focusing on health and IoT customers, and emphasizing sustainability and product improvements through R&D. The technology allows for printing thin, flexible, and recyclable batteries to enable new applications in wearable devices.

1. Printable Battery Technology
Lee Yang Sheng
Lim Chau Hwee Alwyn
Tay Wei Yi

2. Scope
 Wearable electronics market trend
 Imprint Energy’s Business Model
 Analysis of Business Model
 Recommendations
 Conclusion

3. Wearable electronics market trend

4. Wearable electronics

5. Wearable electronics

6. Coin cells may be Sufficient for Watches, but
not for Wearable Electronics!

7. Printable Battery
 Imprint Energy
 Founded in 2010
 Develop zinc-based rechargeable battery technology (ZincPoly™)

8. New applications and value propositions for
printable batteries

9. Value propositions for wearable electronics
 Ultra thin
 Flexible
 Recyclable
 Easy to manufacture
 Rechargeable

10. Thinner batteries are needed for new applications
 Ultra thin
Thickness of Battery
(mm)
10
Phones, laptops
Calculator,
Watches
1
RFID smart card,
Electronic paper
0.1
0.01
Conformal electronics,
Wearable electronics

11. Value Proposition
 Ease of manufacture
 Low packaging required
 Affordable
 Dispenser printing system:
 5‐300μm size factors
 Ambient temperature process
 Low waste
 Fast, scalable, economical
 Continuous assembly processing

12. Printing Technology

13. Value Proposition
 Rechargeability
 Other zinc-based printable batteries are non-rechargeable which limits
their applications
 Imprint Energy uses a solid gel polymer electrolyte

14. Thin-film and printed battery market
 $5.6 billion by 2015 (NanoMarkets)
 Out of this, $2.5 billion will be non-lithium batteries
Annual Growth Rate
70%
60%
58.40%
46.10%
50%
37.90%
40%
35%
Smart cards
RFID tags
30%
20%
10%
0%
Medical Implantables
MEMS, flexible paper,
cosmetics and E-paper

15. Customer Selection
 Manufacturers
 DNP (Dai Nippon Printing)
 Soligie
 Collaborators
 Thinfilm
 MC10 (Bio electrionics sensors)
 Wearable electronics manufacturers
 Nike
 Samsung

16. Customer Selection

Gigantic wearable consumer electronics market

To exploit the design advantages of the new batteries
(eg. Nike’s FuelBand and the FitBit line)

Large volume
Nike Revenue (in $billion) in 2012
Equipment,
1.2
Others, 0.1
Apparel,
6.3
Footwear,
13.4

17. Customer Selection
• Bendable Electronics
• LG and Samsung
• Flexible phones and watches

18. Customer Selection
 Bioelectronics

MC10



Medical patch
Digital Health
Conformal Electronics

19. Customer Selection
• Powered smart card
• Oberthur Technologies
• Advanced security for e-banking and e-shopping
• A single card for payment, authentication and ‘on the spot’
information
• Stand-alone solution, no card reader required

20. Customer Selection

Health products

Pills with smart sensors

Smart bra

21. Analysis of value proposition
 Zinc batteries are already present in
the market but not widely adopted
 Not flexible and non-rechargeable
 Competitors will erode profits to be
made
 Large capital needed to scale
manufacturing

22. Competitor 1: Blue Spark Technologies
 Carbon-Zinc printable battery
 Value proposition
 Cost effective
 Attractive form factor
 Easy integration
 Green and disposable
 Customer selection
 Battery - Assisted RFID
 RF-Linked Sensors
 Transdermal Patches
 Powered Cards
 Interactive Printed Media

23. Competitor 2:
 Rechargeable Lithium printable battery
 Value proposition
 Ultra thin
 Environmentally friendly
 Long cycle life
 Customer selection
 Collaboration with ST microelectronics

24. Strategy Canvas
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Imprint Energy
Blue Spark
Front Edge
PowerPaper
Lithium Polymer

25. Energy Density vs Power Density

26. Comparison data against competitors
Parameters
Front Edge
Technologies
(Lithium)
Blue Spark
Technologies
(Zinc-carbon)
Imprint Energy
(Zinc-MnO2)
Traditional
laptop battery
(Lithium)
Energy Density
100 – 150 Wh/kg
125 Wh/kg
130 Wh/kg
128 - 150 Wh/kg
Temperature Range
-40 to 80 oC
-18 to 55 oC
-20 to 70 oC
–20 to 60 °C
Battery Life
(Cycles before
degradation)
> 1000
~ 25 cycles
> 100 cycles
400 – 500 cycles
Fabrication Process
Vacuum
Deposition
SEI formation
Partially Printed
Printed
Vacuum
Deposition
SEI formation
Safety Concerns
Reactive, Nonvolatile
Semi-reactive,
volatile
Non-reactive, nonvolatile
Reactive, Nonvolatile

27. Analysis of value proposition
 Zinc batteries are already present in
the market but not widely adopted
 Competitors will erode profits to be
made
 Large capital needed to scale
manufacturing

28. Scope of Activity
 Versatile and scalable manufacturing process
 Make use of a traditional technology, screen printing.
 Outsource manufacturing of batteries to printing companies
 To ramp up manufacturing to a large commercial scale in a few years
 Will not build their own factories
 Work closely with manufacturing partners

29. Value Chain
• Vertical Disintegration
Imprint
Energy
R&D
Collaborators
Raw material
supplier
Printing
Manufacturer
Outsourced partners /
Licensee
End product
manufacturer
Distribution
and sales

30. Method of value capture
 Licensing
 To license our technology to collaborators to produce
printable batteries
 Pure licensing model may lead to a slow growth
 Battery sales
 Mass produced batteries of standard shapes/sizes

31. Cost structure
 Low cost active materials
 High volume structure to enable economies of scale

32. Cost Structure
Item
Material
Printing / Manufacturing
Cost for printable battery
• $2.07 per Wh
• $3.48 per 1400 mAh (Google Nexus One battery capacity)1
• 100 million batteries / printer
• $25k - $800k / printer
Selling price for Google Nexus One lithium ion battery 2 : $5.25 (1400mAh)
1
2
Obtained from Imprint Energy
Obtained from http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/Pages/Google-Nexus-One-Carries-$17415-Materials-Cost-iSuppli-Teardown-Reveals.aspx

33. Method of strategic control
 Intellectual Property
 Patents on solid zinc electrolyte which enable rechargeable battery
 Patents on methods of manufacture
 Filed provisional patent September 2010

34. IP Strategy
• Prove the feasibility of
the innovation
Phase 1
Phase 2
• Extract value out of IP
• Push the performance
of the battery
• Erect barriers to entry
Phase 3

35. Method of strategic control
 Lack of complementary assets
 Sales and Marketing expertise
 Distribution channels
 IT infrastructure
 Low market power against owners of
complementary assets

36. Innovation value capture matrix
Core idea adapted from Teece, 1986

37. Recommendation
 Strategic control
 Contracts to bind manufacturers and end products distributors
 Develop more complementary assets

38. Contractual agreements
 Imprint energy holds strong IP rights
 Low risk of imitation
 Contracts to be designed to maximize profits from innovation
 Disruptive Innovation
 Prove the feasibility and value of innovation

39. Complementary Assets
 Custom designed batteries
 Key components of wearable
electronics
 Different applications
requires
 Different shape/size
 Different packaging
 Different capacity

40. Complementary Assets
 Custom designed batteries
 Key components of wearable
electronics
 Network effects
 Virtuous cycle
 Develop capabilities to
further improve design of
wearable electronics in the
market and enhance their
performance
Custom designed
batteries enable
novel and
innovative products
Revenue pumped
into R&D to
improve design
Higher demand for
innovative end user
products
Higher revenue
generated from
battery sales
More products sold
increases exposure
of battery
More wearable
electronics
manufacturers
interested

41. Recommendation
 Value Chain
 Custom designed solutions to enable novel devices to launch into market
 Leverage printing partners to scale rapidly without large capital investment
 Continuous R&D to enhance products to improve sales
 Imitate Qualcomm model:

42. Recommendation
 Value Chain
 Custom designed solutions to enable novel devices to launch into market
 Leverage printing partners to scale rapidly without large capital investment
 Continuous R&D to enhance products to improve sales
Printed and thin media
- Enabling
Conventional Batteries
- Early Adopters
- Enhancing
- Billions of devices
- Thin format progress
- Billions of devices
$250MM - $1.3 BN
> $2BN

43. Recommendation
 Method of value capture
 Adopt a new licensing model working with multiple partners getting upfront
fee for access to design (Imitate ARM model)
 Revenue from product manufacturers by offering custom designed solutions
 Continue to focus on low cost high volume structure by driving capabilities of
manufacturing partners

44. Recommendation
 Customer selection
 Focus on new and upcoming technology
industry
 Health and wellness wearable products
 Wireless sensor network (Internet of
Things)

$2 billion market by 2021 (IDTechEx)
 To be present in majority of electronic
devices

45. Quantified Self and Smart Homes

46. Smart World

47. Recommendation
 Value proposition
 Focus on sustainability
 Continuous R&D improvement to push the boundaries of battery technology
 Working with partners to enable innovation in electronics devices

48. Environmental Impact Assessment
"Sustainable Batteries", Assessment of Environmental Technologies for Support of
Policy Deccision

49. New Innovative devices

50. Summary
Customer
Selection
Scope of
Activities
Thin
Large Wearable
Electronics firms
IP Strategy
Customized
Solutions
Complementary
Assets
R&D
Novel
technologies
Strategic
Control
Licensing
Value
Proposition
Method of
Value
Capture
Distribution
Rechargeable
Sustainable
Safe
Wireless Sensors
/ Smart cities
Sales and
Marketing

52. Screen Printing Process
 Similar to old-fashioned silk-screening where
material is deposited in a pattern by squeezing it
through a mesh over a template
Obtained from http://www.hdmstuttgart.de/international_circle/circular/issues/11_01/ICJ_04_32_
wendler_huebner_krebs.pdf