Graphene Pavilion: Day one
It has been an exciting first day in the inaugural Graphene Pavilion at the 2016 Mobile World Congress. With a stream of visitors from the public and press it truly was an intense and rewarding day. The Graphene Pavilion represents a new way to present graphene to the wider world. As a newcomer to the MWC the Graphene Pavilion attracted interest for a wide range of reasons. Some visitors were already familiar with graphene and wanted to know more, some were interested in a particular technology such as batteries or flexible displays and wanted to know how graphene can integrate with these and there were those who were simply drawn in to discover something new - like the school teacher looking for new things to teach his pupils.
Throughout the day Prof. Frank Koppens, Science and Technology curator of the Graphene Pavilion and chair of the Conference Session (from ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences) led a number of high profile tours of the Graphene Pavilion, including a group of Lexus executives, one of which commented that it was the highlight of the congress so far. Commissioner Oettinger visited the Graphene Pavilion in the afternoon, touring the working prototype demonstrations. He was clearly interested in the potential of graphene, eager to learn more about the interactive prototypes and impressed to see several showcases of the large-scale production of graphene. At the end of his tour he commentated that he was happy to keep supporting the Graphene Flagship and looked forward to returning to our Graphene Pavilion at the Mobile World Congress next year.
Speaking from the Graphene Flagship about the first day of the MWC Prof. Koppens, said "The layout of the Graphene Pavilion works really well. People get a complete picture of the applications of graphene, starting from research into innovative futuristic applications, towards working prototype demonstrations and then almost finished products. Importantly, there are large-scale production capabilities on display, including a 20 meter roll of graphene and a 300 mm wafer with a graphene layer. Thus, visitors can see what is happening now in terms of current technology and grasp how this will lead to commercialisation in the future. This Pavilion shows in a very appealing way what graphene can do, which helps people to believe in graphene and its potential."
Images: © 2016 R. Josa, ICFO