Graphene Pavilion: Day Two

Momentum felt at the Graphene Pavilion continued apace on day two of the Mobile World Congress. Visitors continued to stream in and a high level of press interest was sustained throughout the day. This, together with the brilliant enthusiasm of exhibitors, made for another successful day.

Welcome to the Graphene Pavilion

After another extremely busy day in the Graphene Pavilion, Prof. Frank Koppens, Science and Technology curator of the Graphene Pavilion and chair of the Conference Session (from ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences) says “It was a great pleasure to see that several high-level managers and CEOs of companies visited the pavilion, and expressed direct interest to further work together. One of the striking reactions of a visitor was: ‘this is the best things I have seen at the mobile world congress this year’”.

Many potential collaborations and partnerships were initiated with exhibitors stating how pleased they were to be sought out by visitors to MWC. In turn, visitors have expressed pleasure and surprise that graphene can be produced and printed on a large scale at an affordable price. There were a large number of visitors from the automotive industry who were very interested to hear that graphene could be the solution to some of their existing problems. A camera that can work well in low light was a hot topic for visitors from a number of areas.

Press and media coverage from day one helped to attract even more visitors to the Pavilion on day two. The Cambridge Graphene Centre was inundated with visitors, attracted by seeing the 'Graphene Piano', (an interactive display demonstrating printed graphene that can be played like a piano, developed in collaboration with Novalia) on television. To see this 'Graphene Piano' for yourself and the other printed graphene electronics on display from the Cambridge Graphene Centre:

University of Cambridge

​ICFO's heart rate sensor is also a Pavilion favourite and attracts many visitors as part of their display showing graphene based flexible transparent sensors for wearable applications:

The Institute of Photonic Sciences

The busy IIT display showed the potential for graphene and fully flexible batteries:

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

​​The University of Manchester had a constant stream of visitors keen to see their conductive printable graphene, with graphene printed on clothing, RFID tags and a clear example of graphene impermeability​​

The University of Manchester

With even more media attention over the course of day two, a high level of visitors is anticipated tomorrow, including many that have not yet connected with graphene and its potential.

Day two also saw the arrival of Kari Hjelt, the Head of Innovation for the Graphene Flagship. After many years working in industry and under two month’s working for the Graphene Flagship, Kari has an interesting and unique take on the Graphene Pavilion "I have been surprised and pleased by the immense interest in the Graphene Pavilion, especially by companies. It is reaching far beyond the graphene community to bring graphene to the wider world, one of the key aims of the Graphene Flagship. To be given a space by the GSMA with such a visitor potential is an amazing opportunity and one that we did not take on lightly - a fact that can be seen in the quality of the displays".

Image: © 2016 R. Josa, ICFO.