Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1140547
100 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2019 capable people. Considering they're in their first jobs, I'm absolutely staggered by their knowledge. We're all on a learning curve. It was a few years ago, but I looked around and there was nobody under 30 in the business, so we took a purposeful decision to start to train new people. We've had four intakes of apprentices, and training folks is a time-con - suming and challenging process. We've had to lose one or two on the way, but we have some real talent out of that. We've been able to because we've introduced new technol - ogy and we learn as we develop. Even in my role, I'm learning as we're going along as well. Matties: For a designer coming into your train- ing program, is there a predefined path or course that you're taking them through, or is there a flavor of the day based on workflow? Johnston: No, we're starting to produce that. As I said, it's early days for the design side, but we are still primarily and predominantly a PCB manufacturing company. The vast majority of our products are built to print. Matties: But bringing design back into the mix, you're faced with the same challenges as ev- erybody else. Is your approach to solving it to train them yourself? Johnston: Yes, it is. Matties: Is this something that you are finding people are interested in or do you have to con- vince somebody to become a designer? Johnston: We haven't struggled with that so far. Matties: There are a lot of different career paths for people in technology, and layout de- sign may not be on the top end of that. It's just interesting to see what's going on over here. Phillip, thanks for your input today. We really appreciate it. Johnston: Thank you. We appreciate your time. Matties: Thank you, Jake. Kelly: You're welcome. FLEX007 textile electronic devices are based on low-cost, sustain- able, and scalable dyeing of polyester fabric. The inks are produced by standard solution processing techniques. The research is published in Nanoscale. Most other wearable electronics rely on rigid electron- ic components mounted on plastic or textiles. These offer limited compatibility with the skin in many circumstanc- es, are damaged when washed, and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable. The research was supported by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, the New- ton Trust, the National Natural Science Foun- dation of China, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. The technology is being commercialised by Cambridge Enter- prise, the University's commercialisation arm. (Source: University of Cambridge) Researchers at the University of Cambridge have de- veloped washable, wearable batteries based on cheap, safe, and environmentally friendly inks and can be woven directly into fabrics. The devices could be used for flexible circuits, healthcare monitoring, energy conversion, and other applications. Working in collaboration with colleagues at Jiang- nan University in China, the Cambridge researchers have shown how graphene and other related materials can be directly incorporated into fabrics to produce charge stor- age elements, such as capacitors, paving the way to textile-based power supplies, which are washable, flexible, and comfortable to wear. The research demonstrates that graphene inks can be used in textiles to store electrical charge and release it when required. The new Washable, Wearable Battery-like Devices Could Be Woven Directly Into Clothes